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Trade Union of Education in Finland
Opetusalan Ammattijärjestö OAJ
P.O.Box 20 (Rautatieläisenkatu 6)
FI-00521 Helsinki,
Finland
Tel: +358-20-748 9600
Fax: +358-9-145 821 (office)
E-mail: oaj@oaj.fi
To send e-mail to individuals at OAJ, follow the format firstname.surname@oaj.fi
The trade union work begun in Finland in 1893 and OAJ was founded on December 28, 1973. Today the membership is 118 967 (1.1.2012).
OAJ's highest decision-making body is the Council, meetings are held twice a year. Between Council meetings, the executive board, lead by president Mr. Olli Luukkainen, is the decision-making body.
OAJ's central office and 11 regional offices serve the member associations, elected officials and teacher members. OAJ also provides its members several advantages and benefits e.g. the services of elected officials and the OAJ advice and consultation services, membership in Teachers' Unemployment Benefit Fund, various insurance benefits, the Opettaja -magazine as well as holiday and recreation services.
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Information about OAJ members
The union represents teachers at various school levels and institutes of learning, ranging from day-care center teachers to lecturers in universities and vocational school teachers. We also work together with the Finnish Teacher Student Association SOOL and veteran teachers. In Finland over 95 percent of the teachers are OAJ members. Breakdown of members by gender: women 74 %, men 26 %.
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OAJ as a negotiator and speaker for education
The OAJ is in charge of the safeguarding of teachers' interests in Finland. It is the only trade union which conducts negotiations on the terms of the teachers' employment contracts. Salaries and working hours are determined in the collective agreement.
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Central organisation
OAJ is a member of the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland Akava as its' largest member union. The membership of Akava is 536 792. The JUKO, the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals, safeguards the interests of the Akava public sector as the chief negotiating agent. Akava is a member of the Nordic Cooperative Organisation NFS and also the ETUC, ICFTU and TUAC.
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International matters
OAJ is a member of the Nordic Teachers' Council NLS, European Trade Union Committee for Education ETUCE and Education International EI. In addition to bilateral collaboration with individual European organisations, OAJ is involved in cooperation projects in Africa.
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Key facts for employees
How long is the initial trial period in employment? How are wages determined? Where can I get help when there are problems at work? Straightforward answers to basic employee questions of this kind can be found in a new guide to working in Finland published by the national labour and employer confederations. This key information is now available online in Swedish and English.
Knowledge of principal rights and duties of working life is important to both employees and employers. Labour legislation sets out basic rules of working life, while more detailed regulations are set out in collective agreements. The online guide to working in Finland provides links to further information available through the websites of trade unions, employers’ federations and other specialist agencies and organisations operating in working life in Finland.
The contents of the online guide to working in Finland have been compiled by the national labour and employer confederations of Finland (The Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland Akava, The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions - SAK, The Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK, The Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, Commission for Local Authority Employers in Finland KT, The Office for the Government as Employer VTML and The Church Employer’s Office KiT). These organisations will also update the information on the website every six months.
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