Riku Aalto, the chairperson of the Finnish Industrial Union, spoke to a reporter at an event hosted by Minister of Employment Arto Satonen (NCP) in Helsinki on 16 January 2024. Aalto on Thursday said he hopes the strike warnings issued by trade unions will return the government back to earth and prompt it to reconsider its labour market reforms and social security cuts. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva)
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PRIME MINISTER Petteri Orpo (NCP) has characterised the widening strike plans of trade unions as unreasonable.
The Finnish Industrial Union on Thursday announced it will stage a two-day work stoppage covering roughly 60,000 employees at 700 workplaces between 1 and 2 February. The announcement signals a major escalation from the stoppage the union announced at two industrial sites in Kokkola and Porvoo in December.
“Hopefully the large strikes will return the government back to earth. The unreasonable cuts and negative amendments to the position of employees are undoubtedly wrong,” stated Riku Aalto, the chairperson at the Industrial Union.
Also Trade Union Pro revealed about 10,000 white-collar workers will go on strike in a strike at workplaces in, for example, the chemicals and technology industries.
Orpo on Thursday said to YLE the strikes are “oversized” and will cause serious damage to the national economy. Trade unions, he added, have been offered both time and solutions to break through the gridlock in the labour market.
“It’s been possible to discuss the government proposals. For example, there are task forces for discussing the contents of the legislation on industrial peace and local bargaining. We should now focus on working rather than striking,” he stated during a visit to an industrial site in Seinäjoki, South Ostrobothnia.
Jarkko Ruohoniemi, the managing director of the Technology Industries of Finland, said to the public broadcaster that workplaces participating in the strikes will inevitably experience production losses and supply chain challenges. The strikes are very broad and target a number of companies represented by the interest group.
“For us, the list [of affected companies] starts at ‘A’ and ends at ‘W’,” he said.
Ruohoniemi declined to provide an estimate of the effects and damage, though, saying employer organisations in the export industries will evaluate the situation together and express their views on the issue in a joint press release to be released later.
Jyri Häkämies, the director general of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), viewed that the newly announced strikes are regrettable. Although the situation continues to develop, he added, the currently available information indicates that the strikes will have a considerable price tag.
He added that employer organisations consider the labour market reforms necessary even though the political strikes target the central government rather than companies.
“I’d prefer that patience and democracy prevailed because the government naturally has the parliament’s mandate to move forward on these issues,” commented Häkämies.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
