Dockworkers’ strike ends; compromise bid in looming rail strike
The Finnish Transport Workers' Union (AKT) has ended a two-week stevedores' strike. The union made the announcement shortly before 8pm on Wednesday. The AKT board unanimously accepted the deal, union boss Ismo Kokko said. "A new collective agreement has been born," he told Yle. According to Kokko, there will be salary increases of 6.3 percent over the two-year contract period. On top of this, he said there will be a so-called "delayed instalment" amounting to 1,100 euros per worker. Earlier in the evening, the National Conciliator's office said in a tweet that a negotiation result had been reached in the labour dispute. The dockworkers' strike, which has been going on for two weeks, has virtually halted all exports and imports through Finland’s harbours and slowed postal deliveries.