The Finnish General Workers' Union () was a

general union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gen ...

representing workers in Finland. The union was established in 1930 by 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 Form ...

, to accept workers who had resigned from the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), unhappy at its communist leadership. The SAJ was banned later in the year, and the General Workers' Union became the core of 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 ...

(SAK), although many of its members transferred to newly-formed, industry-specific unions. By 1955, the union had 10,713 members.{{cite book , title=Directory of Labor Organizations, Europe , date=1955 , publisher=United States Bureau of Labor Affairs , pages=8.7–8.16 It remained affiliated to the SAK when many unions left to form a new Finnish Trade Union Federation, which in 1969 merged with the SAK to form the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. The General Workers' Union affiliated to the new federation, its membership having grown to 15,766. By 1970, most of the union's membership was in the chemical industry and general manufacturing. That year, it merged with the majority of the General and Speciality Workers' Union, to form the Chemical Workers' Union.

References

General unions Trade unions in Finland Trade unions established in 1930 Trade unions disestablished in 1970