Archive

Helsinki (31.10.2012 - Juhani Artto) In the last quarter of 2011, the average monthly pay was EUR 3111*. In the space of one year it had increased by EUR 68. During the year prior to that the increase was EUR 66.

In the period from 2002 to 2011 these two figures (EUR 68 and EUR 66) were the smallest one-year rises of the average nominal pay. The highest increases were recorded from the last quarter of 2007 to the last quarter of 2008 (EUR 142) and in the following year (EUR 101) and in the preceding year (EUR 100).

JHL (25.10.2012 - Juhani Artto) In the municipal election of 28 October voters decide also on employer policy, says Jarkko Eloranta, JHL's President.
"The election result has an impact on municipal employer's policy decisions, and those decisions are felt especially in women's lives, as a big majority of municipal employees are women."
Eloranta stresses that outsourcing of municipal services so that cheaper collective agreements will be applied is a typical matter concerns women in particular.
"To a great extent it is their wages and working conditions that are in the play."

Helsinki (23.10.2012 – Juhani Artto) In Finland, every now and then the proposal to pay lower starting rates for young people as they enter working life rears its ugly head. Indeed, this is a favourite ploy of the entrepreneur associations. The union confederations SAK, STTK and Akava and the trade union solidarity centre SASK are unanimous in their condemnation of this call to lower young people’s pay saying that it is quite unnecessary and unfair in their joint press release.

Helsinki (16.10.2012 - Juhani Artto) Illegal treatment of immigrant labour seems to have become an integral part of Finnish working life. The latest exposure concerns 36 employees of the cleaning company Ariel Palvelut Oy that has had large assignments from public authorities in Helsinki and in Espoo. Most of the victims are from Sri Lanka, the union magazine PAM reports. In late September, the managing director and two supervisors of the company were convicted of aggravated extortion and other work-related crimes by Vantaa District Court.

Helsinki (09.10.2012 - Juhani Artto) The Employment and Equality Committee of the Finnish Parliament is organising a public hearing on Wednesday concerning working conditions at the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant construction site.

Despite intensive and concerted efforts by the trade unions representing workers at the site serious wage and salary dumping as well as working hour irregularities have prevailed. Also flagrant obstacles to workers joining union organizations remain in place.

SAK/Palkkatyöläinen (03.10.2012 - Aino Pietarinen) "In the EU, decisions are now being made in the name of economic policy coordination that will have a bigger impact on wage and salary earners than working life directives", warns Marianne Muona, the Acting Director of FinUnions (The Finnish trade unions representation to the EU).

Thus, the European Commission is extending the reach of its power to, among other things, wage and salary formation. This means that the Commission, through its coordination role, is seeking to circumvent power traditionally held by the labour market organizations, the European Parliament and Council who, together, normally impose working life directives.

Helsinki (27.09.2012 - Juhani Artto) In India a programme developer is paid 30 per cent of a programme developer's salary in Finland, when the employer's mandatory social contributions are included in the calculation. However, the work done in Finland turns out to be less costly for the company than the work done in India.

Two factors make programming in Finland cheaper. In Finland programmers make far fewer mistakes than their colleagues in India and in Finland the work takes far less time to complete than in India.

Helsinki (18.09.2012 - Juhani Artto) A report published in early August by the Federation of the Finnish Technology Industry indicates that Finland's cost competitiveness has declined in comparison with its main competitors. In the debate surrounding this issue employer representatives have repeatedly referred to the strength of the German export industry, in particular, and hinted that Finland should follow Germany's example.

"Germany's road cannot be our road", say the Presidents of two influential trade unions, namely, the metalworkers' Riku Aalto and private sector salaried employees' Antti Rinne (trade union Pro).

Helsinki (05.09.2012 - Juhani Artto) All workers at new construction sites in Finland must now have identification documents containing their personal taxation numbers, under new legislation that came into force on 1 September 2012. Workers at older construction sites must have such ID by 1 March 2013. Foreign workers are not exempted from the new rules.

These novel regulations may become the most powerful weapon available to the Finnish authorities in their struggle against the grey economy. Over the last decade illicit employment practices have spread alarmingly through Finland’s construction sector.

Helsinki (31.08.2012 - Juhani Artto) Sakari Lepola, the President of the Wood and Allied Workers' Union, is incensed by what he discovered on a recent visit to UPM's mill and forests in Rauma, a coastal city in Western Finland. This anger was provoked by the double-standard being employed by the Finnish multinational in regard to its personnel policy.

From the point of view of a trade unionist, superficially at least, the situation at the mill was satisfactory. Cooperation between the management and the employees was running smoothly, and in contrast to many other companies, maintenance work had not been outsourced.