Almost 300,000 Finnish workers began a two-day strike this Thursday, which has paralyzed air traffic and transport, against the labor market reform project of the coalition government of the conservative Petteri Orpo. The four-party Executive, in which the far-right Finns Party participates, wants to apply new measures to cut public spending and increase productivity.
Among the controversial planned reforms are: local wage negotiation, so that collective agreements by sector would no longer be binding for all companies, and that unions cannot call political strikes, both measures that would limit the union’s negotiating capacity. The Orpo Government also wants to facilitate dismissals and temporary contracts, gradually reduce unemployment benefits, and establish non-remuneration for the first day of sick leave.
The three main Finnish unions called the strike: the public and social sector (JHL), the industry (SAK) and the services (PAM), after two months of struggle with the Government, which came to power last June. In a country of 5.5 million inhabitants, the called strikers represent around 13% of the 2.29 million employees included in the official statistics for 2023.
This Thursday, 13,000 protesters gathered in Helsinki’s central Senate Square, according to estimates by the capital’s police. According to the union organization SAK, this demonstration is a protest against “the way in which the government prepares and implements cuts to working life and social security without listening to all parties and without worrying about the consequences for the people.”
The strikes are affecting industry, post offices, daycares, cleaning companies, commerce, shops and restaurants, among other sectors. The strike by airport workers forced the Finnish flag carrier Finnair to cancel nearly 550 flights scheduled for the two days. On Friday, trains will not run throughout the country, and in Helsinki there will be no metro, tram or bus, according to the JHL union.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, leader of the conservative National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), called the strikes “excessive and disproportionate,” in statements to the press in Brussels, where he was participating in the summit of heads of state and government of the Union. European Union (EU) dedicated to Ukraine. According to Orpo, these stoppages cause serious losses to the Finnish economy in a difficult economic situation and are not justified. The cost of the two days of strike would be around 360 million euros, estimates the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), reports AFP from Helsinki.