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Helsinki (20.10.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The deadline for the national labour market settlement on Friday 25 October at 16.00 is fast approaching, but most of the negotiations at union level are still open. Some negotiations have not even really started.

The trade union confederations and the employers’ organisations agreed on 30 August on a national agreement on wages and salaries, the Pact for Employment and Growth. If there are enough unions and branches willing to accept the national agreement, it will become valid in October. The task is not an easy one as there are some 280 collective agreements to negotiate.

JHL (14.10.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL gives now possibility to get the union membership card in the smart phone instead of a traditional plastic card. First it is offered to a pilot group of student members, later this year for all members.

Many reductions and other membership benefits are available with the union membership card. These include for example cheaper prices in the union own holiday resorts and on selected other holiday spas and resorts.

Helsinki (14.10.2013 – Heikki Jokinen) The development projects coordinated by the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland SASK reached 182,327 people in 2012. A total of 64 projects took place in 49 countries. The number of separate project actions was 2,271.

The main goal of SASK is to strengthen trade unions around the world in order to make them more capable of defending workers' rights especially in the fields of collective bargaining, labour rights and influencing decision making.

Helsinki (03.10.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Pressure to change the legal status of Thai berry pickers in Finland is growing. So far the thousands of seasonal wild berry pickers from abroad have been working entirely at their own risk.

The Wood and Allied Workers’ Union demands that their work be regarded as real employment and covered by the collective agreement which applies to allied rural industries. The pickers of cultivated berries are covered by the collective agreement.

Behind the recent discussion is the ongoing dispute between some 50 Thai wild berry pickers and the company that buys their berries. According to Finnish legislation picking wild berries in forests is a right to be enjoyed by everyone and is also exempt from taxation.

"It is important that job alternation leave should remain as a measure to support the managing of work and employment and also within reach of those with lower salaries", she says.

Job alternation leave is an arrangement whereby an employee and employer conclude an agreement allowing the employee to take leave for an agreed time of between 90 and 359 days. The employee will get an allowance that is 70 - 80 per cent of his/her estimated unemployment benefit.

Helsinki (27.09.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Exports will recover and the recession will ease. This is the prediction of The Labour Institute for Economic Research in their forecast for the Finnish economy 2013 - 2014. The Institute expects Finland’s gross domestic product to contract by 0.6 per cent this year. Earlier, in March this year they had forecast a 0.6 per cent rise.

The change is explained by the prolonged recession in Europe and a lower level of investments. The growth expected in neighbouring Russia and Sweden has also been slower than predicted. This has had a negative effect on Finnish exports.

Helsinki (15.09.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The sale of Nokia mobile phones to Microsoft came as a shock to Finland. For Finland Nokia is more than just a major company, it is an integral part of the Finnish success story. Nokia was the main vehicle that enabled the country to recover from for the deep recession of the early 1990's.

The success it achieved in the not so recent past was nothing short of remarkable. The knock on effect was that it generated a great deal of faith and trust in Finnish engineering competence as well as giving a boost to national self-confidence.

The news was as confusing for the trade unions as to everyone in Finland. It is difficult and too early to say what will happen with Nokia mobile phone units in Finland. Nokia mobile phones currently employs around 4,700 workers in Finland.

JHL (12.09.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Most of the threatened cutbacks and reorganising of state research institutes were avoided, but many questions still remain open, says JHL’s Chief Executive Officer Päivi Niemi-Laine.

The Finnish Government has decided in principle to reorganise the research institutes, but the position being adopted now is different from the original plans criticized by JHL. The Geological Survey of Finland will remain independent. The National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health will not merge, as previously planned.

JHL has been anxiously following the reorganisation of public research institutes but sees the Government decision as a step in the right direction.

Helsinki (11.09.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The presidents of the member unions of the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK called for Antti Palola’s candidature for the next President of STTK. Palola was thankful for the unanimous support and said he is ready to undertake the task.

Mikko Mäenpää, the President of STTK since 1999 had already made it be known that he would step down at the STTK Council meeting in December this year.

Antti Palola (54) is current President of the Federation of Salaried Employees Pardia. It is one of the major unions in STTK with some 60,000 members. The majority of their members work in government agencies and institutions and a significant number in public bodies, enterprises, companies, universities and the Social Insurance Institution Kela. Mikko Mäenpää was the chairperson of STTK-J, the predecessor of Pardia before he became the leader of STTK.

Helsinki (05.09.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The fate of the national agreement on wages and salaries is now in the hands of union and employer organisations. They have until 25 October to bargain for new collective agreements within their branches.

The trade union confederations agreed on 30 August with the employers' organisations on a national agreement on wages and salaries. If there are enough unions and branches willing to accept the national agreement, it will become valid in October.