Monday's papers:
Helsingin
Sanomat tells readers that the widespread political strikes in
Finland starting Monday will effectively halt freight traffic and disrupt fuel
distribution for two weeks. The strikes, which hit ports severely, will hamper
Finland's export industries such as technology, forestry and metals.
At the same time, the action now beginning will further
increase the toll of strikes on the Finnish economy. It is impossible to give
an exact figure, but the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), for example,
estimates that recent strikes have already cost Finland well over a billion
euros.
HS
interviewed three strikers for a Monday morning feature.
The paper says that recent statements by Prime Minister
Petteri Orpo (NCP), in which he stressed that the government will not
compromise on the basic line of its plans to limit the right to strike and will
expand local labour agreements, make workers' representatives see red.
"First of all, the right to strike will be restricted,
which means that we would not be able to strike against government decisions.
We would be deprived of the means to influence the situation," says Timo
Mällinen, the chief shop steward at SSAB's steelworks in Raahe.
According to Mällinen, it is great that Finland enjoys
democracy, and the freedom of opinion that goes with it. He says that he fears
that the government's decisions are eroding democracy piece by piece.
Employers have argued that with these strikes, workers are
shooting themselves in the foot and causing more unemployment.
For example, Ilkka Oksala, director for work and social
affairs for the Confederation of Finnish Industries, told HS in early February that
"employees are endangering the financial sustainability of their own
companies and thus their own jobs".
The same message has since been repeated several times by
employers.
According to Mällinen, the employer side has been making
the same point for decades when they have wanted to voice opposition to
strikes.
"Employer propaganda. The companies that go bankrupt
because of this strike are hardly viable anyway," Mällinen counters.
Pasi Boehm, who heads the union chapter representing
stevedores in Helsinki, argues that strikes in countries such as France and
Germany are much more frequent than in Finland and have not caused unemployment
there.
Sami Ryynänen, chief shop steward at Neste's Porvoo
refinery, told Helsingin Sanomat that the strikes will continue as long as
necessary. And at least so far, workers have shown strong support for the
strikes.
All three of the union activists interviewed by the paper
are in full agreement that any solution to the the impass will require
negotiations.
"I hope that common sense will prevail and things
would be resolved by agreement. Agreement will produce much more sustainable
and workable solutions than government dictates," says Ryynänen.
Resisting
government policies
Ilta-Sanomat
writes
that trade unions have been on a collision course with the government since
last autumn.
The unions have already opposed changes to labour
legislation by striking on several occasions over the past few months. The
first round of strikes this year took place at the end of January and beginning
of February.
Trade unions were outraged last summer when the government
issued a list of ways it wanted to change labour legislation in its government
programme.
The papers lists some of the most contentious plans by the
government, starting from cuts to unemployment benefits and making the first
day of sick leave unpaid, as well as changing the law to make it easier for
employers to dismiss workers.
Another sore point for unions is that the government
programme undermines national collective agreements by stating that local
agreements will be allowed in all companies. The aim is to extend local
agreements by removing certain prohibitions on local agreements in current
labour law.
Additionally, IS points out, the government wants to limit
the right to carry out sympathy strikes. If passed, government plans would
redefine legal industrial action as that which is "reasonable in relation
to the objectives pursued and whose effects are limited to the parties to the
labour dispute".
The right to political industrial action will also be
restricted. Government plans would limit the duration of political strikes to
only one day.
Hard
on the economy
Iltalehti
points out that 96 percent of Finland's foreign trade passes through the ports
that are being hit by the strikes that started Monday morning.
It writes that according to a preliminary estimate by the
Confederation of Finnish Industries, the two-week strike will cause 320 million
euros in damage to Finland's gross domestic product.
The strikes may cause disruptions in the distribution of
fuel. Iltalehti refers to a statement to by the Industrial Union saying that
petrol stations and airports will run out of fuel as a result of the strike.
Retailers, on the other hand, expect there may be shortages at individual
petrol stations. A possible spike in demand could also have a knock-on effect
on fuel prices.
According to the National Emergency Supply Agency of
Finland, the strike will not have a significant impact on the security of
supply. It says that the availability of jet fuel is likely to be a challenge,
but there is unlikely to be a need for any drastic measures.
Grocery chains say that the strike may affect the
availability of individual products on store shelves. Overall, food shelves
should not be empty because of the strike.
The strike may also indirectly affect domestic production,
which uses raw materials or packaging materials imported from abroad. However,
urgent consignments of goods can be delivered to Finland even while stevedores
are on strike, by using special equipment to unload ships.
