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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.

Tekijä (13.12.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) The Government Programme of Finland's right-wing government is a barter-like arrangement between the two major Government parties, the National Coalition Party and the Finns Party.

The Coalition Party got major changes favouring employers in the labour laws, like limiting the right to strike, and radical cuts in welfare. The Finns Party got a long list of changes to make life more difficult for foreign people living in Finland.

Proposals for such new legislation have not been formulated yet. However, the Government Programme lists several pages of measures that would negatively affect foreign born people living in Finland or planning to move here.

Tekijä (13.12.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) The Orpo-Purra Government plan to expel those with work-based residence permits who are out of work for three months comes in for a lot of criticism. Not only from trade unions, but also from employers and the public sector.

This is right, as the rule would be not only cruel but also stupid. In many cases, we are speaking of people who have been here for a long time and do work that is very much in demand.

When a job suddenly comes to an end, three months is quite a short time to find a new job. The employment process with applications, interviews and decision-making easily takes that long. At the same time, many companies and public services complain of a shortage of labour.

Tekijä (15.11.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) The new Finnish right-wing Government plans radical changes to labour legislation. Their grand plan is clearly designed to tip the balance of power in workplaces to unilaterally favour employers.

Arto Satonen, Minister of Employment, claims the new unjust laws are just minor changes in step with other Nordic countries. To put it mildly, this is simply not true. On the contrary.

The Orpo-Purra Government is simply cherry-picking labour laws from other countries. They only selected a handful of such changes that clearly benefit employers and company owners. In many cases, they modified these changes to be even be more disadvantageous to employees.

Tekijä (15.11.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) One of the most draconian changes the Finnish right-wing Government is planning is to make dismissals easier. At present, our law requires “relevant and serious grounds” for a dismissal. The Orpo-Purra Government will drop the serious grounds and allow relevant grounds as sufficient reason for dismissal .

This is clearly designed to make dismissal easier. In law, even a simple word can make a difference and is not dropped without serious grounds.

The German economy has been doing well for decades. Yet, dismissal is much more difficult there than here, and no Government has attempted to challenge that.

Tekijä (11.10.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) In June this year, Finland got a new Government. It is composed of right-wing and far-right parties, led by PM Petteri Orpo and the Minister of Finance Riikka Purra.

From the very start, it has been difficult to determine exactly where ministers stand on the question of racism. One minister has had to resign after being exposed flirting with nazi voters.

However, now the Orpo-Purra Government is moving on to their real goal: to undermine employees' status in labour laws, and restrict the right to strike. These changes go hand in hand with drastic cuts in social welfare, in particular to earnings-related unemployment benefits and housing allowance.

Tekijä (11.10.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) One of the main targets of the Orpo-Purra Government is to weaken employment security. They want to make working life more insecure and precarious.

By cutting dramatically both employment and social security, they calculate that employers will have a submissive reserve of workers ready to do whatever work under whatever conditions.

It can take time to find steady employment. Casual jobs are a typical way to get into working life. There are many immigrants and young people among those in casual jobs.

Tekijä (13.09.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) Since June, Finland has had a very right-wing government led by PM Petteri Orpo. It combines swinging the balance in the labour market in favour of employers and company owners with making life harder for immigrants.

As one of their most urgent tasks, the government plans to curb the right to strike this autumn. One plan is to limit the right to conduct political strikes. According to the Government Programme, this right shall be limited to one day.

The same urgency concerns union solidarity actions. These should be "proportionate in relation to the objectives" and "only affect the parties to the labour dispute". This would mean goodbye to solidarity actions for weaker unions in need.

Tekijä (13.09.2023 - Heikki Jokinen) The right to strike is one of the most crucial instruments in the trade union movement’s toolbox. It is the last resort for wage and salary earners should collective bargaining fail.

The Finnish constitution guarantees the freedom to organise in a trade union. The right to strike is also guaranteed under Finnish legislation.

A strike means employees temporarily stop work. It can be a total work stoppage or cover only some part of the work done in the company or in the branch. The union decides the form, length and coverage of the strike. A strike is always a collective measure, not individual.