Archive

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.

Helsinki (20.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) It all began in spring 2009 with the then Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's proposal to raise the minimum retirement age from 63 to 65 ... and ended up on Wednesday in a comprehensive programme by a tripartite committee on employment and economic growth. The programme consists of over 90 proposals, none of which touches on the minimum retirement age. The committee's task force on how to extend working careers will continue its work.

Representatives of all three parties -the government and the employer and employee organisations- were seemingly happy when presenting the report. Much of the findings will most probably be included in the next government programme, once a new government is formed after the April 2011 Parliamentary elections.

Helsinki (19.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) Many union activists raised their eyebrows when the Service Union United PAM recently announced its decision to sponsor the controversial reality TV show Big Brother. Doubts and criticism concerning the move did not come as a surprise to the leaders of the union. But the decision has also been greeted with much applause.

So, why has PAM made this somewhat surprising decision?

According to Timo Piiroinen, the communication director of the union, BB is among the favourite programmes of PAM's rank and file members. Therefore, the union expects to reach, through its advertising on the programme, a considerable number of people working in the service industries where PAM operates.

Helsinki (08.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) The strike of 4,100 wood workers is over. The Wood and Allied Workers' Union and the employer association Finnish Forest Industry approved a new collective agreement on Thursday evening. The agreement covers 18,000 workers.

All workers will receive -starting retroactively from October 1- a 1.1 per cent increase in their wages. In addition an 0.8 pay rise is to be implemented on the basis of local negotiations.

The biggest obstacle to an agreement was resolved by leaving the regulations on the seniority allowance untouched. Originally it was the employer side that demanded changes to these regulations.

(07.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) Researchers Susan Kuivalainen from the University of Turku and Kenneth Nelson from Stockholm University conclude, on page 17, as follows: "A tentative conclusion could therefore be that the Nordic welfare state and Nordic social assistance arrangements indeed have changed since 1990, but differences compared to other welfare democracies seem nevertheless to persist.

This is mainly due to the same tendencies going on also in other types of welfare states. Thus, social assistance in the Nordic countries during the last one and a half decade is a story of both change and continuity. Changes have mostly been in the downward direction, with decreased benefit levels and less effective social assistance benefits to reduce poverty.

Helsinki (01.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) The Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK has become a new sponsor of the Trade Union News from Finland.

STTK has 20 affiliated trade unions. They represent 640 000 rank and file members. Thus, the more than13 year old electronic publication is now sponsored by two union confederations and eight trade unions. One of the unions is affiliated to the STTK, the other seven to the SAK.

Helsinki (01.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) About 4,000 mechanical forest industry workers went on strike in the afternoon on October 1. Both the Wood and Allied Workers' Union and its counterpart, the Finnish Forest Industries, rejected the proposal of the National Conciliator Esa Lonka.

According to the union the main disagreement concerned the seniority-based rewards. Many forest industry jobs are in regions where workers do not have many employment options. Therefore, many workers have had long working careers in the same company. The now expired collective agreement rewarded this by seniority allowances or bonuses that have long played a significant role in many workers' incomes.