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Helsinki (29.08.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) It is legal, under certain conditions and for a maximum of half a year, to limit an employee’s right to enter a new job in the same trade or start up their own business in the same business area of the former employer.

According to the trade unions this practice has been growing to a worrying extent.

Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff conducted a survey among its members in 2017. Some 33 per cent from the 2 119 who replied had a non-compete clause in their employment contracts. Four per cent had a separate non-compete agreement.

Helsinki (14.08.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The negotiation round for the new collective agreements will begin in the next few weeks. One of the first of those to negotiate is the Industrial Union.

In 2016, the Finnish economy was not in good shape. Most of the unions agreed to - under heavy pressure from the right-wing Government - to add the 24 extra annual working hours without a pay in their collective agreements.

This was a part of the three-year national Competitiveness Pact. Now unions say this was an exceptional measure and it is time to return to normality, and abandon the extra hours. Employers associations for their part say that the change is permanent.

Helsinki (05.08.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland will open its own office in Brussels. In 2016, Akava left the joint Brussels office Finunions of all three Finnish trade union confederations.

The new office will open its doors at the beginning of 2020. In the long run the goal is to build a joint advocacy concept with Akava's Nordic sister organisations, says Sture Fjäder, President of Akava.

"We do share very similar needs and goals concerning advocacy work. We seek to strengthen cooperation significantly in this endeavour", Fjäder adds.

Helsinki (29.07.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Migri, the Finnish Immigration Service announced in July that it has given deportation orders to 139 Uzbek construction workers this year.

These individuals have also received a two-year ban from the Shengen area. The reason for these deportations is that their education documents had been forged.

Uzbeks have been working in Finland on construction work specialising in industrial painting and screeding. These jobs were done mainly by Uzbeks and there had been some 800 Uzbeks in Finland, Yle News reported.

Helsinki (05.07.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The activation model for unemployed people is to be scrapped, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health Aino-Kaisa Pekonen (Left Alliance) said on 3 July.

She estimates that due to the time needed for the necessary legal changes in Parliament it will be the beginning of the next year before the activation model is confined to history.

This so called activation model is the brainchild of the previous right-wing PM Sipilä government. What has resulted in real terms is that an unemployed job-seeker forfeits 4.65 percent of his or her benefit if they are deemed to be less than active in their search for employment.

Helsinki (02.07.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) Pay differences in Finland are smaller than in most other countries in Europe, according to a new study conducted by the Labour Institute for Economic Research. The average wage and salary earners monthly income in 2015 was 3,386 euro in Finland.

The study compared pay inequality in 32 European countries. In Finland, full-time wage and salary earners in the highest income decile were paid an average of 2.73 times more than those in the lowest income decile. In Denmark the figure (2.52) was below Finland and in Sweden higher, 3.12.

These are, internationally speaking, relatively low figure. In Estonia, for example, the best paid decile of wage and salary earners got 5.05 times more than the lowest decile.

Helsinki (7.6.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The Union Congress of the Service Union United PAM (4 - 6 June) unanimously elected Annika Rönni-Sällinen as its new President. Ann Selin, PAM President since 2002, had already made it clear one year ago that she would not be running for re-election.

Rönni-Sällinen (born 1976) is a lawyer and has had long and considerable experience working with the trade unions. Prior to this she had been working as a Director for the Law and Environment Department at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK. PAM is a member union of SAK.

She has also been working since 2002 in various posts at PAM’s central office, as Bargaining Manager among other things.

Helsinki (05.06.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The trade unions are satisfied with the new planned government programme. The incoming PM Antti Rinne government published a general outline of its programme on 3 June.

Plans to scrap the failed activation model, invest more in education and employment services, focus on gender equality and a commitment to cooperate with labour market parties were warmly greeted by the unions.

One of the major positive issues is, moreover, a complete change in the government labour market policy. The outgoing PM Sipilä government tried to dictate what unions must do, whereas the incoming PM Rinne government favours cooperation and negotiation.

Helsinki (03.06.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The incoming Finnish Government is committed to making almost a full U-turn on labour market issues in comparison with the line taken by the outgoing Government.

The five party leaders participating in the negotiations to form a new Government released on Monday, June 3, a 193-page draft government programme. It promises cooperation in the labour market instead of confrontation which was one of the hallmarks of the outgoing right wing Government headed by PM Sipilä.

Participating in negotiations to form a new government include the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party, the Green Party, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party. The incoming PM Antti Rinne is the leader of the Social Democratic Party and a former President of the Trade Union Pro.

The main goal of the draft programme is to raise the employment rate from today's 72.4 per cent to 75 per cent.

Helsinki (24.05.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The Finnish Unions agreed in 2016 to sign up to an exceptional national Competitiveness Pact under heavy pressure from PM Sipilä’s right-wing Government. The pact added 24 hours onto annual working time and cut holiday pay for those working in the public sector by 30 per cent for three years.

And a portion of the Employees' pension insurance contribution was also transferred from employers to employees. This, in practise, led to pay cuts.

One of the major questions in the collective agreement round this autumn will be whether the extended working hours will stay in the collective agreements or not. The Competitiveness Pact included one optional year, and this negotiation is open now.