Kihnu Veeteed workers form union and agree wage increase

Workers at ferry operator Kihnu Veeteed have formed their own trade union and signed a wage agreement with the company after negotiations with the Estonian Seafarers’ Union stalled, ERR reported. The union’s leader says the dispute could lead to a strike.

The wage dispute between Kihnu Veeteed and the Estonian Seafarers’ Union, known as EMSA, has continued for five months. With the negotiations deadlocked, the company’s employees decided to establish a new union and negotiate a pay rise directly with their employer.

Tõnis Sõlg, captain of the Soela ferry and a representative of the Western Estonia Seafarers’ Union, said the new organisation was created by Kihnu Veeteed employees to end the prolonged negotiations and restore labour peace.

“The negotiations started to drag on, and the main sufferer is ultimately the employee,” Sõlg said. He added that the new union was not formed as a countermeasure to EMSA, but had taken a more moderate position on some issues and excluded others.

The Western Estonia Seafarers’ Union was established by six ship workers, including four ferry captains. EMSA represents 29 of Kihnu Veeteed’s 42 employees, according to the report.

EMSA leader Jüri Lember criticised the new union, saying that six people had taken the right to represent all employees at the company. Kihnu Veeteed manager Jaak Kaabel said the new union had emerged because employees had been unable to reach an agreement or conduct what they considered reasonable negotiations with EMSA.

Kaabel said the company could theoretically have more than one collective agreement. Lember, however, said the agreement signed with the new union contained provisions EMSA could not accept and that his union would continue its usual negotiating process.

Lember said EMSA could initially call a 24-hour work stoppage. A decision on whether to hold a strike is expected shortly.