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members’ PC project launched SAK speeds up computerisation of union activists Finnish is the main language of trade union www-sites in Finland
SAK members’ PC project launched
SAK speeds up computerisation of union activists Helsinki (19.04.1998 - Juhani Artto) SAK, the largest central Finnish trade union organisation representing 1.1 million members in its affiliated unions, is to speed up computerisation of local union activists. According to one SAK estimate, 5,000 - 10,000 union members are thinking about buying or renting a home computer before the end of this year. An agreement negotiated by an organisation as big as SAK would give these members a considerable discount and a strong incentive for individual investment decisions. SAK has asked for tenders for a package comprising a multimedia-equipped pentium, printer, modem and Internet connection. The individual rental or purchase agreement will be made between the union member and the equipment supplier. SAK plans to launch the project in the autumn. Decisions on this are expected soon. The idea of more rapid computerisation of SAK union activists comes from neighbouring Sweden, where the corresponding organisation LO, covering 2.2 million workers, has been enormously successful in its own project. The project began last autumn in Sweden, and by mid-March 58,000 PCs had already been installed in activists' homes. For less than 60 US dollars per month the Swedish deal provides union members with a computer, colour printer, Internet connection, application software package, use of a free telephone helpline for one year, life and long-term unemployment insurance and the right to buy the entire package after a three-year rental period for less than 200 US dollars. The LO agreement gives union members a 30 per cent discount. Another advantage is that for a deal made on such a scale the provider has been especially interested in guaranteeing easy installation of the package. The provider, Hewlett-Packard, claims that its LO package can be set up in eight minutes. Trade union organisations in Norway plan a similar computerisation project. LO's success has been so great that in its March 18 edition The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition published a long and enthusiastic feature article on the PC project of the Swedish trade union movement.
Finnish is the main language of trade union www-sites in Finland Helsinki (04.04.1998 - Juhani Artto) The Finns score high in per capita Internet connections and www-publications, but language sets limits on how thoroughly this northern European nation has integrated into the global electronic network. This can clearly be seen in the Finnish trade union movement. While reading, writing, hearing and speaking English is almost daily routine for academics and the younger generation in Finland, for many other Finns language is still an isolating factor. Five million people speak Finnish, a language which is closely related to Estonian and to several very small minority languages spoken in Russia and also more distantly related to Hungarian. The trade union organisations are accustomed to publishing materials in Finnish and in Swedish, which is the mother tongue of 300,000 Finns and the second official language in Finland. They have mainly used English and other international languages to advise their counterparts in other countries about the basic facts of the Finnish organised labour scene. Internet has had little immediate impact on this state of affairs. The three central trade union organisations SAK, STTK and Akava, and a few of their member unions have included some English language material in their www-publications. Since August 1997 there has also been the present publication, Trade Union News from Finland, which provides short background and news stories concentrating on issues of interest to union activists in other countries and on other continents. As the compiler of this publication, I strongly believe that the Finnish experience is as important to know as are the experiences of working people in any other region. The Finnish trade unions have not been particularly quick to recognise the potential of Internet to dynamise and internationalise the mission of the union movement. The language factor must have been one of the reasons for this slow start. Until now, Finnish unions have mainly benefited from Internet e-mail. Most of the national union organisations have begun to use e-mail in their daily work. However, rank and file union members with Internet connections are not yet using them much in union activism. The Finnish union movement seems to be going through a rather long transition period before it learns to make full use of basic Internet services. Despite the high net connection density in Finland, the majority of union activists, who are men in their 40s and 50s, have serious doubts about the whole Internet affair. My prognosis is that it will take 2-4 years before the web is regarded by the Finnish trade unions as an important and regular part of their working methods. However, many unions already have early versions of their www-publications and many more have sites of their own under construction. More information will be provided in English but the total amount will still probably remain so limited that any globally curious American, Australian, Asian, African, Argentine, Albanian, etc. activists would do well to start learning Finnish.
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