The board of the Central Chamber of Commerce published a statement on the labor market situation on Monday after the CEO of the interest organization Juho Romakkaniemi’s message angered the AKT.
Central Chamber of Commerce the government has published a rare statement on the labor market situation.
The Central Chamber of Commerce, usually quiet in labor market disputes, commented on the crisis-ridden labor market situation in its press release after the CEO of the Central Chamber of Commerce Juho Romakkaniemi angered the chairman of the Automotive and Transport Workers Union AKT with his X-message over the weekend Ismo Kokon.
Some controversy started on Saturday, when Romakkaniemi, in his message service X, urged SAK members to resign from their union and join as a member of the General Unemployment Fund, which is independent of the ay unions.
“Today is also a good day to resign from the membership of the SAK union and join the YTK. The law reform will soon give YTK permission to mediate job seekers. In the future, I recommend all companies to apply for employees from YTK members through this service,” Romakkaniemi wrote.
AKT’s Kokko reacted to Romakkaniemi’s writing with an X-message a few hours later, announcing that the union would end “decades” of banking with the OP group.
Kokko justified the termination of bank cooperation by saying that the chairman of the board of the Central Chamber of Commerce is the CEO of the OP group Timo Ritakallio. Kokko considered that Ritakallio was instructing the CEO of the Central Chamber of Commerce.
“Ritakallio is the CEO of OP Group and chairman of the board of the Central Chamber of Commerce. He gives instructions to Romakkaniemi, CEO of the Central Chamber of Commerce. We no longer have any reason to continue cooperating with the OP group,” Kokko wrote.
Koko clarified on Monday For Iltalehti, that no official decision on termination has been made. It is done by the federal government.
Central Chamber of Commerce the board says in the last paragraph of its statement on Monday that its board “considers it important and wants to respect the statutory right and freedom of every employee to organize or not to organize as they wish”.
“The culture of agreement must be maintained in the future,” the release states.
The news release does not mention Romakkaniemi’s and Koko’s social media dispute. HS asked the director of communication and cooperation of the Central Chamber of Commerce From Pauliina Pulkkiis the release the reaction of the organization’s board to the controversy.
“That’s what the board of the Central Chamber of Commerce wanted to say. I will not comment further,” Pulkkinen said.
On Monday, Ritakallio refused to answer HS’s additional questions. He commented via text message that he has nothing else to comment on besides the statement published by the Central Chamber of Commerce.
Romakkaniemi was appointed CEO of the Central Chamber of Commerce in 2017. During his tenure, he has tried to shake the image of the Central Chamber of Commerce with velvet curtains, and during his time, the role of the interest organization in the social debate has increased.
Central Chamber of Commerce In its statement, the government considers that the ongoing industrial action measures are harmful to the Finnish economy and that the disputes should be moved forward.
Ritakallio considers it important that a solution to the situation be found.
“The Finnish labor market must be built on trust. At the same time, however, the conditions for Finland’s economic growth must be improved. Both perspectives are necessary in order to build a more stable future,” says Ritakallio in the press release.