The UJF has bestowed its shop stewards awards for 2017 on Jukka-Pekka Porola, chief shop steward at I-Media, and to public broadcaster Yle shop stewards Anu Pylkkänen, Juha Romppainen and Timo Löppönen. The awards were presented at the session of the UJF council held 17 May. Jukka-Pekka Porola is described in the award citation as as a "peaceful and calm person, a bridge between the management and newsroom” at the paper he works for, Pohjalainen. Porola earned praise for the integrity he displayed in defending union members’ interests at redundancy talks at I-Media, which put labour relations in turmoil. “Even though there were redundancies, no one at the paper felt that their cause and wellbeing had not been advocated.” The shop stewards at the Yle were received awards for their handling of tough redundancy talks in 2016. Anu Pylkkänen is shop steward at Yle Production, Juha Romppainen is shop steward at Yle Mediapolis, and Timo Löppönen is shop steward at Yle Production and Design. The award citations praise the union officers for their "persistent and long-lasting, unusually time consuming and strenuous shop steward work”. The aftercare of the redundancy talks procedures and dismissals is still underway at Yle Production. “The shop stewards have left no stone unturned to ensure that the outcome would be bearable for employees,” reads the award citation.