JHL (18.11.2016 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL came out strongly against proposals to create a low paid work market in Finland. This has been proposed by some politicians and business leaders recently as a way to improve the Finnish economy and create more jobs.

"Low pay will not improve Finnish competitiveness, productivity or employees’ motivation", JHL Council warned at its meeting on 17 November.

JHL Council proposes that the trade union federations begin, as soon as possible, to draft a programme on pay policy and get the Finnish Government on board to support it with its own measures.

The goal of this programme should be to improve the purchasing power of wage and salary earners, employment opportunities and equal pay. It should also serve to advance solidarity among wage and salary earners by taking into account especially those with the lowest incomes.

A good basis for a new collective agreement and pay policy could be so called Finnish model, the JHL Council says. The Finnish model is still a preliminary blueprint, but the basic idea is that pay rises in the collective agreements could be linked to the ones for the export industry.

To ensure a balanced future Finland needs a collective agreement policy that takes care of everyone’s well-being, the Union Council stresses.

"This means that it should be possible to make ends meet on income alone and that social security acts as a safety net, and not something to be continuously used to fill the gaps caused by low pay."