Työväen Arkisto – The Finnish Labour Archives

Contributed by Pete Pesonen [Työväen Arkisto – Finnish Labour Archives]

The Finnish Labour Archives is Finland's oldest social movement archive. It preserves and makes available for research the records of the social democratic labour movement, the trade union movement, and private activists. The Finnish Trade Union Archives were combined with the Labour Archives in 2011, meaning the archive now includes most blue-collar unions, with the exception of two traditionally left-wing unions (those are archived to the People's Archive).

The collection includes, for example, the archives of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Industrial Union, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors, the Service Union United, and their predecessors. Most of the central unions' key minutes and annual reports have been digitised and can be searched for on the archives' search portal: https://yksa.disec.fi/Yksa4/public/TA/search/

The collection also includes photo archives, and digitised photos can be searched for at: https://tyark.finna.fi/kuvat/Search/Results?lookfor=

The Commission of Finnish Labour Tradition operates within the Labour Archives and focuses on labour oral history and written reminiscences. Founded in 1960, the Commission has since gathered and organised collections of thematic memoirs and oral histories. The collections include, for example, more than 1,100 memoirs dealing with strikes in variable aspects.

From 2019 to 2021, the Commission conducted an oral history project in collaboration with the Finnish Industrial Union. The project involved interviewing veteran union members about their experiences of union activities and strikes, as well as their memories of technological change in industry.  Another recent oral history project focused on the experiences and memories of female union leaders.

These oral history audio recordings have been transcribed and catalogued in the archives search portal.