Minister of Employment Arto Satonen (NCP) attended a plenary session in the Parliament House in Helsinki on Wednesday, 13 December 2023. Satonen on Thursday said the strikes held across the country could cost up to 130 million euros. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)
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MINISTER of Employment Arto Satonen (NCP) on Thursday estimated that the strikes that disrupted food distribution, manufacturing operations, public transport services and other important functions for the day had a price tag of 100–130 million euros, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Satonen offered the estimate during a plenary parliamentary session that dealt primarily with the strained labour market situation.
The government, he argued, has no choice but to carry out reforms in order to elevate what remains a comparatively low employment rate. He also expressed his doubt about the ability of labour market organisations to come up with measures to create 100,000 new jobs, the stated goal of the government, predicting that their response would be a “blank paper”.
The Social Democratic Party accused the government of copying its labour market reforms from the wish list of employer organisations and failing to lift a finger to better the position of employees in the country.
Minister of Finance Riikka Purra (PS) argued that many ordinary citizens do not understand that the strikes were political by nature and opposed actions taken by a government that draws its mandate from democratic elections. The government, she declared, has no intention to walk back its objectives or cost savings in the labour market – nor will it hesitate to take further action if necessary.
“The purchasing power of workers, wage earners will improve substantially next year,” she said.
She rejected the claim that the labour-market reforms pursued by the government are particularly radical by arguing that similar reforms have been implemented in peer countries for decades.
Li Andersson, the chairperson of the Left Alliance, asked the government to specify how many jobs will be created by scrapping sick leave compensation for the first day of sick leaves. Satonen declined to provide an estimate of the employment impact, reminding that preparatory work on the amendment will not start until late next year at the earliest.
Purra, in turn, was pressed about her earlier remarks about the possibility of cutting child benefits and raising the value-added tax on food.
“I can speculate about different things,” she responded, confirming that the government will likely have to make new decisions on cost savings in the face of crumbling economic indicators.
Finnish trade unions appear ready to resort to additional strikes if the government insists on moving forward with its labour-market reforms and social security cuts, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
“This won’t be the end of it – us making this kind of ruckus just because of a one-day work stoppage. That’d mean that we’re fine with the government’s proposals,” Jape Lovén, the chief shop steward at Helsinki Shipyard, commented to the newspaper at an event organised by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) in Vantaa on Thursday.
Jarkko Eloranta, the chairperson of SAK, estimated that the event drew “thousands” of participants.
Trade unions, he confirmed, are seeking to convince the government to “finally” take into account the concerns of wage earners and revise its legislative proposals related to industrial actions and local bargaining.
“But it looks like this is a tough ask. We’ll have to think how we’ll proceed.”
“[Organising additional strikes] is one option,” he added. “Our primary goal is to get a seat at the negotiating table. The goal is to balance out the measures and, in the longer term, that’d make more sense also for the government than a very strained situation.”
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
