Finnish Food Workers' Union
# Finnish Food Workers' Union

The Finnish Food Workers' Union (Finnish: Suomen Elintarviketyöläisten Liitto, SEL) is a trade union representing workers in the food industry in Finland.

The Finnish Food and Drink Workers' Union was established in 1905, but banned in 1930. As a temporary measure, the new Finnish Federation of Trade Unions (SEK) admitted food workers to the Finnish General Workers' Union, but in December 1932, it split them into a new Finnish Food Workers' Union.

From 1945, the union was led by Kalle Lindholm, a member of the Finnish Communist Party. While a minority of Social Democratic Party supporters left in 1960 to join the rival General and Speciality Workers' Union, this rejoined the SEL in 1970, soon after the SEK merged into the new Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. The SEL's membership grew rapidly, and by 1998 had reached 43,497. By 2020, this had fallen to 30,047.

## Presidents

    1932: Lauri Pöyhönen
    1941: I. K. Björk
    1941: Lauri Pöyhönen
    1945: Kalle Lindholm
    1949: Armas Reunamo
    1951: Eero Teri
    1953: Arvo Hautala
    1966: Urpo Virtanen
    1969: Jarl Sund
    1991: Ritva Savtschenko
    2006: Veli-Matti Kuntonen
