Archive

Helsinki (30.11.2011 - Juhani Artto) Since 2007 the governments have reacted to abrupt structural changes with a certain set of measures designed to mitigate the rise in unemployment. A new study* indicates that the method has had a positive impact. Unemployment has clearly risen after all the redundancies and closure of factories but gradually, as a result of the measures adopted, the development has begun to follow the direction of other parts of the country, the researchers conclude.

Since 2007 altogether 22 areas, as well as the maritime industry, have been entitled to receive assistance as "areas of abrupt structural change". In almost five years governments have directed EUR 220 million for this purpose.

In addition, the financing company Finnvera has provided loans and guarantees worth EUR 500 million, and another financing company Suomen Teollisuussijoitus has been a source of investment to companies in these badly hit areas. Both of these financing companies are owned by the Finnish State.

Helsinki (28.11.2011 - Juhani Artto) Early on Monday morning the last obstacle on the road to the acceptance of a new labour market framework agreement was overcome. Then the trade union of transport drivers and port workers AKT and its employer counterpart agreed on details on how to apply the framework agreement, approved in October by the labour market confederations.

And so, the same morning these various confederations concluded that support for the agreement is broad enough to take effect. At noon the government announced that it had come to the same conclusion.

Helsinki (22.11.2010 - Juhani Artto) In late September we reported on suspicions that Turkish electricians are not being properly paid for building a new 400 kV transmission line in Southern Ostrobothnia (www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2010/n28). These suspicions had been voiced by The Electrical Workers' Union.

Soon after that Sauli Väntti, who is responsible for the union's work in the energy and ICT sectors, visited the work site of the Turkish company Internationale Freileitungsmontage (IFM) to gather information on working conditions. A week later - without any explanations - the 33 Turkish electricians returned home.

Helsinki (18.11.2011 - Juhani Artto) The Polish company Elektrobudowa Spolka Akcyjna has given notice to 32 Polish electricians at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant construction site. Most of the sacked workers are rank and file members of the Finnish Electrical Workers' Union.
According to Finnish unions, the company has let it be known that it will also dismiss the remaining organized Polish electricians by the end of the year. At the end of October 190 Elektrobudowa SA's employees were rank and file members of the Finnish Electrical Workers' Union. The company has around 360 employees altogether at the Olkiluoto construction site.
Among the sacked electricians were many who earlier this year sued the company for unpaid salaries.

Helsinki (09.11.2011/edited 09.11.2011 - Timo-Erkki Heino*) For a long time after World War II and up until the mid-1990s Finland was often described as "a moderate society". But then came an abrupt change. Income inequalities, which had slowly been diminishing during this period, started to increase rapidly.

Before the mid-1990s the incomes of the CEOs of Finland's biggest companies from ordinary employees averaged 14 times the average income of the workers at the same companies. After 1995 the CEO income averaged 31 times that of the workers. If the mobile-phone company Nokia, by far the biggest and one of the most international of the Finnish companies, is included, the incomes of the CEOs averaged 110 times the income of the workers.

Helsinki (05.11.2011) "According to the results presented in this paper, it is clear that there has been a trend-like decline in the labour share in most major OECD countries at an unchanged rate of unemployment", Pekka Sauramo writes in a new study, published recently by the Labour Institute for Economic Research.

"The interpretation of this kind of decline is not straightforward, but it is highly likely due, at least partly, to the weakened bargaining power of labour", Sauramo concludes.

Helsinki (27.10.2011 - Juhani Artto) On 26 October, the union confederation STTK drew attention once again to how slowly the gender pay gap is being narrowed and how much still remains to be done to eliminate it. The timing for this reminder was not chosen randomly but consciously.

On 26 October, 82 per cent of this year had passed and in Finland, on average, women earn 82 per cent of men's wages and salaries. And so STTK decided it was an opportune moment to generate a bit of publicity for a worthy cause by declaring on 26 October "no more pay for women this year". Media publicity was guaranteed.

STTK's lawyer Anja Lahermaa makes it very clear that equal pay goals and other equality issues must receive far greater attention at the bargaining tables than has been the case up until now. She is responsible for equality issues at the STTK.

Helsinki (21.10.2011 - Juhani Artto) About 30,000 salaried and wage employees at 37 technology industry companies began a strike 6 a.m. on Friday. The proposal put forward by the National Conciliator, Esa Lonka, was rejected by both the employers and the three unions representing the employees. The unions involved in the dispute are the private sector salaried employees' union Pro, the Metalworkers' Union and the Electrical Workers' Union. 

The major stumbling block was the pay structure presented by the National Conciliator. The Metalworkers' Union wants a solution whereby a large part of the pay rise awards translate as equal amounts of cents for all with the locally negotiable share of the pay rises remaining minimal. In his statement Pro's President Antti Rinne says that the proposal did not guarantee equal minimum pay rises to all and that too large a share of the pay rises was left at the employers discretion.

Helsinki (14.10.2011 - Juhani Artto) For the first time in four years the labour market confederations agreed on Thursday to a centralized collective agreement. Economists belonging to the confederations expect the 25-month agreement to slightly improve the purchasing power of wage and salary earners. 

The signatory parties are the union confederations Akava, SAK and STTK and the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the employer organs of the State, municipalities and the Lutheran church.

The agreement includes two pay rises (2.4 per cent and 1.9 per cent), a EUR 150 lump sum and several changes in working life regulations. In addition, the government has promised to make the agreement more attractive by tax cuts for both employees and companies together with a few other measures.

Helsinki (05.10.2011 - Juhani Artto) Negotiations for a comprehensive income policy agreement ended on Tuesday after failure to reach agreement on pay rises. The two employer confederations (Confederation of Finnish Industries EK and Local Government Employers KT) offered 2.4 per cent for the first 13 months and 1.9 per cent for the following 12 months. 

The union confederations SAK and STTK turned down the proposal as too low. The third union confederation Akava would have liked to continue the bargaining process and wait and see what kind of tax cuts Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen would promise to smoothen the path towards a confederation level agreement.

After SAK's and STTK's rejection EK's Director General Mikko Pukkinen stated that EK will not make any new offer and that the confederation level negotiations are now over. In practice, this means that collective bargaining will go on between the sector-based labour market parties i.e. between individual trade unions and the employer organizations in various industries.