A strike by bakery workers began early on Monday following the union's rejection of a settlement proposal put forward by the National Conciliator's Office.
The walkout affects around 2,000 bakery workers at some 150 locations around the country, the Finnish Food Workers' Union (SEL) said, and will continue until midnight on Thursday. The affected companies include Vaasan, Fazer and Lantmännen Unibake.
"We cannot accept a conciliation proposal in which the working hours of bakery sector employees would be weakened so that the employer could unilaterally impose 9-hour working days or 45-hour working weeks on the employee. In addition, extra compensation for working on Saturdays would have been cut," SEL president Veli-Matti Kuntonen wrote in a union press release.
The strike action is the second time this month that workers in the sector have walked off their jobs, after the union rejected an earlier proposal by the conciliator's office at the beginning of March.
SEL have been locked in months-long talks with the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation (ETL), which represents employers' groups, over five separate collective agreements for the bakery, meat, dairy, industry, and brewing and soft drinks sectors.
In total, these negotiations affect the wages and working conditions of about 25,000 employees.
"SEL's actions show a complete disregard for the future of the bakery industry," ETL spokesperson Anne Somer said, accusing the union of deliberately giving its members false information.
"Anyone can look at the content of the settlement proposal on the National Conciliator's website, and see that there would be no significant changes in the other sectors, only salary increases. In the bakery sector, a 100 percent night work bonus for shift workers would be introduced as a completely new element in the collective agreement," Somer noted.