09 June 2005 Finnish security staff threaten airport strike
Border guards in Finland are threatening to start a new strike on the week of the Midsummer holiday
The new strike could last for a month and would eventually include the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport as well as the capital's harbours, officials announced.
Finland's border guards are protesting about the use of non-commissioned officers and the next phase of industrial action could see control of the country's south-eastern land and sea borders cease on June 21st, Helsingin Sanomat reports. The first phase of the strike, which started a week ago, will end this Saturday.
Strikes would move north in July to the provinces of Lapland and Kainuu and examination of passports at the border crossing points in the southeast and North Karelia, the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, and at the Helsinki seaports would end on July 12th.
"If our fieldworkers are not happy with the progress in the negotiations we have no choice but to commence the second phase of the strike", said Border Guards' Union chairman Reijo Kortelainen.
The Finnish Labour Court ruled on Monday that checking of passports could not be labelled as safety work. However, the Frontier Guard is still using outside staff to perform minimum inspections to travellers from outside the EU and EEA. The Border Guards' Union plans to take the dispute back to the Labour Court.
There has been little progress this week in negotiations between the two sides involved in the dispute and Finnish National Conciliator Juhani Salonius has warned that a settlement is still some way off.
© DeHavilland Information Servic
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