A broad postal strike threatens to delay many deliveries in Finland, as escalating industrial action over pay continues.
The Finnish Post and Logistics Union PAU launched strike action on Thursday to support the ongoing industrial action by AKT, the Transport Workers' Union.
Posti, the national mail company, said that the strike would likely delay many deliveries.
In a statement, Posti said the sympathy strike is meant to speed up AKT's collective agreement negotiations. The solidarity action will also affect Posti's transport and terminal operations, as well as domestic and international deliveries.
"We estimate that the delivery of parcels, letters and magazines as well as international deliveries to and from Finland will be delayed between a few days to over a week. The same estimate applies to freight," Posti's statement read.
Posti noted that if deliveries are unable to be made, the parcels will be kept in storage until the striking workers return to their jobs.
Package delivery times may be delayed by up to a week, while it could take up to two weeks for letters and magazines to arrive.
Meanwhile, freight transport deliveries will likely see delays of about a week. Early morning newspaper deliveries should continue as usual, but there may be local disruptions, according to Posti.
Essential deliveries continue
"Deliveries related to health and safety have been excluded from strikes and support measures including, for example, deliveries related to healthcare (blood and laboratory deliveries) and meal deliveries (schools, kindergartens, institutional and home deliveries of meals to the elderly)," Posti stated.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the post and logistics union said the sympathy strike would last from Thursday 16 February until Tuesday, 21 February. It listed the postal logistics and delivery terminals affected by the strike.
The union also explained why it was joining the strike.
"Transport unions have a long, strong tradition of using support actions if necessary to help employees reach a settlement that satisfies the union in collective bargaining negotiations. For example, during the 2019 postal strike, AKT and other transport unions provided decisive support for PAU members. Solidarity and cooperation between the unions saved postal workers from a major cut in pay and worse working conditions," PAU's statement read.
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