Archive

Helsinki (09.04.2002 - Juhani Artto) The Chemical Workers’ Union and the Textile and Garment Workers’ Union are to merge in spring 2004. A letter of intent concerning the merger was signed by the unions in March. This conclusion is based on a careful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the merger strategy.

The main goal of the merger is to improve the effectiveness of work to safeguard workers’ interests and provide services to members.

The Chemical Workers’ Union currently has 34,600 members, 60 per cent of whom are men, while the Textile and Garment Workers’ Union has 16,300 members, 86 per cent of whom are women.

Helsinki (16.03.2002 – Juhani Artto) The three SAK unions organising engineering, construction and private service workers are demanding legal reforms to prevent pay and social dumping in the enlarged EU. In a letter to the government and Parliament of Finland these organisations stress that Finnish legislation leaves room for abuses when an enterprise based in another EU Member State offers hired labour or subcontracting services.

The unions back their demands with the results of a new study by labour law expert Jari Hellsten published in November 2001. The study reveals that inspection of hired labour coming from abroad and of employees sent by foreign subcontractors is much less rigorous in Finland than in the other EU Member States.

Helsinki (12.03.2002 – Juhani Artto) At the end of last year a historic agreement was signed at KWH Pipe in the western Finnish City of Vaasa. The agreement applies arrangements known as the Danish 3+1 working hour model for the first time in Finland.

In practise the agreement means that at the Thermo-Pipe department each group of three employees will be prepares, where necessary, to share its work with a fourth employee. To demonstrate its commitment to the agreement the enterprise has permanently employed more than ten workers who were previously on temporary employment contracts at the factory. The agreement required the employer to do this only for ten workers.

Helsinki (13.02.2002 - Juhani Artto) There is a common belief that employees tend to extend their weekends by "swinging the lead" on Fridays and Mondays. A new study* has now refuted this view.

The study is based on the sick leave records of more than 27,000 municipal employees over the period from 1993 to 1997. The sample covers a large range of jobs from manual labour to employees in leading positions. The five-year study period includes times of both economic recession and growth.

On average 3.5 per cent of men and 5 percent of women took sick leave during working hours. Older employees had a higher rate of absence due to illness than younger ones. During the economic recession the sick leave rate was lower than in the subsequent period of economic growth.

Helsinki (02.02.2002 - Juhani Artto) Finland’s tax rate is among the highest in the world. It reached a peak of 47.1 per cent in 1996, and is estimated to have been 45.0 per cent last year. According to Ministry of Finance projections, the rate should fall to 43.6 per cent this year.

Jorma Ollila, CEO of Finland’s best-known multinational corporation – the mobile phone giant Nokia – recently offered some critical comments on Finnish taxation, causing nervousness among both policymakers and the general public. Some commentators interpreted Ollila’s words as direct threats that Nokia may leave Finland unless the tax burden is eased.

Helsinki (06.01.2002 - Juhani Artto) The Finnish Parliament is soon to examine a proposal to extend paternity leave by seven weekdays. Paternity leave is currently 18 weekdays. The proposal is part of a reform package negotiated by Finland's labour market organisations. However the organisations rejected demands for longer paternity leave as too expensive.

About 60 per cent of fathers exercise the right to 18 weekdays of paternal leave, while almost all mothers take the 105 weekdays of maternity leave to which they are entitled. The gender gap is wider for parental leave, which is currently 158 weekdays and may be taken either by the father or the mother or shared between them. Only three per cent of men exercise this right. With some 57,000 births in Finland annually, this means that about 1,700 fathers take parental leave.

Helsinki (02.01.2002 - Juhani Artto) Researcher Jorma Antila of the Finnish Metalworkers' Union has analysed the progress of income divisions between capital, wages and salaries (functional income division) in five industries, organised by the union. His statistical material covers the years 1975-2000.

Until the beginning of the exceptionally deep recession of the early 1990s variations in the division between capital, wages and salaries were small i.e. the functional income division remained largely unchanged. Differing developments emerged only after this time.

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.