Archive

Helsinki (13.02.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) A bitter struggle has been going on for years over a collective agreement for those employed distributing unaddressed mail and free-sheet newspapers. From the end of 2009 there has been a collective agreement in place with a generally binding character. The Finnish Post and Logistics Union PAU is a party to this agreement.

The agreement has been endorsed in several court cases. Many of those employed by the distribution companies have received compensation for salaries deemed to be too low.

As a counter measure the employers decided to register their own so-called trade union Suomen Mainosjakajien Etujärjestö SME in November 2009.

Various leaders of the distribution companies have been on the board of SME. Currently, Research and GIS Specialist of the Janton Corporation, Olli-Pekka Sinkko is a board member. The former deputy CEO Mikko Kärki from Janton-owned Jakelujuniorit is the previous chair of the SME.

Helsinki (06.02.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) All together 60 municipalities had last year mandatory consultation with regard to possible personnel cuts with their personnel representatives. More than 300 person lost their job and some 7 200 people were on temporary lay-off. The average length of it was 13 days.

The figures are collected by JHL, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors, and based on the information received from the union activists around the country. In most of the municipalities the consultations concerned the whole personnel. Only in three municipalities negotiations were focused on a specific sector.

Helsinki (31.01.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) Twenty top Finnish companies have 225 subsidiaries in tax havens, the Finnish watchdog Finnwatch reveal in a new report. Of these 79 are in the Netherlands and 22 in Belgium.

Though the Netherlands is not usually cited as a tax heaven, Finnwatch says that it offers several possibilities for companies to avoid taxes and repatriate profits i.e. return profits back to their home countries.

The OECD has set four criteria for tax havens, and one of these is the absence of requirement that there must be substantial activity in the company. In the Netherlands there are 11,500 foreign holding companies, more than in any other European country, Finnwatch says.

Helsinki (23.01.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) 2014 brings with it some changes in regard to unemployment benefits, parental leave and developing employees' professional skills.

When signing the national wage agreement in October last year trade unions, employers and the government agreed on some changes to unemployment benefits. These are now in effect.

As of this year it will be easier to get earnings-related unemployment benefit (calculated in terms of a daily allowance) than before. Earlier, one had to belong to the unemployment fund for a period of 8 months in order to receive the pay related dole and now it is 6 months.

Helsinki (16.01.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) Alcohol results in some two million days of absence from work every year in Finland. The harm caused by alcohol abuse is estimated at between 4 and 6.5 billion euro a year. Alcohol also contributes to a lot of dangerous situations which occur at work.

The three trade union federations Akava, SAK and STTK support the national campaign Tipaton tammikuu (Not a drop in January). It has a clear message: to ask citizens to abstain from drinking alcohol in January.

Quite many do follow the appeal. According to the surveys of those Finns who do drink alcohol 22 per cent joined up to the campaign last year. People below 25 years of age were more eager to participate than those from the older generation set.

Helsinki (08.01.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) The number of redundancies remained on a high level already for the second year in a row during 2013. A total of 14,500 employees lost their job, according to statistics from the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK. In 2012 the number of redundancies was 15,800.

Only in the year 2009 has the number of redundancies been greater than in the last two years. More than 20,000 employees lost their jobs in 2009.

Technology industry companies accounted for the bulk of personnel cuts and second place went to private services. The highest number of redundancies took place in the industry services provider Metso which let go 1,157 employees. It was followed by Renesas Mobile 808, ship builder STX 670 and Nokia with 579 redundancies.

The listed companies were responsible for 45 per cent of redundancies. This is ten percentage points less than last year.

Helsinki  (23.12.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Ann Selin, president of the Service Union United PAM, is a candidate for the next president of UNI Global Union. She was nominated as a candidate at the UNI World Executive Board meeting in Dublin in November. The elections will take place at the next UNI World Congress in Cape Town in 2014.

"It is an honour to the whole Finnish and Nordic trade union movement and our ways of doing things that I was asked to be a candidate. It is an important international task that will open even greater possibilities to examine how developments in the global labour market are shaping up and to influence these", Ann Selin says.

JHL (20.12.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL has started a new marketing campaign with the slogan May the force be with us. The line is a well-known one from the Star Wars -movies, but it sums up well what the world of trade union work is all about.

The union provides the force for the challenges in working life, but the union itself is also a force, which has the power to influence society and working life. The idea behind JHL’s campaign is to combine and connect elements from popular culture with the real and formidable story of organised labour.

"We are saying that no one has to be left alone. JHL is defending your rights in working life. We also seek to defend welfare services as a whole", says Kauko Ala-Nikula, the JHL Head of Communication.

Helsinki (16.12.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Riku Aalto, the president of the Metalworkers' Union, put forward the idea for closer cooperation or even amalgamation between industrial unions. He spoke at the Metalworkers' Union National Council meeting.

In particular Aalto mentioned the deepening of cooperation under the auspices of the Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (Teollisuuden palkansaajat TP). This body is a cooperative umbrella organisation made up of 13 industrial unions. Aalto is the chairperson of TP.

Aalto cited falling membership dues, which in turn leads to a reduction of staff in union offices, as a reason for closer cooperation. "We have to be able to consider critically our activities and how to organise these", he stressed.

JHL (16.12.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The unemployment rate among JHL members is lower than the average. This bit of news was unearthed by JHL magazine Motiivi when studying the statistics. The figures are from last June.

The unemployment rate among the whole labour force was 11.6 per cent and among JHL members 8.1 per cent. Only in one of the 19 counties were the figures not in favour of JHL members.

The lowest unemployment rate among JHL members was in the archipelago county Åland, 1.6 per cent. The unemployment rate in Åland is also low in general, 3.1 per cent.