Archive

Helsinki (16.08.2002 - Juhani Artto) Trade Union News from Finland (Trunf) yesterday celebrated its fifth anniversary. The existence of this unique information service is based on the firm belief that working life in Finland and the Finnish trade union movement have several features of interest to many people working and living in other countries. These include trade unionists, journalists, researchers and people in many other occupations and walks of life.

Trunf not only promotes information exchange, but also conveys research findings and new ideas. This is essential, for example, when seeking to narrow the gender disparity in working life. No country has been able to eliminate this gap, and so nobody can claim to have managed the problem and to have no need to work with others aiming to resolve or reduce the scale of this challenge.

Helsinki (08.07.2002 - Juhani Artto) The European trade union movement should have a European level collective bargaining strategy. This recent proposal was made by Lauri Ihalainen, President of SAK, the largest central trade union organisation in Finland. Ihalainen also presently leads the Council of Nordic Trade Unions. "The strategy would clarify the goals and division of labour in European level agreements made for individual industries and for several industries."

Ihalainen considers that national agreements will continue to have the main role in the immediate future, and that European bargaining will supplement national bargaining. However, he envisages that cross-border bargaining will undoubtedly increase. Progress will be made especially within multinational enterprises to unify the principles of their staff and salary policies. Common recommendations and positions by European level labour market organisations will also increase.

Helsinki (17.06.2002 - Juhani Artto) Thousands of Finnish nurses, midwives, physiotherapists and other health care professionals are currently working abroad. The Union of Health and Social Care Professionals - Tehy estimates that there are about 6,000 of these workers, which is a sizeable percentage of the total trained labour pool in the sector.

More than a third of these 6,000 work in Norway, slightly fewer in Sweden, and a growing number in the UK. Tehy information officer Katriina Vasama reports that the organisation’s rank and file are employed in some 140 countries.

Nobody knows the exact figures for Finnish health care professionals employed abroad. Even the present trends remain unknown, but Vasama believes that the number exercising this option is hardly decreasing.

Helsinki (10.06.2002 - Juhani Artto) People in Finland are keenly interested in any news about the possible cancer risks arising from the use of cellular telephones. The country’s high mobile phone density is not the only important factor explaining this interest. Nokia, the mobile phone world leader, has about 25,000 employees and its headquarters in Finland.

This enterprise plays a major positive role in the Finnish economy and in the lives of thousands of families and several municipalities.

This means that the Finns get alarmed whenever news breaks of a possible link between cellular phones and cancer or other illnesses. At the end April a group of Finnish researchers published a new study on this issue. No connection was found between mobile phone use and brain tumours or salivary gland cancers.

Helsinki (03.06.2002 - Juhani Artto) A new survey finds that as of March 2002 about 40,000 of the 1.1 million Estonians have worked in Finland. Half of these workers have experience of working illegally in the Finnish labour market. The survey was conducted by the Finland Gallup organisation and commissioned by the largest Finnish central trade union organisation - SAK.

Should Estonia become a Member State of the European Union, 48 per cent of Estonians are interested in working abroad. The most favoured host country would be Germany (17 per cent). Finland was nominated the most attractive foreign country to work in by 10 per cent of the Estonians. Sweden scored the number one position in 7 per cent of responses.

Helsinki (24.05.2002 - Juhani Artto) Finland granted 15,000 residence and work permits to foreign workers in 2000. This figure may even double this year, as the construction and engineering industry has difficulties in finding appropriate employees on the domestic labour market, especially in southern Finland. In the summer months commercial farms also employ foreign labour, mainly for strawberry picking.

Most of these migrant workers are Russians and Estonians. Statistics for 2001 indicate that no other countries supplied more than a few hundred workers to the legal Finnish labour market.

Applications for residence and work permits are generally approved. Last year only 4.2 per cent of applications were turned down. The authorities are not allowed to grant residence and work permits when workers are already available on the domestic labour market.

Helsinki (25.04.2002 – Juhani Artto) In just a few years employer attitudes towards workers over 55 years of age have become more positive. This vital change has taken place to a large extent thanks to the National Programme for Ageing Workers 1998-2002. In association with the ministries of labour and education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health was primarily responsible for implementing the programme, while trade union and employer organisations supported the campaign.

Another factor behind the improved labour market position of older workers has been a general growth in demand for labour.

Helsinki (09.04.2002 – Juhani Artto) Lumberjacks working for the forest industry giant Stora Enso in Lapland now enjoy additional occupational safety.

The improvement is based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). When alone in the forest in an emergency situation, the lumberjack need only push the emergency button of his mobile telephone.

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.