Archive

Helsinki (28.04.2003 - Peter J. Boldt) "Stupid," was the comment of European Commission President Romano Prodi a while ago on the EMU Stability and Growth Pact. This arrangement does not allow the public sector deficit to exceed three per cent of GNP. As the highest guardian of the European Union founding treaties, Prodi should not have been allowed to make such a statement, but he chose to publish his point of view in his civilian capacity as a professor of economics.

When SAK economists have criticised the Stability Pact over the years, most Finnish economists have regarded us as irresponsible and ignorant.

Nowadays, however, it is widely admitted, even at the European Commission, that the Stability Pact is not working. The strict deficit restriction prevents active finance policy precisely when it is most urgently needed, i.e. when growth slows down and unemployment grows.

Helsinki (13.04.2003 - Juhani Artto) Present and former trade union members form a clear majority of the new Finnish Parliament elected in mid-March. Of the 200 seats, at least 120 were won by candidates who are either present or former members of unions. This is roughly the same proportion of trade union representation as in the March 1999 election result.

The preponderance of MPs with a union background is hardly surprising, as the organising rate in Finland is among the highest in the world. Another reason behind the electoral success of unionised candidates is the strong support given by national unions and their local branches to their own members.

The smallest of the three main labour confederations, Akava, which mainly organises the academically qualified, has the largest representation in Parliament. According to Akava, at least one third of the new MPs are present or former members of its affiliated unions. 28 of these were teachers before entering politics. Other academic trades with sizeable representation are doctors, lawyers and technical specialists.

Helsinki (24.03.2003 - Juhani Artto) Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are due to become EU Member States on 1 May 2004. The forthcoming accession of the Baltic countries has increased interest within the Finnish trade union movement in the progress that these countries are making in working life. This has fostered both worries and positive expectations, depending on which aspects of working life and European Union membership conditions are discussed.

A new study*, published in March by the Finnish Ministry of Labour, thoroughly updates the analysis of working life in these three countries. In an opening summary the researchers list the following key points:

1. "Normalisation" in Estonia

The evolution of working life in Estonia in recent years has been quite continuous and steady, and has also been favourable on the whole. The trend has been towards 'normalisation', including cuts in excessively long working hours – and thus in overtime, less unofficial work in the grey economy, fewer delays in salary payments, and a narrowing of salary differentials between men and women. One significant problem, however, is that workers still have few opportunities to influence their own jobs.

Helsinki (10.03.2003 - Juhani Artto) How is the Finnish welfare state holding up in 2003? What are its prospects? Will it survive the pressures of globalisation? How can the welfare model be developed?

The details of these major questions are considered daily in a large variety of ways, both publicly and privately. Every citizen has a point of view. Politicians submit their claims and proposals; public authorities have their own positions. Researchers must often play the role of advising their audiences as to how things really are but, as is natural, they are also divided in their conclusions.

In October 2002 two researchers, Anu Kantola and Mikko Kautto, published a book* in which they list the issues that must be addressed and outline the options on various questions. The researchers draw no concrete conclusions, leaving this to those concerned and especially to politicians, whom they recently criticised for their unwillingness to state openly what kind of welfare model they support.

Helsinki (21.02.2003 - Juhani Artto) Why has the rapid decline in work-related accidents and diseases virtually stopped? "There are competent risk studies in practically all industries, but the results are not transmitted effectively to the workplaces," comments Jyrki Liesivuori, who is professor of occupational and environmental toxicology at the University of Kuopio in Eastern Finland.

One obvious weakness is a shortage of training at all levels. "Only 20 per cent of the occupational safety staff of enterprises have participated in basic occupational safety courses" Liesivuori notes, referring to findings reported by the Centre for Occupational Safety.

"Preparing the risk analysis required by the new European Union Occupational Safety and Health Directive is a much more demanding matter than performing routine safety work. The training needed for conducting such an analysis has not yet been organised."

Helsinki (20.02.2003 - Juhani Artto) According to the most commonly quoted statistics, no more than about 200 people die of occupational diseases, workplace accidents and work-related traffic accidents annually in Finland. This figure, however, is a poor reflection of the total risk posed by workplaces. This is the conclusion of an epidemiological study* published in June 2001. For some reason the study has not received the attention it deserves in Finland.

Calculations based on a large body of statistical data yield an estimate of 1,800 work-related deaths per year. "The estimate indicates that work-related factors play a bigger role than has been commonly assumed," notes the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in its press release. The study was the first of its kind in Finland, and was based on statistical materials dating from 1996.

Helsinki (19.02.2003 - Juhani Artto) Despite the massive human and material investments in occupational safety and health made in the 1990s, there has been no decisive improvement in occupational safety. This conclusion may be drawn from statistics for the period 1992-2000 shown below:

Table 1. Compensated industrial accidents
   and occupational diseases, 1992-2000  

Helsinki (08.02.2003 - Juhani Artto) In late January some 60 representatives of trade unions and NGOs gathered at the Parliament of Finland. They were there to voice their demands, proposals and questions about the international service trade negotiations that seek to reform the global service trade rules expressed in the 1995 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

Minister for Foreign Trade Jari Vilén, the Members of Parliament responsible for monitoring GATS issues, and civil servants specialising in trade questions were all present to outline recent developments in the negotiations and to respond to the questions posed by the activists.

Less than a year ago barely anybody could have envisioned such a meeting taking place so soon. Only a handful of experts and activists in trade unions and NGOs had any better knowledge of the many and complex issues of the GATS arrangement. Since then several public sector unions and NGOs have worked actively on GATS. This activity has included studying, educating, publishing and lobbying.

Helsinki (05.02.2003 - Juhani Artto) The Wood and Allied Workers’ Union is threatening a strike in the mechanical forest and carpentry industry. Industrial action of 10,500 workers will begin 24 February if the current round of negotiations for a collective agreement fail. When announcing the strike threat the union also declared an overtime ban in the industry with immediate effect.

About 18,000 workers in the mechanical forest industry and 12,000 in the carpentry industry are organised in the Wood and Allied Workers' Union.

Helsinki (01.02.2003 - Juhani Artto) The Belorussian journalist Aliaksandr Starykevich visited Helsinki in January, just a few months after his previous visit. Developing co-operation with the Finnish trade union movement has been high on the agenda of these visits. In his home country of Belarus the independent, democratic trade union movement faces a difficult situation that deserves urgent and effective international solidarity.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko governs this country of ten million people in the style of a dictator, with elections serving merely as a smoke screen barely concealing the undemocratic reality. Aliaksandr Starykevich himself has been one of the victims of Lukashenko's rule. The opposition candidate in the 2001 presidential election was Vladimir Gontsharik, who at that time led the major union federation FTUB (FPB in Belorussian).