Archive

Helsinki (21.12.2001 - Juhani Artto) Finland's new Employment Contracts Act (no. 55 of 2001) took effect on 1 June 2001. The last bone of contention in the long process of drafting the law concerned the general applicability of collective agreements.

The trade union movement lobbied strongly on this point and secured an acceptable formulation. The country's conservative Coalition Party, on the other hand, sought to weaken the regulations on this point, which is perceived by employee organisations as one of the utmost importance.

This dispute has not yet been fully resolved, however, as application of the Act is more than a mere technicality. Although collective bargaining is very much the norm in Finland, there remain some industries, trades and professions in which it has not yet taken root.

Helsinki (03.12.2001 - Juhani Artto) In 2001-2002 the International Labour Organisation - ILO is spending USD 40 million on its SafeWork and related field programmes, in which most of the organisation's operations for occupational health and safety are concentrated. Programme Director Jukka Takala* gives an idea of the magnitude of the challenge with four simple but shocking statistics:

• Injuries at work and occupational diseases claim 1.3 million deaths annually.
• There are 250 million accidents at workplaces each year.
• 160 million working men and women contract occupational diseases each year.
• Approximately four per cent of gross national product is lost through injuries at work and occupational diseases.

Helsinki (20.11.2001 - Juhani Artto) Smoking restrictions at workplaces in Finland were voluntary until March 1995 when a reform to the Tobacco Control Act prohibited smoking in all common and public premises. The new legislation gives employers two options when implementing the Act: either impose a total ban on smoking or allow smoking in designated smoking rooms with separate ventilation systems and lower air pressure than non-smoking facilities.

A new study* indicates that in terms of reducing smoking and nicotine concentrations in indoor air the legislation has clearly achieved better results than the voluntary programme. This study was conducted at twelve medium-sized and large workplaces by investigators from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

Helsinki ( 02.11.2001 - Aino Pietarinen) "I expect the consumer movement to become more active and the Clean Clothes -campaign to take root in Finland," says Textile and Garment Workers' Union President Auli Korhonen, and she stresses: "The Fair Trade system is already part of our work and is helping to enlarge our knowledge of ethical production. The degree of attention given to ethical questions will depend on the activity of consumers and investors."

Ms Korhonen notes that ethical production has been on the textile and garment industry agenda for at least twenty years. Change is slow in coming, but some progress has been made. In their collective agreement the union and its employer counterpart commit themselves to respecting the industry's ethical guidelines and ILO conventions. Back in 1997 they agreed on ethical standards at European Union level.

Helsinki (29.10.2001 - Juhani Artto) Each year 3,000 Finns retire because of mental illness. This means that such early retirement annually affects more than one person in one thousand in working life. Only rheumatic and motor disorders play a bigger role in early retirement.

Mental illness has become the single largest category of reasons for sick leave, accounting for 60 per cent of all time spent off work for medical reasons. Experts estimate that about 200,000 of the million plus rank and file members of SAK trade unions suffer from mental problems during at least one period in their working lives.

Women suffer from mental disorders slightly more frequently than men in Finnish working life. No age-specific characteristics have been verified.

Helsinki (22.10.2001 - Pirjo Pajunen) SAK economist Peter J. Boldt believes that greater consideration will be given in future to ethical points of view in world trade. These aspects include environmental matters and the position of employees.

"Over the last few years the atmosphere of discussion has changed radically. Ethical production will inevitably increase."

Boldt warns that these changes will take place slowly, however. There is currently more talk about desirable objectives than actual concrete action. Nevertheless, it is a good thing that instruments already exist for applying pressure on enterprises to allow for ethical points of view, and new initiatives are steadily appearing.

Helsinki (15.10.2001 - Juhani Artto) About 100,000 Finns of working age suffer from persistent asthma requiring medication. While previous studies suggested that work-related factors were responsible for 5 to 10 per cent of these cases, a new extensive follow-up study* has led five Finnish researchers to a different conclusion.

Of the 50,000 new asthma incidents in 1986-1998, work related factors were blamed in 29 per cent of the male cases and 17 per cent of the female cases. The study covered the entire working population aged 25 to 59 years.

The biggest risks occur in the foodstuffs sector, agriculture, painting and engineering jobs. All of these pose roughly twice the risk as compared with office work. Of the 70 occupational groups studied, 29 demonstrate an increased risk of contracting asthma both for men and women.

Helsinki (09.10.2001 - Heikki Piskonen) Estonia declared national independence ten years ago, after this was made possible by the break-up of the Soviet Union. The country then effected a complete U-turn in its economy. The old planned economy was directly replaced with an ultraliberal market system.

The role of society in the economy is restricted and State property has been privatised despite occasional tragicomic features. This sharp-edged market economy ideology has also resulted in a shortage of tax revenues necessary to finance social services. Part of wages and salaries are paid in secret. Any regular visitor to Tallinn, the nation's capital, can testify to growing visible social inequality. Wealth from successful businesses has not trickled down to the poor.

Helsinki (01.10.2001 - Juhani Artto) Finland’s new Employment Contracts Act (no. 55 of 2001) that took effect at the beginning of June reinforces the generally binding character of collective agreements in Finland. The trade union movement achieved this advance by intensive lobbying of conservative policymakers who had not appreciated the benefits of the generally binding system for society at large.

Another objective likely to be gained by the trade union movement will be approval of its proposal for transition periods governing labour mobility in the enlarged European Union. An active lobbying programme has greatly improved understanding among policymakers of the need for such transition periods. A final decision on the issue has yet to be made in the EU.

Helsinki (21.09.2001 - Juhani Artto) One of the outcomes of a recent SAK survey was that six per cent of SAK rank and file union members have been involved in moonlighting. For an organisation representing more than a million workers this means about 60,000 people. However there was no public outcry in Finland when this figure came to light.

Everybody in Finland knows that working life is not free of shadowy arrangements whereby employer and workers evade taxes, social security contributions and other work-related expenses. Control mechanisms, however, are so strict that only a small part of this grey economy is in any way systematic.