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Finland

Background information on industrial relations in Finland

• 21 Dec 2006
  Finland: Strike at Finnair over restructuring is settled by conciliation

  A dispute has been ongoing for the past few months at Finnish national airline, Finnair, over the company’s restructuring plans. On 19 November 2006, Finnair cabin crew members decided to take strike action when a proposal by a national conciliator to postpone the start of the strike was rejected by the Finnish Cabin Crew Union. A draft settlement was subsequently reached on 20 November to stop the two-day strike. Both sides in the dispute accepted a draft settlement put forward by the national conciliator, Juhani Salonius. Mr Salonius did not submit a settlement proposal, as the dispute involved different interpretations of the existing collective agreement.

• 21 Dec 2006
  Finland: Strike over treatment of foreign workers at shipyard

  Around 3,000 workers went on strike at the Turku shipyard of the Norwegian shipbuilding company, Aker Yards, on 3 November to protest against the treatment of workers and level of wages paid to employees of foreign subcontractors. The dispute ended on 6 November when Aker Yards and the local trade union agreed that the company would insist that the foreign subcontractors should adhere to Finnish labour legislation. The dispute has highlighted the responsibility required in the use of contract services which has recently been one of the main qualitative goals in improving working life by trade unions.

• 19 Dec 2006
  Finland: Trade unions target young employees for membership

  Membership of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK) has remained relatively stable during the last few years, while the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals (AKAVA) has succeeded in increasing its membership levels. This has led to increased competition between the confederations. Competition is toughest between STTK and AKAVA in terms of attracting new members among the higher-educated employee group. Meanwhile, SAK is developing a new system of a single service point for employees on fixed-term employment contracts, which will give easy access to membership for such workers.

• 06 Nov 2006
  Finland: Support for proposed legislation to monitor employee emails

  Proposed legislation enabling employers to monitor employees’ email use, if it is suspected that the person is leaking confidential information to outsiders, is currently under consideration. All trade union confederations, with the exception of the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland, are in favour of the proposal.

• 30 Oct 2006
  Finland: Restructuring dispute at Finnair

  The Finnish national carrier, Finnair, has released its plan to begin offering new flight attendants about 30% less pay than that of older workers doing the same jobs. The Finnish Cabin Crew Union (SLSY) opposes the plan and has asked for the support of the Transport Workers’ Union (AKT) in opposing the airline’s plan. SLSY and AKT have thus started negotiations towards a possible merger.

• 09 Oct 2006
  Finland: Social partners unveil joint employment plan

  The Finnish government is concerned about the high unemployment rate that is being recorded, despite the fact that numerous job vacancies exist. Presenting the government’s new plan to offer relocation allowances to those who move to take up a job, the Minister of Finance also called on the social partners to deliver a proposal for new employment measures by mid August 2006. On 17 August, labour market groups unveiled a joint wide-ranging package aimed at boosting employment and labour mobility.

• 19 Sep 2006
  Finland: Revised employee information act to extend coverage of enterprises

  In June 2006, a tripartite working group submitted its proposals for a revised Act on Cooperation within Undertakings to the Ministry of Labour. The working group recommends extending the scope of the act to include all workplaces with at least 20 employees. The extension of the act would bring a further 2,600 enterprises and 70,000 employees approximately within its scope. The proposed reforms also place a greater emphasis on the importance of seeking full consensus in cooperation negotiations. The Finnish parliament is expected to consider the proposals in the autumn.

• 04 Aug 2006
  Finland: Strikes in pulp and paper sector over proposed job cuts

  In May 2006, the Finnish Paper Workers’ Union held a two-day strike in response to proposed job cuts in the pulp and paper sector. The two-day protest by factory workers was followed by a further strike by office workers in the sector, organised by the Union of Salaried Employees. Both unions have stated that they are taking a tougher line on redundancies than in the past. The decision to call for strike action came as a surprise to the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, which denounced it as an illegal strike.

• 04 Aug 2006
  Finland: Social partners mainly welcome EU services directive

  The new services directive of the European Union opens up the possibility for increased foreign competition among service providers in the Finnish market. So far, the response of Finnish social partner organisations to the directive has been largely positive. Trade union confederations have taken a favourable stance towards the directive, but the Confederation of Finnish Industries has criticised the narrow scope of the directive.

• 31 Jul 2006
  Finland: Shop stewards claim employers value employees less

  In April 2006, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) published the findings of a survey investigating the views of its shop stewards. The survey results indicate that, over the past five years, there has been a shift in the industrial relations climate in Finland. According to SAK shop stewards and other trade union representatives, management of companies seem less appreciative of employees in 2005 than they were in 2000. The survey also investigated trends in collective bargaining systems.

• 18 Jul 2006
  Finland: Ministry of Labour favours Danish flexicurity model

  The so-called Danish flexicurity model, which combines low protection against dismissal with high unemployment benefit and activation measures, is favoured by the Finnish Ministry of Labour. In contrast, both the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions are currently opposed to adopting a similar model in Finland.

• 22 May 2006
  Finland: Improvements to family leave proposed

  A tripartite working group has unanimously agreed on new proposals regarding the allocation of parental leave expenditure. The proposals include a provision to increase the parental allowance of both mothers and fathers.

• 10 May 2006
  Finland: Unions campaign actively for new members

  Many Finnish trade unions have begun to campaign for new members to increase the strength of the union movement. In recent years, the number of employees without union representation has increased and trade unions are concerned that this trend will continue. There has also been greater competition among the unions in signing up new members.

• 10 May 2006
  Finland: Equality pay increment included in national wage agreement

  The current national incomes policy agreement includes an ‘equality increment’ for 2006, the distribution of which is calculated so that low-wage and female-dominated sectors are most likely to gain from it. However, some areas of the private sector have already agreed to pass the equality increment on to all wage earners. The agreement also includes a provision for implementing gender equality plans in the workplace.

• 02 May 2006
  Finland: Road transport strike ends in new agreement

  As part of a dispute over the use of part-time labour, about 11,000 of Finland’s 30,000 road transport workers engaged in a four-day strike at the beginning of March. However, a new collective agreement, signed on 9 March, brought the strike to an end. Under the agreement, transport companies will be allowed to employ two part-time drivers per depot. In addition, drivers will be entitled to a salary increase of just over 6% over the period of the agreement, due to expire in January 2008.

• 02 May 2006
  Finland: Proposed new law on subcontracting work

  A tripartite working group, established as part of the latest wage policy agreement, recommends that a new law should be enacted concerning subcontracting services. Such a law would clarify client and contractor responsibility with regard to the use of hired work and outside labour. The aim is to promote the observation of terms of employment and to prevent competitive distortions caused by neglected employer obligations.

• 02 May 2006
  Finland: Huge job losses expected in paper sector

  On 8 March, the pulp and paper manufacturer UPM announced a large-scale restructuring programme, which is to lead to the reduction of over 10% of its workforce. Nearly 3,000 of these job losses will be in Finland. The substantial job cuts are motivated by the overproduction of paper.

• 14 Mar 2006
  Finland: More mergers likely for employer and union associations

  In October 2005, the executive committee of EK, the central employer organisation, approved plans to cut the number of its member associations by up to a third, from 43 to between 12 and 15, within three to five years. Trade unions affiliated to SAK, the blue-collar union confederation, are set to respond to these changes by further consolidating their operations.

• 20 Feb 2006
  Finland: Measures to reform pension system agreed

  The Finnish social partners agreed in January 2006 on new rules governing the investment of earnings-related pension funds. The funds are to invest more heavily in shares in a bid to achieve higher returns and thus ease the upward pressure on pension contributions. In return for accepting the higher levels of investment risk associated with shares, trade unions are likely to be granted more power in the management of the funds. The overall pensions pool is set to grow as a result of the investment changes but the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) argues that this is not enough, calling for pension contributions to be frozen at their current level.

• 20 Feb 2006
  Finland: Social partners agree to lift restrictions on workers from new EU Member States

  In February 2006, the Finnish social partners, together with the Ministry of Labour, agreed to end current restrictions on the free movement of workers from the newEU Member States as of 1 May 2006. They also decided that migrant workers will be subject to compulsory registration and that their pay and working conditions will be closely monitored. Trade unions had demanded that the lifting of the restrictions should be conditional on employers assuming responsibility for the pay and working conditions provided by their foreign subcontractors, but the situation in this area remains unclear.

• 08 Feb 2006
  Finland: AKT joins forces against ports directive

  In January 2006, Finnish dock workers organised into AKT joined their colleagues from around Europe to oppose the proposed EU directive on Ports Services, which was ultimately blocked by the European Parliament. To this end, AKT stopped work at all ports in the country for eight hours on 11 January, which employers’ central organisation EK insisted was an irresponsible use of the freedom to hold political strikes.

• 25 Jan 2006
  Finland: Finland’s largest union begins operations

  A merger process involving six public sector trade unions affiliated to the SAK confederation came to a close in January 2006 when the new Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL) became fully functional. JHL is now Finland's largest union, with over 230,000 members. Its foundation was largely a reaction to the outsourcing of public sector jobs to the private sector. JHL represents workers in both these sectors and hopes that this will help it control the privatisation process.

• 11 Jan 2006
  Finland: Rulings issued in bargaining disputes at Are and Uponor

  Two Finnish companies, Are and Uponor, attempted in early 2005 to start applying different sectoral collective agreements by changing their employers’ organisation affiliation. These initiatives were contested and referred by unions to the Labour Court, which issued its rulings in October and November 2005. Uponor was allowed by the Court to change agreements while Are was not. Both cases were finally decided by establishing which agreement first bound the employer. Neither the company's sector of production nor the level of trade union representation were seen as reasons to uphold the old agreements, as had been hoped by unions.