The story of AKT is an important part of Finnish labour market history. It officially began in 1905, but its roots go back over 500 years. The merger of three different unions in 1970 created the current trade union AKT, which has been building strong advocacy in the transport sector for decades.
Finnish dockers had already begun to organise in 1890. However, the turning point was 1905, which is considered the year AKT was established. That year was a turbulent and active time in Finland in terms of organisational activity, and the Finnish Port Workers’ Union was established in October 1905.
The initiative to establish a dockers’ own trade union came from several trade unions almost simultaneously in August 1905. Loviisa Valko dockers’ union was the first one to demand this. The founding meeting of the union was held at the then Workers’ House on Yrjönkatu in Helsinki on 16–18 October 1905, and was attended by representatives of thirteen docker organisations.
Even deeper in history, there is organised cooperation between transport workers. The first information about Finnish dockers dates back to 1491, over 500 years in history. At that time, the tugs and carriers in Turku went on strike because numerous Hanseatic merchants who had arrived from Danzig wanted to pay only half a tax unit per rye bale for the tug work related to unloading ships. The old rate was one tax unit per bale.
The conflict escalated and became quite serious, but ultimately ended in a victory for the workers, because the authorities did not want to change the tugs’ rate to a loss for the workers. This conflict in Turku port is considered to be the first strike in Finland.
The Finnish Port Workers’ Union began operating under the name of Transport Workers’ Union in 1912. In 1925, the organisation, which operated under the name of Finnish Transport Workers’ Union, united with drivers, car drivers, port workers, warehouse workers and sanitation workers. In 1957, the Port Workers’ Union was founded.
The Finnish Automotive Workers’ Union SAL ry was founded on 9 September 1948. SAL was an advocate for road transport workers. There had been organised activities in the road transport sector before, but not at a national level.
Already in the early years of the union, the agreements that still today are AKT’s important agreements were developed. However, the field has grown considerably since those early years.
AKT in its current form was founded in 1970. Representatives of the Finnish Automobile and Transport Workers’ Union and the Finnish Port Workers’ Union gathered at the SAL congress. The meeting ended with the merger of the three unions. The new union was named the Automobile and Transport Workers’ Union AKT, today the Finnish Transport Workers’ Union AKT.
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