Archive

JHL (15.05.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL is taking an active part in a project to help unemployed trade union members in a very practical way. Two working life coaches will provide individual guidance on how to find and apply for a job. Some 30 unemployed people from the Helsinki region and Uusimaa province will be taken on as customers in the first stage. The goal is to find either a job or some sort of training or education for each person.

The coaches will first sit down with the customer and try to establish the situation at hand: what are the customers own wishes and needs, is the CV up-to-date, are the applications appropriate and is the person eligible for the government supported salary scheme.

Helsinki (15.05.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Recent measures taken by Nokia have prompted many people to ask whether it is using other companies to do its dirty work when it comes to firing employees. "There is a pattern where employees are outsourced with some part of the business to another company, which will then quickly fire them on the grounds of re-organising production. One has to ask whether redundancy has become a business", says Maria Löfgren, director of Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff.

Helsinki (06.05.2013 - Juhani Artto) Experts from the three union confederations in Finland (Akava, SAK, STTK) have delivered harsh criticism to the European Union for repeatedly breaching the freedom of collective bargaining. They refer to recent cases where the European Commission has intervened in the bargaining procedures in Romania, Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy and weakened the position of unions.

This criticism is included in a 26-page discussion paper published on 26 April by experts from the three confederations. The paper will be published in English at a later date.

(03.05.2013 - link to the web site of SAK)

Helsinki (28.04.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The hiring of temporary labour (agency labour) gained acceptance and a sense of legitimacy back in the 1990’s when Finland was going through a period of severe recession. This form of employment, which had shown a marked increase at that point, was seen in the media first and foremost as a solution to the problem of high unemployment.

Changes in legislation passed at that time also reflected changes in attitudes towards this type of employment arrangement. At the same time temporary labour was understood as something that only affected "marginal groups" like women and students, thus posing no danger to the traditional often male-dominated work places.

JHL (25.04.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Temporary lay-offs are on the increase at Finnish municipalities. JHL has collected information on all municipal temporary lay-offs and mandatory consultations with regard to possible personnel cuts. This data reveals that there are currently employees on temporary lay-offs in some 20 municipalities and new plans for similar measures are reported every week. 

"Municipalities must do everything to avoid lay-offs and other forms of salary cuts", says JHL chairperson Jarkko Eloranta. "These measures would only cause harm to essential municipal services for citizens and further reduce already diminishing purchasing power."

Helsinki (23.04.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The Trade union solidarity centre of Finland SASK is campaigning alongside the Finnish section of Amnesty International for trade union rights. The new campaign got underway on Monday 22nd April and focuses on the situation in Colombia.

On the campaign web pages (in Finnish) there is an appeal to the Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos. It implores the president to keep the promises of his government to end anti-union violence and remove the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators.

Helsinki (18.04.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) Some 40 paper, paperboard and pulp factories in Finland are now owned by foreign companies. The problems facing the traditionally strong Finnish paper industry together with major investments by Finnish forest industry companies abroad have provided an opening for new investors in Finland itself.

At the beginning of last year these foreign owned companies employed 3.688 permanent workers and a further 187 in temporary jobs. By the end of June 2012 the number of permanent workers in the paper, paperboard and pulp industry in Finland was 14.210 with 3.236 temporary workers.

JHL (12.04.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL has initiated a campaign for a better working day. The core of the campaign is aimed at creating a more formidable presence in work places around the country with an emphasis on listening carefully to members. Even though regular, routine trade union work involves a lot of interaction and communication with members, the importance of this work cannot be overstated, according to the union.

The campaign is called "Have a good working day - Let's have a break" and holding open meetings at work places is central to this effort. The union ombudsmen, shop stewards and other activists plan to visit hundreds of work places this year.

Helsinki (10.04.2013 – Heikki Jokinen, Juhani Artto) The coalition government of Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen has decided to cut the corporate tax rate from the current 24.5 per cent to 20.0 per cent. The three trade union confederations (Akava, SAK, STTK) are not happy with the decision for a number of reasons.

First, the government plans to finance the cut partly by raising taxes for ordinary citizens. This can only have a negative impact on the purchasing power of wage and salary earners, which in turn will inevitably affect economic growth prospects.