The Finnish Food Workers' Union (, SEL) is a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing workers in the food industry in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The Finnish Food and Drink Workers' Union was established in 1905, but banned in 1930. As a temporary measure, the new

Finnish Federation of Trade Unions The Finnish Federation of Trade Unions (, 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 affiliates were unions which supported the ...

(SEK) admitted food workers to the

Finnish General Workers' Union The Finnish General Workers' Union () was a general union representing workers in Finland. The union was established in 1930 by the Social Democratic Party, to accept workers who had resigned from the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), unhapp ...

, but in December 1932, it split them into a new Finnish Food Workers' Union. From 1945, the union was led by Kalle Lindholm, a member of the

Finnish Communist Party The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

. While a minority of

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 Form ...

supporters left in 1960 to join the rival

General and Speciality Workers' Union The General and Speciality Workers' Union (, YEA) was a general union in Finland. The union was founded in 1960, as a split from the Finnish Food Workers' Union (SEL). At the time, the SEL was led by communists, as was the Finnish Federation of ...

, this rejoined the SEL in 1970, soon after the SEK merged into the new

Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, usually referred to by the acronym SAK (; ) is the largest trade union confederation in Finland. Its member organisations have a total of more than one million members, which makes up about one fif ...

. The SEL's membership grew rapidly, and by 1998 had reached 43,497. By 2020, this had fallen to 30,047.

Presidents

:1932: Lauri Pöyhönen :1941: I. K. Björk :1941: Lauri Pöyhönen :1945: Kalle Lindholm :1949: Armas Reunamo :1951: Eero Teri :1953: Arvo Hautala :1966: Urpo Virtanen :1969: Jarl Sund :1991: Ritva Savtschenko :2006: Veli-Matti Kuntonen

External links

References

{{Authority control Food processing trade unions Trade unions established in 1932 Trade unions in Finland 1932 establishments in Finland