Trade Union News from Finland
Tekijä (14.02.2024 - Heikki Jokinen) The changes in unemployment security means that seasonal workers must find other work outside their employment periods. Moreover, these changes make seasonal work even more unattractive.
- Even now the employers have problems finding employees. These branches do not attract too many Finns due to the seasonal nature of the work, generally heavy work and quite low pay, says Riikka Vasama, the Bargaining Specialist at the Industrial Union in her interview in Finnish for this magazine.
For example, in the agriculture and horticulture sector the share of foreign employees is high. The Industrial Union and the Federation of Agricultural Employers estimate that half of the people working in these branches have a foreign background.
Tekijä (14.02.2024 - Heikki Jokinen) Unemployment security will undergo several changes this year. Unfortunately, not for the better, as the Orpo-Purra right-wing Government is determined to cut benefits and tighten conditions for receiving these.
One of the harshest changes doubles the time in work needed to get earnings-related unemployment allowance. For now, one needs to have 26 weeks (about six months) employment during the 28 months preceding unemployment.
From September this year, this employment condition will be extended from 6 to 12 months during these same 28 months. This means it will be much harder to be eligible for earnings-related unemployment benefits, just like the government parties intend it to be.
Tekijä (17.01.2024 - Heikki Jokinen) The Orpo-Purra Government plans to cut 1.5 billion euros from social security.
Soste, the umbrella organisation of the Finnish social affairs and health NGO's, calculated what does it mean in practise. The number of poor people will grow 9.2 per cent and children in poverty 13.2 per cent. Finland will get 68,000 new poor people.
These concerns were heard, in a way. For 2024, Soste state aid will be cut with 60 per cent.
What are the planned Government social security cuts? Here are some examples.
Tekijä (17.01.2024 - Heikki Jokinen) The new Finnish right-wing Government’s austerity measures are designed to make life more difficult, in particular, for those who have become unemployed or being laid off temporarily. According to the Industrial Union research unit, people who find themselves in this predicament may lose thousands of euros a year.
To understand what these austerity measures mean, in real terms, the Union research unit calculated how the cuts would affect five different families. The fictional families are created to correspond to various typical real life situations.
For a majority of these families, the austerity measures would mean a weakening of their purchasing power, which could amount to hundreds of euros a month. Two families benefit from the tax cuts planned. Details concerning these calculations can be read, in Finnish, in this magazine.
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