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Helsinki (08.04.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Finland will elect a new Parliament on Sunday 14 April. The campaign Nation of the Free is striving to get labour market issues onto the electoral agenda.

The campaign Vapaiden valtakunta (Nation of the Free) was initiated by young trade union activists last autumn. The main idea is to ask all candidates standing for Parliament to what extent they agree with the values of the campaign.

Another important task they have taken upon themselves is to motivate people to vote. The campaign is not providing financial assistance or support to any individual candidate or any single political party.

Helsinki (02.04.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The fragmentation and precarisation of working life affects trade union membership, too. According to a new study union density has declined.

Seen globally, wage and salary earners are still joining trade unions in Finland, 59.4 per cent of those in working life were organised in 2017. However, in a previous similar study the figure in 2013 was 64.5 per cent.

The latest figure is based on statistical information up until the end of 2017 and comes from a study by Lasse Ahtiainen published by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. This is the seventh similar type study since 1989.

Helsinki (21.03.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The Industrial Union has declared an unusual embargo on the Lapwall company. The reasons for this have their roots in the strike action that occurred last October.

The embargo is a legal measure which can be used when a company does not belong to the employers' association. If necessary, a union can recommend to its members not to apply for jobs in a particular company. The purpose is to get the company to the negotiation table and reach a deal on disputed issues.

The employment office must inform jobseekers about the industrial dispute, and they are not allowed to break the embargo by guiding jobseekers in the company. An unemployed jobseeker has a legal right to refuse a job in a company under embargo.

Helsinki (05.03.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The tripartite working group was unable to agree on new rules for unemployed jobseekers. The group was working along the lines of a so called activation model two, the Government proposal on the additional criteria jobseekers must meet to get uncut unemployment benefit.

The right-wing Finnish Government introduced, at the beginning of 2018, the so called activation model whereby an unemployed jobseeker forfeits 4.65 percent of his or her benefit if they are deemed to be less than active in their search for employment.

The trade union movement vehemently opposed the legislation, claiming it was unfair and sought to penalise those who were unemployed. For many people it would not be even theoretically possible to meet the criteria, the unions asserted. These warnings were ignored and what was predicted would happen did happen with a large number of jobseekers seeing their benefits cut.

Helsinki (21.02.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Debate in the Finnish Parliament on the citizens' initiative to stop the so called activation model took a peculiar turn. At the beginning of the debate on the initiative signed by 140,944 citizen not a single MP from the Government parties turned up.

The activation model is legislation that cuts unemployment benefits should an unemployed job-seeker not meet certain criteria like finding a temporarily job, having entrepreneurial income or participating in training. The legislation is widely viewed as unfair, as it is often not possible to meet the criteria in spite of actively trying to do so.

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK carried out a survey last year and found that more than half of those receiving unemployment benefit from the SAK unions' funds have seen their benefits cut.

Helsinki (18.02.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) February 18 was the moment at which the average private sector employee earnings of this year surpassed a private company chief executive’s daily pay.

The date is calculated by the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK. It tells how many days an average private sector employee must work to reach the same pay as a CEO of a major publicly listed company gets in one day. It took 34 working days.

The new figures are from the year 2017. In 2016, an employee needed one day less to reach a CEO’s daily pay.

Helsinki (08.02.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) A total of 3,362 employees lost their jobs in private companies in Finland in the year 2018. This is practically the same figure as for the previous year, when 3,276 people were made redundant in the private sector. In 2016 the number of redundancies was 10,874.

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK has been keeping track of the number of redundancies since 2007 and the figures for the year 2017 were lower than ever. And the latest figures show there has been little change in the course of a year.

Major redundancies took place last year at the IT technology company Nokia, 353 redundancies, Venator chemical industries, 253 redundancies, the restaurant chain Restamax, 200 redundancies, and wholesaler Tuko Logistics, 200 redundancies.

Helsinki (30.01.2019 - Heikki Jokinen)  Gross neglect is thought to be the reason for one death in privatised elderly care and this has created a major debate in Finland. However, trade unions have been warning about these problems for a long time.

In the eye of the storm right now is Esperi Care, a private company that is taking care of some 8 000 elderly people and others in need of special care. It had a turnover of 231 million euro. The main owner of Esperi is the Intermediate Capital Group, an asset manager company based in Britain.

Valvira, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, announced on 25 January that it would suspend operations at Esperi's nursing home in the town of Kristiinankaupunki.

Helsinki (25.01.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Five main Finnish labour market organisations are touring the country together to launch a broad debate on working life issues in advance of the parliamentary elections on April 14. All three trade union confederations will take part, as well as two major employers associations.

The Ääni työlle (which has a double meaning - vote for work or voice for work) tour will visit 11 main Finnish cities prior to the elections. In each city there will be an open event with a theme focusing on relevant issues around the future of work in Finland.

All candidates standing for Parliament have been invited to participate.

Helsinki (07.01.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Gender equality has become far more prevalent among trade unions in Finland. A quick look at how their boards are composed is evidence enough. In many unions the share of women and men on boards mainly reflects the membership, with few exceptions.

The biggest union in Finland is the Service Union United PAM with 226.383 members at the beginning of 2018. On the Union board in 2019 there are 10 women and 6 men. Males make up 24.18 per cent of PAM’s members.

In the second largest union, the Industrial Union, women account for 24.06 per cent of the 219.066 union members. On the Union board there sit 6 women and 22 men.

JHL, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors is, with its 192,286 members, the third largest union in the country. And on the Board there are 17 women and 8 men. Men make up 30.97 per cent of the Union membership.