Archive

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.

Helsinki (26.03.2013 – Heikki Jokinen) The mining industry is increasingly becoming an important sector of the Finnish economy. This is felt also in the Metalworkers' Union where some 1,500 miners are organised.

Last year the Association of the Finnish Extractive Resources Industry (FinnMin) conducted a survey concerning future prospects among 58 companies working in mining. Among the survey’s findings it is estimated that within the next ten years, along with expansion, a total number of 5,600 people will be employed in mining - an increase of 150 per cent in comparison with the existing situation in the 48 companies that replied to the survey.

JHL (25.03.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The government is preparing new legislation requiring municipalities to establish companies instead of public enterprises. The Act is based on European Union competition legislation, which sees public enterprises as a form of public support and thus serve to distort competition. Public enterprises must now be re-established as companies if they operate in a field where private competition also exists.

Director Päivi Niemi-Laine from JHL claims that there is no need to corporatize a municipal enterprise if it only sells services to its owners or to the municipalities it is serving. "It is important to consider, too, the possibility that the enterprise will withdraw from the market. In this case there is no need to corporatize it", she says.

(21.03.2013 - link to the web site of Yle News)

(20.03.2013 - link to the web site of SAK)

Helsinki (13.03.2013 – Heikki Jokinen) Finland is producing bicycles again. The traditional bicycle factory Helkama Velox moved the production line of its Jopo bicycles back from Taiwan to Finland in 2010. Since then the sale of Jopo bikes has doubled.

About 24,000 bicycles will be manufactured this year, which amounts to eight per cent of total annual bicycle sales in Finland. Many components are still produced abroad, but more than 50 per cent is Finnish work. The original Jopo first made its appearance in 1965 and continued in production until 1974. With the retro boom in vogue Helkama began to make it again in 2002 and moved production to Taiwan three years later.

Helsinki (05.03.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The Prime Ministers' Office published last Friday a report demanding more low-pay work in Finland. The report is drafted by Juhana Vartiainen, the Director General of the Government Institute for Economic Research and Osmo Soininvaara, the Green Party MP and one of the party’s chief ideologists.

They propose that those under 25 years should receive salaries 20 per cent below what is set out in the collective agreements, with the sweetener of a reduction in the tax rate for those affected.

JHL (05.03.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The unions representing municipal employees are ready to agree, even at short notice, to a centralized labour market agreement, if the terms and goals set by the unions are achieved.

A centralized agreement would pave the way for the planned local government reform, the unions believe. The Finnish government’s reform plans include several mergers of municipalities, which is a major and controversial issue in Finnish politics at the moment. It is proving to be very difficult to implement.

Helsinki (01.03.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) The Finnish Electrical Workers´ Union recently disclosed how Estonian electrical workers were underpaid on a major construction site (car park P-Hämppi) in the city of Tampere. After the visit of the union representatives some of the Estonian electricians joined the union and asked for help.

"There are many new companies in this branch and it can happen that they just simply do not know the rules. In most cases everything is ok", says ombudsman Jari Ollila in Vasama, the magazine of the union.