JHL (02.02.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) To turn one's back on Europe is no solution to anything in Finland, says JHL President Jarkko Eloranta. He urges Finns to vote in the forthcoming elections for the European parliament next spring.
"This time round we need an election result that conveys a strong desire to change the direction of Europe. There needs to be a demonstrable change towards a more social Europe, towards a workers' Europe and towards a European welfare policy."
We have to work for change and fight for it before the existing policy line destroys what we have been building on this continent for over one hundred years, Eloranta stresses.
He spoke these words at a meeting of the trade union confederation SAK General Council in November at Kiljava. Eloranta is also chairperson of the SAK General Council. JHL is the largest of SAK’s 21 member unions. SAK unions have slightly more than one million members in total.
The current economic crisis in Europe and Finland has created an atmosphere where it has been possible to put into practice things that would not have been possible to do in normal times, or would have been too shameful, Eloranta says.
Eloranta mentions the attacks on workers' rights and trade union activities. And he claims austerity policies have led to undemocratic structures and practices both at the European Union level and in some of the member states, too.
"Economics is not one of the natural sciences. It is to a large extent a science that is based on ideology, beliefs and political goals."
Trade unions will do everything in their power to challenge the prevailing and predominant economic doctrine of today. Increasing the labour supply is not the only way, Eloranta says.
"Cutting interest rates alone is not enough, we must raise salaries. We also need to embark on public investments and increase other public spending. And this has to be done at a European level."
"We therefore need more Europe, but another kind of Europe. We need a more social Europe that respects and appreciates people and workers."