The former the municipal trade union KTV chairman Jouni Riskilä died of a long-term severe illness in the Kauniala war injury hospital in Kauniainen on July 4, 2024. He was 84 years old, born in Rovaniemi rural municipality on April 17, 1940.
When he was young, Riskilä worked all year round: in January the savotas started. After them, he headed to the riverside to park his beak. Then the work changed to the support meadow and the owl forest. Had to do the hay and field work on the small farm and then again in the fall to attack the honks. The employer changed several times a year.
I risk it life took a new direction when SAK’s Rovaniemi district administrator recommended to Eino’s father that the son should be guided forward on an apprenticeship. Riskilä’s road first took him to Pohjola college in Haukiputaa, and from there in the fall of 1959 to the Workers’ Academy in Kauniais. A spouse was also found on the trip.
Riskilä was elected general manager of KTV of the then Union of Municipal Employees and Office Holders in 1963, department secretary in 1972, acting. federal secretary, federal secretary 1974 and chairman 1989. He retired in 2001.
Under Riskilä’s leadership, KTV was the largest trade union in Finland in terms of membership. The union’s membership was around 220,000 in 2000. Riskilä was the chairman of the SAK council and a member of the working committee.
Take a risk was a strong and uncompromising leader. He was a respected labor market negotiator who persistently pursued the interests of his members. He was a staunch advocate of equality both nationally and internationally. Riskilä’s contribution to the development of the Finnish labor market system was significant.
Riskilä is remembered as a good colleague and a warm person. Many thought it was admirable that party political differences of opinion were not brought into KTV’s advocacy. In this work, Riskilä actively and willingly maintained good cooperative relations with municipal decision-makers – regardless of their political background.
Riskilä talked a lot, but he didn’t stumble over his words and didn’t have to regret them later. When the ay veteran known as a skilled storyteller left his seat, the SAK members’ evening parties became more boring.
In private life Jouni was known as understanding and always ready to help those in need. His hobbies included travel and nature trips, fishing, construction and other cottage crafts. When he was young, he did a lot of tinkering, despite a hand injury from a childhood wartime shell explosion.
His family included Spouse Marja-Liisa and two sons and their families.
Håkan Ekström
The author is a former colleague, the chairman of KTV’s successor, the Association of Public and Welfare Sectors JHL.
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