Archive

Sortavala, Russia (14.10.1999 - Juhani Artto) Most of the economic news from Russia which reaches Finland and the rest of the world is negative and gloomy. In the 1990s expectations of an upturn - of economic growth and the establishment of a basis for a healthy new start - have unfortunately repeatedly proved unrealistic. In spite of this, millions of Russians and friends of the country elsewhere in the world have continued their efforts to get this huge country moving.

This was the starting point for a group of Finnish journalists which visited the 2,190 square kilometre Sortavala district just over the Fenno-Russian border in mid-October. While the major problems of the region did not surprise the experienced Finnish journalists, visits to three enterprises and discussions with the Republic of Carelia trade union leader Gennadi Salaponov gave concrete reasons for cautious optimism.

Helsinki (23.09.1999 - UP/Mika Peltonen) One condition for Eastern European countries seeking EU membership is that they must have functioning labour market systems. However, it would be useless to press for the Finnish collective bargaining model because the required leap would be too great.

There is no need to insist on legislative reforms in the applicant States as in any case they must apply EU directives and the current legislation of the Union. Instead we should improve labour market systems and practices.

"The problems lie in how to implement the goals. The emphasis is on ensuring the existence of labour market partners and organised collective bargaining", says Turo Bergman, representing the Finnish trade union movement on the ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) enlargement task force.

Helsinki (14.09.1999 - Veikko Tarvainen/Reaktio*) How can individuals find self-fulfilment in their work? Dr Kimmo Kevätsalo has analysed this question at length and with great thoroughness. His recently approved thesis "Stiff flexibilities and wasted resources" considers this and several other important aspects of working life.

Dr Kevätsalo has spent 30 years working for the Metalworkers Union, the first half of this time as a journalist for the union's magazine Ahjo and the remainder as a researcher. In the last few years he has also managed a consulting company advising on aspects of working life.

"In my thesis I have refuted the prevailing sugarcandy image suggesting that Finnish working life is rapidly changing for the better. Only at the top level are things going well. Nowadays, the majority of employees are in an endangered situation. The threats have grown in the 1990s, especially in the industrial sector."

Helsinki (02.09.1999 - Juhani Artto) In 1987 about 11 per cent of wage and salary earners in Finland were in temporary jobs. By last year this figure had already reached 17.5 per cent (women 20.6 %, men 14.6 %).

An amendment to the Employment Contracts Act took effect in February 1997 which in practise legalised the common manner, particularly among service sector employers, of concatenating fixed term jobs. This means that employers may legally employ the same worker again and again in fixed term jobs.

According to a study made in 1997-1998, almost a third of temporary workers (32 %) were substituting for employees on maternity leave or absent for other reasons. In 29 per cent of cases the nature of the work made it reasonable - from the employers' point of view - to engage a temporary worker. This is a practicality when producing goods and services for which demand fluctuates greatly. In 23 per cent of cases the reasons were so vague that even the employees concerned did not know the employers' motivation.

Helsinki (25.08.1999 - Juhani Artto) Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's new government included in its programme a brief remark on the need to restrain international capital transfers. The programme gives no hints about what kind of concrete means could be considered for this.

In late June the Metalworkers Union President Per-Erik Lundh came out with one such concrete proposal: he is in favour of applying a mechanism known as the Tobin tax. In practise this means that the international community should levy a small tax on short-term international capital transfers. The goal would mainly be to discourage the speculative transfers that cause instability in the global financial system as a whole. A major proportion of the more than USD 1,000 billion dollar daily transfers are purely speculative.

Lundh's position gives momentum to the Tobin tax demand in Finland where Kepa, the umbrella organisation for NGOs in international development work, has recently started to campaign for a global Tobin tax.

Helsinki (20.08.1999 - Juhani Artto) Trade unions and their members in Finland are represented at places of work by more than 50,000 shop stewards and labour protection representatives. Unions affiliated to the largest central trade union organisation, SAK, have a total of 35,000 such representatives elected by the rank and file members. The unions of STTK have 9,000 and Akava 6,500 corresponding local activists.

Recently the SAK monthly Palkkatyöläinen newspaper carried a leader article on the need to reinforce the position of shop stewards at the workplace. The shop steward system was established in the 1890s at the same time as the emergence of the trade unions.

Legislation first recognised the shop steward system in 1917, which is the year when Finland became an independent State. The model, however, collapsed for 30 years following the civil war of 1918 in which the Whites (bourgeois) defeated the Reds (labour movement). After the Second World War, which for Finland ended in September 1944, a proper shop steward network was designed on the basis of an agreement between the main labour market central organisations: SAK and the then STK. The system was reformed in the 1950s and 1960s and again in the last decade.

Helsinki (13.08.1999 - Juhani Artto) Electricians Union members award good marks to their union and are also eager to participate in its work. These are the main findings of a new study made by professor Harri Melin of the University of Tampere. The researcher himself finds the level of willingness to participate surprisingly high.

More than 60 per cent of 1,000 randomly selected members completed the questionnaire. The union has 29,000 members in the energy sector, telecommunications, the construction industry and in maintenance duties in various industries.

The most important factor identified by the respondents was job security (53 %), followed by a good income (28 %) and interesting work. In a corresponding study conducted in 1985, job security and pay level were equally important. This change primarily reflects the growing insecurity felt by workers in the current highly competitive working life of the late 1990s and the deep recession in the Finnish economy which immediately preceded this situation.

Helsinki (05.08.1999 - Juhani Artto) In the early 1990s the Finnish economy went through its deepest recession since the Second World War. In just a few years a state of nearly full employment crashed to one of almost 20 per cent unemployment. Gross domestic product fell by a tenth of its pre-recession level. A banking crisis was triggered, with a final bill of FIM 40-50 billion (FIM 1.00 = EUR 0.17 = USD 0.17), creating a financial climate which even forced many healthy enterprises into bankruptcy.

The future of society's social character was severely in doubt.

Welfare structures, however, were maintained. These were mainly financed by huge budget deficits, swelling a national debt of FIM 50 billion to FIM 420 billion in only seven years.

Without cuts in public welfare programmes indebtedness would have worsened even more. From today's perspective these cuts mean an annual FIM 55 billion saving in public expenditure. Nevertheless, 70 per cent of public expenditure consists of welfare services (unemployment benefits, education, health, child care, pensions, income support etc.). Ten per cent goes on interest and on debt repayment.

Helsinki (02.07.1999 - Juhani Artto) "While it is not the purpose of the trade union movement to organise strikes, if the employer organisations challenge us by turning down proper European-level negotiations on working conditions, then conflict may be needed", said ETUC General Secretary Emilio Gabaglio at the Thursday evening Press Conference.

ETUC President Fritz Verzetnitsch supported this observation. "We're not looking for strikes but we aren't afraid to strike, either. The first industrial action will probably not be seen at federation but at branch level", he specified.

"In this Congress we have secured a framework for European-level negotiations. We have a twin-track approach. We have the tools for both federation-level and branch-specific negotiations. All of the elements for bargaining on European-level working conditions, workers' rights and training are covered in our Resolutions", Gabaglio assured at the Press Conference.

Helsinki (01.07.1999 - Juhani Artto) Over 600 delegates at the 9th ETUC Congress listened carefully to the words of Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, whose country had assumed the EU-presidency just ten hours earlier. The tall, 56 year-old Finnish Premier recently made his mark by spending one week on paternity leave, as is now the right of all fathers of new-born babies in Finland. Mr Lipponen was warmly received by the European trade union leaders.

Mr Lipponen, a union member himself, is clear in his attitude towards the role of trade unions, beginning his formal remarks with the words: "Cooperation among European trade unions isan encouraging example of a successful and pioneering way of working together in a changing Europe". He finished by congratulating the ETUC for the work which has been done and he characterised the Congress as a significant tour de force. "We need real partnership to make Europe successful", he affirmed.

While Lipponen refrained from making concrete promises to work for the ETUC's demands, there was nothing in his speech which was at variance with basic ETUC policy.