Membership criteria

Membership is based on your work, not on what you were trained in or studied. Union members comprise employees and freelancers working for print media, broadcasting, publishing firms and online media.

Membership is not open to people who, for instance, write blogs at their own initiative and do not derive their income from it, or who informally assist with a publication every now and then.

Students

You can join the union if you are studying to be a journalist, or if you are studying journalism and media at a university or college. Membership is also open to students of other subjects who are intending to become journalists and have sufficient work experience in this field.

Information and communications employees

You are eligible for union membership if you are employed in information and communications work that includes basic journalistic elements, and is produced for use in own your organisation or community, or for a wider audience.

Such fields of information and communications work include government at local and national level, political parties, parishes, news agencies, trade magazines and enterprises.

You can retain your membership if, say, you are elected to parliament or work as a press attaché for the foreign ministry or you are employed in EU information and communications work.

Managers

Union membership is open to anyone who works within the scope of application of collective bargaining agreements, regardless of their supervisory position in the workplace. It is also open to people employed in the information and communications field who have managerial journalistic tasks that are not covered by collective agreements.

Members who negotiate for management on matters to do with collective agreements may not take part in workplace union activity on such matters.

Similarly, journalists with editorial management responsibilities as employees or entrepreneurs are not barred from union membership, but they may not take part in workplace activity on collective bargaining matters.

Others

Union membership is also open to people teaching journalism and media studies in colleges, taking into account their career background.

Researchers of journalism and media are also eligible to apply for membership. So are translators working in media and publishing, and retired people whose occupational profile meets the primary criteria for union membership.

Loss of membership

Your membership may be suspended for a period of time or cancelled altogether if you break the union’s rules or refuse to follow union decisions or instructions, or act against the values and ethics of the profession.

Membership may also be cancelled if you neglect to pay your union subscription despite being reminded.

Join the union, fill in the application forms (mostly i Finnish)

New Member / Employee
New Freelance / enterpreneur member
New Student member