History
The TEK was founded in 1896 as the association of Finnish-speaking engineering professionals (Suomenkielisten teknikkojen seura). In early years, it was mainly a learned society, which aimed to promote the use of Finnish language in the engineering profession dominated by the Swedish language. During the First World War, the activities of the association widened into wider sphere of Engineering and Economics. In 1936, the association differentiated itself from the engineers and technicians who had graduated from polytechnics, and started to require a master's degree in engineering (Finnish: diplomi-insinööri) of its members. This was signalled also in the name Suomen teknillinen seura (Finnish technological society), which excluded technicians.
The Second World War brought about inflation which severely affected the middle classes earning fixed salaries. Little by little, the association increased its activities as the lobbying body of the engineering profession, starting to offer continuing education and pursuing studies on the social and economic standing of its membership. In 1972, the Finnish-speaking STS and its Swedish-speaking counterpart Tekniska föreningen i Finland (TFiF) formed a common trade union KAL, which started to negotiate collectively with the employers as a full-scale trade union. In 1978, the KAL started to insure its members against unemployment and in 1984, the Finnish Association of Mathematicians and Physicists (SMFL) gave the KAL a mandate to negotiate on its behalf.
The present structure of the association was formed in 1993, as the KAL and the STS, which had been in close cooperation for two decades, converged into the TEK. At the same time, the Swedish-speaking TFiF and the SMFL remained separate, although all members of the SMFL are automatically also members of the TEK.
Read more about this topic: Finnish Association Of Graduate Engineers
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