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Helsinki (24.09.2010 - Juhani Artto) On September 29 - the common action day of European trade union movement

- Finnish union organizations will organize meetings in the capital Helsinki and several other cities. In Helsinki a mass meeting will take place on the traditional union stronghold Hakaniemi Square. Open air events will be organized also in Turku, Oulu and Jyväskylä.

Helsinki (09.09.2010 - Juhani Artto) The leaders of five industrial unions* and the Construction union announced on Wednesday their determination to cooperate closely during the on-going round of collective bargaining. At this stage cooperation primarily means an exchange of information and common analyses of inflation and other economic factors. Concrete forms of support are still open and to be considered later on if needed.

The industrial unions announced this plan on Wednesday and represent almost 200,000 union wage andsalary earners. The Construction Union has some 60,000 rank and file members. 

The six unions agree on these starting points in the bargaining that mainly consists of pay negotiations. The purchasing power of employees in all industries has to be secured by pay rises, the unions say. As inflation is predicted to rise by more than 2 per cent next year, the 1 per cent upper limit for pay rises, set by the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, is clearly too low.

Helsinki (01.09.2010 - Juhani Artto) SAK's President Lauri Lyly wants trade unions to have a common minimum demand in the upcoming negotiations on wage and salary rises. He outlined this initiative last week during a SAK seminar. Several trade union leaders reacted positively to this proposal on hearing it but the overall tone was rather cautious. 

Lyly's initiative may be seen as a reaction to the somewhat mixed experiences from the previous round of collective bargaining that came to an end in May 2010. The round in question was marked by the very noticeable and strenuous intervention of the leading employer organization, the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK. It sought to use an iron-fist in an attempt to steer its member organizations - especially in trying to keep wage and salary rises below the 0.5 per cent "pay anchor", as defined by EK itself.

Helsinki (20.08.2010 - Juhani Artto) According to a new thorough study* the grey (formerly black) economy was in 2008 somewhere between 10 and 14 billion euros. Using EUR12 billion as the amount the provision of the grey economy would have been 6.5 per cent of the gross national income (EUR 184 billion).

In 2009 the provision probably jumped to at least 7.0 per cent as the GNI fell by 7.8 per cent to EUR171 billion and nothing indicates that the grey economy has shrunk in any way or fashion.

These figures mean that the provision of the grey economy has expanded at a frightening space. In the mid 1990's the provision was estimated to be about 4-5 per cent.

Helsinki (10.08.2010 - Juhani Artto) In 2007 almost 6,300 occupational or suspected occupational diseases were confirmed. Two thirds of the cases
concerned men, and in the food processing industry employees face the biggest risk of falling victim to an occupational disease. The annual number of confirmed cases has remained fairly stable over many consecutive years.

However, authoritative statistics, as maintained by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, does not tell the whole truth about the situation. This has been openly admitted by Ari Kaukiainen, a senior physician at theinstitute, in the June issue of the institute's magazine Työ TerveysTurvallisuus. He believes, that in reality, there are "significantly more cases" than those confirmed up until now.

Helsinki (31.07.2010 - Juhani Artto) A recent study dispels the generally held belief that the risk of losing one's job has significantly increased. Lifetime job histories from the years between 1963 and 2004, as documented in pension records, are evidence that the change has been surprisingly limited.

In 2004, the average duration of employment relations was about 8.5 years. This was longer than in the latter half of the 1960s and around the same level as the 1970’s.

Helsinki (23.07.2010 - Juhani Artto) The Service Union United PAM has some 600 cases at any given time where its rank and file members -individually or collectively- disagree with their employers. Half of the cases concerns pay claims, Kaarlo Julkunen, PAM's vice president explains in the economic daily Taloussanomat. Two thirds of these cases involve young employees and immigrant workers who are disgruntled by low pay. 

According to Julkunen efforts to swindle employees is more common in the summer than in the other seasons. Catering businesses try to pay too little more often than retailers. In both sectors there is a collective agreement that is of a generally binding character. And this means, in effect, that also unorganised employers are obliged to respect the pay scales laid down in those agreements.

Helsinki (13.07.2010 - Juhani Artto) Even with the largest drop in GNP (7.8 per cent in 2009) in several decades has not stopped real incomes of wage and salary earners growing. The last time average real incomes decreased was during the recession of the early 1990s. In 1992 the average dropped by 0.7 per cent and in 1993 by 1.4 per cent.

Since 1994 average wages and salaries have annually increased at least by 0.6 per cent from the previous year.

Helsinki (05.07.2010 - Juhani Artto) Work-related exhaustion may even be fatal for industrial employees who are under 45 years of age. Work-related exhaustion almost trebles their death risk. This has been established in a study* made by researchers of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The finding stresses the urgency of prevention of work-related exhaustion among younger employees.

The study was the first of its kind in the world. It was conducted in the forest industry. The sample for the statistical study involved over 7,000 employees. A similar increase in the risk of death, as a consequence of the work-related exhaustion, was not found among older employees.

Work-related exhaustion is a consequence of excessive workload that has continued over a long period. It may be caused, for example, by long-enduring contradictions at the work place or work goals that cannot be achieved, the researchers explain.

Helsinki (22.06.2010 / updated 22.06.2010 - Juhani Artto) In late May 2010, when the Food Workers' Union SEL signed the new collective agreement for food workers, an unusually long round of bargaining came to an end. It had begun in August 2009 with the collective agreement for technology industry workers, signed by the Metalworkers' Union.

In light of the exceptionally difficult economic conditions the trade unions have fared well. In autumn 2009 the agreements raised wages and salaries by between 0.5 and 0.6 per cent, and the agreements signed in spring 2010 saw a rise of about 1 per cent. In the private sector the cost impact of the agreements is on average 0.6 per cent per annum, in the municipal sector (that employs a fifth of the labour force) slightly higher. In 2009 inflation sank close to zero.