Archive

TU (23.12.2010 - Juhani Artto) On Wednesday the High Court ordered Stora Enso to pay to its 200 salaried employees at the Oulu and Anjalankoski mills over EUR200,000. This verdict finally brought resolution to a dispute originating from spring 2006.

Then Stora Enso refused to pay performance bonuses to salaried employees who had taken part in the industrial action organized by their trade unions. The strike was a protest against the thousands of dismissals in the forest industry.

"The High Court's decision affirmed an important judicial principle", says Antti Rinne, the President of the Union of Salaried Employees TU.

Helsinki (20.12.2010 - Juhani Artto) Since the late 1960s three-tier cooperation between the government and the labour market organizations has been an important element in the promotion of economic growth and in the development of the Finnish welfare system. Now there are serious signs of deterioration in this three-tier cooperation endeavour.

Therefore, it is no small wonder that the Presidents of the two largest union confederations, SAK's Lauri Lyly and STTK's Mikko Mäenpää, have become alarmed by this trend. They have sought to analyse what has been happening in the latest issues of their organizations' magazines, Palkkatyöläinen and sttklehti.

The present government (2010-), and the one before it (2007-2010), were keen to cultivate the idea that they were supporters of three-tier cooperation but their deeds have not always lived up to these assurances. These two governments set up dozens of three-tier task forces but neither have respected the results of their findings nor been committed to their proposals.

Helsinki (17.12.2010 - Juhani Artto) Well-being at work can be significantly improved in the technology industry. This conclusion marks the starting point of a new project in the industry that - with its 270,000 employees - plays a central role in the Finnish economy. Some 20 enterprises of various sizes and product sectors will participate in the project's pilot stage, which is already underway. 

The logic behind the project plan rests on the assumption that when employees' begin to fare better and feel better about the work they do their motivation and work abilities also improve. And this lays the ground for extending working careers - a goal generally accepted and approved by society. Extending work careers not only means later retirement (or a higher age of retirement) but also healthier working years in the earlier stages of employees' lives.

The name of the project is "Good work - longer working career".

TU (13.12.2010 - Juhani Artto) The union of salaried employees TU and Suora, the union of the financial sector salaried employees, finally approved their amalgamation on Saturday. The new union Pro will be operative from 1 January 2011. The first steps in the amalgamation process were taken five years ago.

The union has some 130,000 rank and file members in the private industry and service sectors. Within industry members are to be found in the large sectors such as the technology, forest, chemical and food industries. Also ICT, construction, energy and media industries are well represented.

The rank and file members work as salaried employees, hourly paid employees and foremen or supervisors and in expert jobs. The union organizes self-employed professionals, too.

Helsinki (12.12.2010 - Juhani Artto) In the second quarter 2010 the average wages for women in Finnish industry were 84.4 per cent of average wages for men. The gap was marginally larger than in the fourth quarter 2007 and 2006. In the second quarter 2002 the corresponding figure was 80 per cent.

Helsinki (29.11.2010 - Juhani Artto) The grey economy has now become a very real issue in Finnish politics. This may be seen as a reaction to the recent studies that indicate a rapid growth in the grey economy, with all its attendant malignant implications for society as a whole and in particular for all those companies operating legitimately and their Finnish employees.

On November 9 the Ministry of Employment and the Economy set up a task force to appraise how the present administrative tools work in tackling the grey economy. 

According to the Minister of Labour Anni Sinnemäki, a central issue on the task force's agenda is to prepare amendments to the Act on the Contractor's Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out.

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. 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 (09.11.2010 - Juhani Artto) In Finland the question of work-related immigration is a fairly recent experience when compared with most other Western European countries. And, this is primarily due to the fact that Finland was a country -up until just a few decades ago- where labour emigration clearly exceeded work-related immigration.

In the early 1970s and again in the late 1980s employers cautiously broached the question of the need to import foreign labour but in both instances the debate flitted out quickly as the timing for addressing this very issue, ironically enough, happened to coincide with periods of recession and high unemployment.

It is fair to say the real starting shot in the discussion and debate on work-related immigration began with the immigration policy programme, approved in October 2006, by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's government. Labour market organizations participated in its preparation.

Helsinki (02.11.2010 - Juhani Artto) Data on the ever growing grey economy worries the union confederation SAK. "It is not only a question of lost taxes and fees but also the negative impact on the fairness of competition in business life, on the status of employees, on general tax morality and on the credibility of the entire tax system", SAK says in its large and detailed initiative on the grey economy, published on Tuesday.

The document includes 25 proposals on how to amend current legislation to make it a more effective weapon and barrier against the grey economy. These proposals are grouped into six blocks. 

The first aims to put domestic entrepreneurs on an equal footing with foreign companies. As the situation now stands, according to SAK, foreign companies can easily evade their tax and other monetary obligations. It helps them win tenders unfairly as their costs are lower than those of their Finnish competitors.

Helsinki (20.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) Cleaners and other property service employees will see their wages rise significantly in the next five years.

The collective agreement between the Service Union United PAM and the employer association Kiinteistöpalvelut ry, announced on Tuesday, raises wages by over 20 per cent. The minimum tariffs will rise by 16.5 per cent and the rest will come from annual wage hikes.

The agreement will raise minimum wages of property services to the level of other service industries. The parties believe that it will ease the
recruitment problems cleaning and other property service companies have been having. At present the lowest tariffs for cleaners is slightly below EUR8 per hour.