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| Trade Union of Education in Finland
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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 120 011 (1.1.2010).
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. Erkki Kangasniemi, 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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