Negotiations aimed at ending the port strike resumed on Sunday afternoon in Helsinki. The work stoppage by stevedores, which began on 15 February, was in its 12th day.
The two sides in the dispute, the Transport Workers' Union (AKT) and the Finnish Port Operators Association, representing the employers’ side, met for talks at the office of National Conciliator Anu Sajavaara on Helsinki’s Bulevardi beginning at 2 pm.
“If necessary, we will sit all day,” her office said on Twitter.
The AKT rejected two previous settlement proposals by Sajavaara’s colleague, mediator Leo Suomaa, as it was not satisfied with the proposed wage increases.
Union seeks German-style pay hikes
There is growing pressure to reach an agreement, because the open-ended strike has halted practically all exports and imports passing through Finnish ports, and is affecting postal deliveries.
The AKT is demanding pay rises in line with those achieved by industrial unions in Germany, which would mean an increase of 8.5 percent over the next two years. According to the employers' side, such sharp increases would undermine Finland's competitiveness.
Sajavaara, who took over as the national labour mediator last August, was formerly the chief negotiator for an employers’ group and a senior legal counsel at the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK as well as posts at the European Court of Justice and several government ministries.