The labour strike in the municipal sector that will take place 3-9 May will have wide-ranging effects on services provided by the City of Helsinki. Most of the city’s education and culture and leisure services will be suspended, and there may also be temporary changes to the city’s social and health services.
The Finnish trade organisations JUKO, JHL and Jyty filed a strike warning on 21 March and 14 April that would affect the cities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The planned industrial action applies to all members of these labour unions, and thus also to the City of Helsinki and its operations.
Impact on schools and daycare centres
The strike will affect all levels of education including early childhood education, basic education, general upper secondary education, vocational education and training, and adult education centres. Families of affected customers and students will receive instructions on the provision of services arrangements during the strike.
For more information see How labour strike affects Education Division 3–9 May (LINK)
Daycare centres and early childhood education units that are open during the labour strike (LINK)
Impact on cultural and leisure services
Museums, cultural centres, indoor sports facilities and youth centres will largely be closed from 3 to 9 May 2022. Some libraries and outdoor sports facilities will remain open, but changing rooms at the playing fields will be closed and field maintenance will be limited.
Bookings of public premises arranged via the city’s Varaamo service will be cancelled for the days the premises are closed. Any bookings fees will be returned to the customer accordingly.
Cultural services
Performances scheduled to take place at Helsinki’s cultural centres and the Savoy Theatre during the strike will be postponed or cancelled. Customers will be sent instructions on how to apply for a refund for the cancelled performances.
As a rule, courses, art classes and events scheduled during the strike at Annantalo and other neighbourhood cultural centres will be cancelled.
The Helsinki Art Museum HAM and the Helsinki City Museum will both be closed during the strike. Information about services that are open will be provided separately.
The strike will have no impact on the concert activities of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
Indoor sports services closed, limited outdoor services
Almost all indoor sports facilities will be closed during the strike. If it is possible to keep an indoor sports venue open, we will inform the public of this separately. Outdoor sports facilities will continue to stay open during the strike, with the exception of the grounds at the Eläintarhankenttä, Pukinmäki and Vuosaari locations. Club bookings that are part of self-guided school operations will also continue normally. Season tickets will receive added credit for the week missed because of the strike. Some guided exercise courses will continue; those enrolled will be informed on a course-by-course basis.
Almost all library services suspended
Libraries will largely be closed during the strike. Information about libraries that may remain open will be provided separately. Loans that fall due between 3-9 May will be deferred to 10-13 May. After the strike, it will be possible to pick up reservations that were due to be picked up during the strike’s duration. Library events that were scheduled to take place during the strike will be postponed or cancelled.
Impact of possible strike on social and health services
We will make every effort to ensure that urgent and medically necessary social and health services are provided during the strike. We will try to arrange booked appointments as usual. If your appointment is postponed or cancelled, we will notify you separately.
Impact of possible strike on urban environment services
The work stoppage will also affect the services of the city’s Urban Environment Division.
Limited customer service
During 3–9 May, the division’s customer services will be available on a limited basis. While efforts will be made to organise telephone and electronic channels as normally as possible, on-site customer service will largely be closed. There may also be delays in other division services. Self-service terminals located in the customer service area, public displays and the ATT exhibition space will remain available, and the management information service and animal export control will also continue to operate normally.
Social housing
The strike might affect the provision of real estate management and maintenance services, which among other things ensure the safety of users at around 40 sites. Technical HVAC maintenance tasks for large hospitals and other social welfare sites, including maintenance of hospital system oxygen systems, for example, may also be suspended. This work has an effect on personal and patient safety. Specialist professionals also carry out user services in support of operations at these sites.
Parking control
With regard to parking control, the strike may have an impact on traffic flow.
Several publicly owned companies, including Helsinki Region Transport (HSL), are also the subject of a strike warning by the employee unions, and so the strike could potentially also affect HSL’s customer service at its service points. There is no known transport-related impact at this moment, however.
It is likely that salary payments to City of Helsinki employees will also be complicated by the strike, with possible delays in error corrections. Invoicing services and payment ceiling decisions may also be subject to delays.
The city will negotiate locally on the functions and activities that are excluded from the strike for reasons of life, health, safety or property, after which the effects of the possible strike will be clarified. Collective bargaining in the municipal sector is settled by a mediation board set up by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
Updates on the strike’s impact to Helsinki’s services will be available on the City of Helsinki website at https://www.hel.fi/helsinki/en/administration/information/general/strike-22
The news
has been published on 2.5. and has been updated on 5.5.
