Archive

Helsinki (04.04.1998 - Juhani Artto) The Finns score high in per capita Internet connections and www-publications, but language sets limits on how thoroughly this northern European nation has integrated into the global electronic network. This can clearly be seen in the Finnish trade union movement.

While reading, writing, hearing and speaking English is almost daily routine for academics and the younger generation in Finland, for many other Finns language is still an isolating factor. Five million people speak Finnish, a language which is closely related to Estonian and to several very small minority languages spoken in Russia and also more distantly related to Hungarian.

The trade union organisations are accustomed to publishing materials in Finnish and in Swedish, which is the mother tongue of 300,000 Finns and the second official language in Finland. They have mainly used English and other international languages to advise their counterparts in other countries about the basic facts of the Finnish organised labour scene.

Stockholm (03.04.1998 - Rolf Ählberg*) Exposure to isocyanates is a more serious health hazard than has previously been realised, according to recent findings by scientists Gunnar Skarping, Marianne Dalene and their colleagues at Lund University Hospital in Sweden.

Nordic Metal (the confederation of metalworker unions in the Nordic countries) is working to fight these problems in a European context by seeking regulations on the use of products containing or discharging isocyanates.

What are isocyanates?

Isocyanates are basic chemicals. They are mainly used in producing polyurethane foam, polyurethane elastomers, polyurethane adhesives and polyurethane varnish.

Helsinki (26.03.1998 - Rauno Pentti) Intense debate about the welfare state's future is now under way in Finland.  Differing opinions have been expressed as to the role of social policy.  Calculations and examples of many different kinds have been presented, but they don't seem to be culminating in a common vision.

Professor Jukka Pekkarinen, Director of the Labour Institute for Economic Research, thinks this stems more than anything else from the difficulties encountered in grasping the overall effects of the various partial segments. "Modern society is a system where every aspect affects all other aspects, and where even slight shifts can result in major changes”, he says.

“Let's take taxation as an example.  Finland and all the Nordic countries are criticised for their high taxes.  This is the case if taxation as such is compared with the tax rates levied in other countries.  But if everything obtained through tax funds and citizens' total cost burdens are also included in the comparison, the results often look quite different.”

Helsinki (22.03.1998 - Juhani Artto) Finland is close to the EU average in accidents at work. This can be seen from the latest statistics issued by Eurostat.

Accidents at work, standardised numbers per 100,000 persons in employment, 1994

• excluded: road deaths and those from natural causes
• included: agriculture, hunting, forestry, manufacturing, construction, wholesailing, retailing, repairs, hotels and restaurants, transport and communication, finance, real estate, renting, business activities

Helsinki (10.03.1998 - Juhani Artto) The trade union movement must react to changes in working life and society by reforming itself. So says Lauri Ihalainen who is the president of SAK, the largest central trade union organisation in Finland. In his future vision the movement faces major challenges.

Reforming the union movement, however, does not mean abandoning its basic values. Rather the opposite.

"A trade union movement solidly based on true values will gain strength in the future. Trade union organisation is a spiritual and social movement. It is not like a department store or insurance company, of which one can expect a certain return for a certain investment. Sometimes, our basic values have been left in the background, but in difficult times it has been these very values which have kept us together", Ihalainen emphasises.

"No doubt globalisation - the internationalisation of the economy and of business enterprises - is the biggest challenge facing us."

Helsinki (09.03.1998 - Juhani Artto) 2,400 paperworkers at Fletcher Challenge in British Columbia, Canada, have been on strike since mid-July 1997. Two unions are involved in the dispute: the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) and the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers Union of Canada (PPWU).

Phil Davies, editor of the PPWU local newsletter, has sent a message to Trade Union News from Finland asking for details of the collective agreement of the Finnish paper workers. He wants to compare the demands of Fletcher Challenge in British Columbia with the collective agreement in the Finnish forest industry.

"The company demands that all workers do whatever job they are assigned to, regardless of job description, trade guideline, or line of progression", Davies writes.

Helsinki (27.02.1998 - Juhani Artto). Workers at the Tamrock Mechanical Workshop in Tampere, 110 miles north of Helsinki, stayed away from work on Tuesday February 17. They called a strike to protest against the company's unilateral decision to extend the working week to Saturday.

Before the strike decision, the parties had negotiated about new work schedules unsuccessfully for some months. Originally the company had even planned to extend the working week to Sunday.

"Under our collective agreement, the employer has the right to arrange Saturday and Sunday work, but here the time was not right for making such changes in work schedules. Work schedule models function well only where all parties consider them to be meaningful", explains shop steward Tarmo Silander.

Helsinki (Peter J. Boldt - 26.02.1998) ... "The idea that the Finnish labour market is especially inflexible and that this is the reason for the high unemployment rate in Finland and elsewhere in the European Union continues stubbornly in common currency.

The OECD and its economic policy section have long been a centre for this mode of thinking. The "Jobs Study" of a few years ago reached the conclusion that the only way to reduce unemployment would be to repeal legislation and annul agreements made to protect the rights of employees. These theses have been repeated in the OECD's Economic Outlook every six months and have usually commanded wide media attention in Finland as well as in other countries."

... "In contrast the OECD's other publication, the annual Employment Outlook, has seldom been the subject of comment in the Finnish press. This may be due to the fact that it comes out in July when most Finns are on holiday.

Helsinki (13.02.1998 - Juhani Artto) It took a week for the Greater Helsinki area bus, tram and underground drivers to prevail in their strike about their rights on privatised transport routes.

According to the new agreement, a company which is successful in bidding for routes will be obliged to hire workers sacked by the company which lost the route if the successful company needs more drivers.

In such cases the driver will hired as an established employee retaining almost all accumulated social benefits. This rule will apply to the pay scale, the length of annual leave, the level of compensation for sick leave and the terms of dismissal.

Helsinki (06.02.1998 - Juhani Artto) About 3,300 bus, tram and underground train drivers launched a strike in the Greater Helsinki area on Monday. The dispute concerns the rights of drivers working on privatized transport routes.

A few years ago the Metropolitan Area local authorities called for tenders from private transport companies for the right to operate services on certain bus routes. This year the City of Helsinki is adopting the practice of its neighbours and on some routes a second round of tendering between the bus companies is already under way.

The drivers are opposed to the idea of their employers, whereby companies which are successful in bidding for routes may hire drivers without respecting their accumulated service benefits. This approach by the employers threatens to reduce the incomes, social benefits and job security of the workforce.