Finland - Shipbuilders on strike - January 21, 2010

On Thursday 21 January, hundreds of ship builders dropped their tools to protest layoffs and outsourcing at STX Finland's shipyard in Turku. The strike came after STX Finland OY, part of the international STX Europe Group (16,000 employees), confirmed to shed 370 jobs at the Turku yard and outsource some operations. “The workers cannot understand the layoffs and company outsourcing policy,” union spokesman Ari Rajamaki said, “Some operations have been given to an outside company at the same time as STX Finland is reducing its own staff.” The announcement came only weeks after the yard completed the construction of the world's biggest cruise liner, the Oasis of the Seas. The Euro 1 billion ship had provided jobs at the yard for more than two and a half years.

English: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DC5IEO0.htm

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter, which presents up-to-date information on collective bargaining developments across Europe. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009. All rights reserved. The ETUI is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. The ETUI is financially supported by the European Community. The European Community is not responsible for any use made of the information contained in this news section.