Archive

Petrozavodsk (29.09.1998 - Juhani Artto) The Republic of Karelia is part of north-western Russia. For many Finns Karelia is a highly emotional issue because a large part of the region belonged to Finland until 1944. At that time 400,000 Finns lost their homes and their property in Karelia and were resettled in various provinces of post-war Finland.

Another natural reason for the considerable interest shown by Finland in Karelia is the long common border. The Fenno-Russian border is 1269 kilometres long. In the north, Finland borders the Murmansk region and in the south, the Leningrad region surrounding St. Petersburg. The Republic of Karelia lies between these two regions and has a 700 kilometre border with Finland.

780.000 people currently live in the Republic of Karelia. The principal ethnic groups are Russians (74 %), Karelians (11 %), Belorussians (7 %), Ukrainians (3 %) and Finns (3 %). The ethnic Karelians are linguistically and ethnically closely related to the Finns.

Helsinki (17.09.1998 - Juhani Artto) The globalisation of corporate life is increasing the role of cross-border sympathetic industrial action. This means that the legal framework of cross-border sympathetic industrial action is becoming a vital issue for the trade union movement.

This is the starting point of a new study by the Finnish legal researcher Juri Aaltonen LL.M. commissioned by the Finnish Metalworkers Union. The 210-page study describes and compares conditions in the 15 Member States of the EU. The work was published in Finnish in late August and will be available in English in December.

The legal considerations pertaining to international sympathetic industrial action vary widely between the EU countries. However, the terms "sympathetic industrial action" and "international sympathetic industrial action" are known in all of them. There is no country in which an agreement to refrain from industrial action prevents the organisation of sympathetic industrial action.

Helsinki (14.09.1998 - Juhani Artto) For most working Finns the holiday period is now over and soon the Summer will be as well.

There is a noticeable contrast in Finland between summers, when the sun stays above the horizon until late at night, and the dark, cold winter months. Correspondingly, ordinary Finns have two widely varying ways of life. One consists of work, bills, hurry and noise causing a dangerous degree of stress, while the other is more or less opposite to all that with leisure, long unhurried days and little stress. With reason, one can speak of a double life lived by a whole nation.

by Russell Snyder*

(07.09.1998) A father's role in pregnancy and childbirth is taken very seriously in Finland. After all, it takes two to tango and the father must share the responsibility for bringing a new life into the world. It is very gratifying for a man to know he played an important part in the child bearing process and that his wife was able to rely on his support.

When my wife got pregnant with our first child, neither one of us knew much about what we were getting into. When she got morning sickness I tried to find something she could eat without throwing up; when she got dizzy spells I tried to support her or at least catch her before she fell; and when she had mood swings I tried to be tolerant or at least hold my tongue. We both read lots of books, magazines and brochures about pregnancy and childbirth (she in Finnish and I in English), we attended three parenting classes together, and went on a tour of a hospital maternity ward.

Helsinki (16.08.1998 - Kimmo Kiljunen*) The average Finn has a higher income level nowadays than ever before. It is therefore incredible that the economy and ordinary welfare service provision should be in such a critical condition. The problem cannot be lack of material resources. Rather it is a question of finding the political will for social development.

The main problem is a tendency to make employees pay for economic problems in the public sector. In many municipalities, decision-makers try to balance their budgets by temporarily laying off staff and in the worst cases even though redundancies.

This policy undermines morale among employees, making efforts to improve the economy still more difficult. Expertise and co-operation between municipal staff is essential if local government functions are to be made more effective and rationalised. Lay-offs and the threat of redundancies are poorly suited to this aim.

Helsinki (14.08.1998 - Juhani Artto) A few years ago the labour researcher Kimmo Kevätsalo* proposed an hours of work model for industrialised countries which would eliminate unemployment. He recently repeated this proposal after learning of a similar model proposed by Dr. Patrick M. Liedtke, a member of the Club of Rome working group.

The basis of Kevätsalo's model is a 20-hour working week. Employers would be obliged to offer work to all citizens of working age so that nobody would be forced to remain unemployed. "The pay for this weekly 20 hours of work, which would be mandatory for both employers and employees, could be set at the average level of present unemployment compensation (or the minimum income level)", Kevätsalo writes in his column in the Metalworkers Union publication "Ahjo" (6-98).

Helsinki (02.08.1998 - Rauno Pentti) Finns are currently engaged in a lively debate about the statutory pension insurance system and the financing of future pensions.   Experts have presented a wide range of views and calculations in the course of this debate.  Some experts believe that the present pensions system is adequate to meet future needs, while others are more doubtful and call for changes to the system.

Conflicting visions as to how future pensions will be financed are worrying citizens. More than 80 per cent doubt society's ability to ensure adequate pension security in the years to come. As many as three out of four people believe that politicians don't take the issue seriously enough.*

Carin Lindqvist-Virtanen, senior researcher at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, considers citizens' concern understandable. "Our present national pension system, which provides basic social security for all, was created in the 1930s, and the earnings-related pension system goes back to the 1960s. In the beginning, both schemes were very feasible, as many paid pension premiums but few people were retiring.

Helsinki (10.07.1998 - Tiina Huokuna) The large age classes are a large question mark on the labour market.  We'll all face problems unless the large age classes can be encouraged to stay active in the workforce longer, and thriving on the job.

At the present time, only mini-sized age classes are coming on to the labour market.  Their numbers aren't enough to replace the massive exit of labour from the workforce.

There is good reason to want to keep people in their fifties active members of the labour market. Firstly, they are the country's first whole age class to have such a good level of education. Keeping the large age classes in the workforce also has an impact on the national economy. The pension system simply cannot flexibly accommodate the simultaneous early exit from the workforce of so many people.

(05.07.1998) The economic and social effects of the recession have left a long-lasting mark on Finnish society, despite the fact that prerequisites for economic growth are good.  The greatest cause for concern is the slow decline in long-term unemployment. 

There is increasing danger that Finland will be split into two groups; citizens who are well off and those in a bad way.  Prolonged dependence on social security is even increasing. Recipients of unemployment benefit remain on numerous. The number of people living on income support has not fallen appreciably; in addition, the period covered by income support was extended in 1996.  These were among the findings disclosed in a report, "Trends of Social Security in Finland in 1997-98", compiled by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and released on December 17, 1997.

1. Solidarity is Part of International Industrial Relations

(01.07.1998) In May 1998 the Indonesian authorities released Muchtar Pakpahan, the leader of the country's independent trade union movement. He had been imprisoned for his trade union activities for over 22 months and had also been subject to arbitrary arrest several times before this. News of the release was received in Finland with some satisfaction.

Since 1995 the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland - SASK has provided funding for the educational work of the Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia - SBSI (Indonesian Prosperous Labour Union), the trade union centre led by Pakpahan.

A desire to help the oppressed is not the only reason for the support provided by the Finns. "Solidarity has become part of international industrial relations" the Director of SASK, Hannu Ohvo, explains. "Moral reasons aside, it is in our own interests to support the Indonesian trade union movement. The same thing applies with equal justification to our support for Malaysian woodworkers and African engineering workers. We are nowadays increasingly interdependent and so a rise in living standards in Indonesia or Africa is in everyone's interests."