The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, usually referred to by the acronym SAK ( fi, Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö; sv, Finlands Fackförbunds Centralorganisation, FFC) is the largest

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

confederation in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Its member organisations have a total of more than one million members, which makes up about one fifth of the country's population. Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö SAK

Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö SAK

History

The other two Finnish trade unions confederations are the

Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees The Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK) ( fi, Toimihenkilökeskusjärjestö, sv, Tjänstemannacentralorganisationen) is a trade union confederation in Finland. It has a membership of 650,000 and represents salaried employees in Finland ...

(STTK) and the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland (AKAVA). The most important negotiating partner of SAK is the ''Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto/Finlands Näringsliv'' (the

Confederation of Finnish Industries The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest employers' association in Finland. It was formed at the beginning of 2005 when the two employers' associations ''Palvelutyö ...

, EK), which represents the majority of Finnish employers. The current SAK was founded in 1969 as the

Finnish Federation of Trade Unions The Finnish Federation of Trade Unions ( fi, Suomen Ammattiyhdistysten Keskusliitto, SAK) was a national trade union centre in Finland. The federation was established in 1930, after the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ) was banned. Its initial ...

(SAK 1930–1969), controlled by

SKDL Finnish People's Democratic League ( fi, Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto, SKDL; sv, Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk, DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic P ...

and TPSL, and the

Finnish Trade Union Federation Finnish Trade Union Federation ( fi, Suomen Ammattijärjestö, SAJ, sv, Finlands Landsorganisation, FLO) was the first central organisation of trade unions in Finland, established in 1907. It was a part of the Social Democratic Party of Finland ...

(SAJ 1960–1969), controlled by SDP, settled their disputes and merged. The SAK, however, considers itself the continuation of the first Finnish central organisation, the

(SAJ 1907–1930). The SAK is generally supportive of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, and has spent money on advertisements backing the party. In 2007, advertisements it placed on behalf of the SDP were found to be defaming, leading the SAK to withdraw them.SAK:n kohumainos toimi niin kuin pitikin
Taloussanomat.

Member unions

Current

* Unions marked with "*" are affiliated to the SAK through another union, but their membership is counted separately.

Former

Presidents

:1969: Niilo Hämäläinen :1974: Pekka Oivio :1981: Pertti Viinanen :1990: Lauri Ihalainen :2009: Lauri Lyly :2016: Jarkko Eloranta

External links

References

{{Authority control National trade union centers of Finland International Trade Union Confederation Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD European Trade Union Confederation Council of Nordic Trade Unions 1969 establishments in Finland Trade unions established in 1969