Tekijä (11.09.2024 - Heikki Jokinen) The Industrial Union sees no grounds for the Government proposal for amendments in the Alien Act. Nor are the planned changes reasonable. The draft does not answer the needs of society and is based on an inadequate understanding on how the labour market works.

The proposed three months time to find new employment is too short for anyone, the union says. Especially difficult for a person coming from abroad.

Lack of networks and language skills, insufficient knowledge of how Finnish society works and discrimination when it comes to recruiting hinder finding employment. The risk to use illegal paid employment services or to grab other suspicious jobs will grow, the union stresses.

Also, the union is worried about employment prospects of immigrants that are already in Finland. They must have real possibilities to find work, this should be the focus.

The proposed legislation would weaken the position of an immigrant worker in the workplace. The union frequently witnesses situations, where the employer is exploiting the worker threatened with losing their job and being expelled from Finland. The new law would make employees even more vulnerable.