The political strike that starts in Finland today, Wednesday, is part of the strike movement that is intensifying in Europe right now, according to the experts interviewed by .
– There are now more strikes and labor disputes in Europe than in decades, says a senior researcher Peter Birke from the sociological research center operating in connection with the German University of Göttingen.
The situation is peculiar, because while the strikes gain new strength, the trade union movement’s connection with the political left, which has historically supported it, is weakening. The European ay movement is facing something new.
– The strikes are not because the unions have more power, but because they have less power. Trade unions must strike. Otherwise, they would not get their demands through.
Birke is talking about Germany in particular, where there were extensive labor strikes last week. A strike by railway workers demanding pay increases stopped train traffic for several days.
However, the same phenomenon can be seen all over Europe.
According to Birke, employees and unions are currently on strike for three reasons:
– These three simultaneous phenomena dominate the European strike movement. And that’s why there are so many strikes now, says Birke, who is himself a long-term ay activist.
In Northern Ireland, public sector unions staged the biggest walkout in 50 years in January.
Another labor market expert points out a couple of other reasons for Europeans to go on strike.
Wages have not risen in line with inflation, and there is enough demand for workers in many fields. Thus, their bargaining position is stronger. This is the opinion of the professor of labor market relations at the University of Amsterdam Paul de Beer.
The trade unions and the left are rifts
According to German researcher Birke, the current number of strikes is exceptional. There are huge strikes on different parts of the continent and largely for the same reasons, but the ay movement does not coordinate them together.
– This is a special and strange situation. There are a large number of industrial struggles going on, but they have no direct connection. The unifying factor is the economic and political situation, says Birke.
By the political situation, Birke means that governments have undermined the key historical achievements of the ay movement in the labor market in recent years.
Farmers strike and demonstrate in many countries against the policies of governments and the EU.
On Monday, they blocked the highway to Paris.
According to the researchers, the Ay-movement can no longer count on the fact that it will automatically find support from the left-wing parties. Not even when they are in power.
– Relations between trade unions and political parties have weakened. The previous connection is no longer self-evident in any European country, says Professor de Beer, who also leads a research institute linked to the central organization of Dutch trade unions.
Not even in Finland Sanna Marini the employment measures of the Democratic-led government received nothing but praise from the ay movement. Marin’s government also limited the nurses’ right to strike after a bitter dispute, citing patient safety.
The far-right speaks to the Duna people
The left has also increasingly focused on identity and climate politics. The researchers’ assessment is that it drives away traditional Duna voters.
– Many trade union members are quite conservative in values, even though they have a left-wing approach to economic issues. When the economic policy of the left-wing parties has become unclear, many people place their hopes on the far-right, researcher Birke says.
A recent example of forgetting the respective voter group can also be found in Finland. None of the candidates in the first round of the presidential election registered as candidates of the left-wing value conservatives on ‘s value map.
In the Netherlands, the far right recently won the parliamentary elections Geert Wilders freedom party. In addition to opposing immigration the party says it will run benefits for the working population, such as raising the minimum wage and lowering the retirement age.
– When the ideological boundaries are blurred in this way, even the trade unions find it difficult to understand which party promotes their interests and which does not, says Professor de Beer.
– The far-right has succeeded in arguing that immigrants threaten the interests of the average worker. Although there is little basis for the claim, it is a compelling story that many believe.
The Ay movement needs to reinvent itself
Working life is in a major transition. Self-employment, the development of technology, artificial intelligence and the platform economy will change work and employment relationships enormously in the coming years.
The platform economy means working and trading via digital online platforms. A common example is food courier services, whose poor working conditions have attracted criticism in recent years.
According to Dutch professor Paul de Beer, trade unions now have two options. They can oppose the changes, for example, by demanding that those who work on the platform are treated within the scope of collective agreements and not as entrepreneurs.
Another option is that they broaden the perception of what kind of people unions can represent. That way, they would take into account the growing number of employees who want to define their employment relationship and conditions more freely than by being on the payroll of a company under a common collective agreement.
Thousands of airport workers went on strike in Spain in January.
The Ay movement suffers from a loss of youth, as do the social democratic parties.
German researcher Peter Birke represents the latter position. According to him, the European strikers’ demands for better working conditions and public services are basically political demands, although the unions rarely bring it up.
Except now in Finland. According to Birke, the political strike that starts here today, Wednesday, is a significant case that should also be paid attention to elsewhere in Europe.
– The trade unions have been left alone. They must form a people’s movement, or in ten years they will no longer exist.