Archive

JHL (01.08.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Even though July is the deep holiday month in Finland - the month most Finns choose to take their holidays - JHL made a determined effort to make their presence felt in a place where many people go to visit. JHL took an active part for example at the SuomiAreena by setting up a stand and organising a public debate on early childhood education.

SuomiAreena is a public debate forum, taking place in the city of Pori on the Finnish west coast. The five-day event featured 125 debates with 600 speakers. The discussions mainly focus on politics, social issues and culture. This year the event attracted a total of 22,000 people who came to hear what the speakers had to say. The event coincides with a major jazz festival, Pori Jazz.

(27.07.2013 - Link to the web site of Yle News)

Helsinki (23.07.2013 – Juhani Artto) Outotec tops the list when it comes to labour costs per employee in Finnish companies in 2012. The list, published recently by the economics weekly Talouselämä (issue 20/2013), comprises figures from the hundred largest Finnish employers (not including public sector employers). The minerals and metals processing company Outotec last year paid out 81 373 euros per employee in direct and indirect labour costs.

The next company on the list, the fuel refiner and marketer, Neste Oil, ended up paying slightly less than 68 000 euros. It was marginally above the globally operating consulting company Pöyry, the Finnish broadcasting company Yle and the national airline Finnair. Coming just below the latter were Finavia (airport services), Tieto (IT services provider), Orion (pharmaceuticals) and Fujitsu Finland (ICT technology and services). Their labour costs per employee slightly exceeded  60 000 euros.

Helsinki (10.07.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The outsourcing of social services is not working in practice as it should according to the theory. Many municipalities are taking back the once outsourced services. It is not sure either whether buying services from private providers will save money for the municipalities at all.

This can clearly be seen from the Social Barometer 2013 published by Soste, the umbrella organisation of some 180 associations in the social sector. The Barometer is based on a questionnaire made for top-rank employees in the mainly municipal social and health care sector.

JHL (10.07.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Altogether 17 nurses from the Philippines passed their exams to become practical nurses, appropriately enough on the Philippine independence day in June, at Amiedu, the vocational adult education centre in Helsinki. JHL offered grants to two of the students.

The nurses arrived in Finland last October and most of them completed their studies with excellent marks. All underwent Finnish language training also. And they already had nursing qualifications from the Philippines.

(08.07.2013 - Link to the web page of Service Union United PAM)

(07.07.2013 - Link to the web site of Yle News)

Helsinki (05.07.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The threat of redundancy is a growing concern for Finns. A rise in the rate of redundancies was already discernible at the beginning of the current economic crisis in 2009, says the Trade Union Confederation SAK on the basis on their statistics of mandatory co-operation negotiations in companies.

The Act on Co-operation within Undertakings stipulates that if company has more than 20 employees, the employer is not permitted to issue any redundancy notices without first organising co-operation negotiations with the employees. The purpose of these mandatory negotiations is to try to find alternative solutions to redundancies.

Helsinki (26.06.2013 - Timo-Erkki Heino) "Finnish multinational corporations are export companies which carry out a major part of their activities in Finland." - This is the perception many Finns have of Finnish multinationals. The perception is outdated: in the case of eight major multinational manufacturing companies only 25 per cent of their personnel were in Finland in 2010 compared to 47 per cent in 2000, report Pekka Sauramo and Ritva Oesch in their study* recently published by the Labour Institute for Economic Research.

However, this outdated view still prevails in Finnish economic policy discussion - and practices - with conservative Government ministers demanding moderate or preferably zero-line wage increases in order for these multinational corporations to increase or maintain their employment levels in Finland.

JHL (24.06.2013- Heikki Jokinen) Three out of four Finns (76 per cent) say that public transport belongs to the public services. Only one out of ten think the opposite. This is one of the findings of a public transport barometer commissioned by the JHL.

The political opinion of those interviewed did not influence the result. A great majority among all party supporters saw public transport as an essential part of the public service system. In a previous similar barometer conducted in 2010 those who supported this idea was 79 per cent.

The survey covered 1,048 people from all around Finland. Special focus was placed on the Helsinki metropolitan region with 695 extra interviews. TNS Gallup carried out the survey.