Helsinki (21.10.2016 - Heikki Jokinen) The number of people under threat of redundancy in Finland during the third quarter of the year was 11,849. And this is lower than it has been in the last five years.
These numbers are from statistics compiled by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK. The figures show the number of employees who have had to go through the mandatory consultation process with regard to possible personnel cuts.
The Act of Cooperation stipulates that in all undertakings with more than 20 employees, any planned redundancies are subject to mandatory consultation with personnel representatives. The final number of redundancies in such cases invariably remains open.
The statistics are based on information made publicly available and do not include the municipal sector. This means that in real terms the actual figures are even greater still.
The number of redundancies during the third quarter of the year was 3,856. The majority of redundancies took place at Microsoft Mobile (1,350), the bankrupted department store chain Anttila (1,300) and the department store Stockmann (300).
Microsoft’s decision means that all of their mobile phone planning and production in Finland will cease. Their unit in Tampere will be closed down completely.
Other recent major redundancies have take place at Posti Group’s mail distribution operation and at the IT company CGI Suomi.
Many of the latest announcements which threaten unemployment or redundancies come from IT service and hardware companies.
The Swedish telecom company Ericsson will cut 3,000 jobs globally and 175 of these will be in Finland. Telecom IT solutions company Tecnotree also announced in October that it will start negotiations to cut 40 of its 108 employees based in Finland.
In October Fujitsu Finland announced a new round of negotiations aimed at cutting the number of employees by 400. It had earlier this year called for co-determination talks resulting in 139 employees losing their jobs in June.
The Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN wonders why Fujitsu is beginning new negotiations to cut staff even before the previous set of redundancies have been finalised.
YTN is keen to point out that last year Fujitsu’s profit in Finland rose from 12 million euro to 20 million euro. The objective behind these repeated and unwarranted redundancies can be to transfer jobs to countries with lower labour costs.
"This kind of action seriously contradicts Fujitsu's own values of quality and customer service", says Samu Salo, President of the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland.
During the first nine months of the year the number of redundancies in Finland was in total 8,601. It is almost the same as the year before which witnessed 8,626 redundancies.
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