Finland: Strikes over labor reform to paralyze country

Some 290,000 Finnish workers began a two-day strike on Thursday to protest the government's planned labor market reforms, which include proposed cuts to the social welfare system.

Like its Scandinavian neighbors, Finland is known for its generous welfare model, but Conservative Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's coalition government has called for a more "export-driven labor market model" to cut the country's fiscal deficit and "boost Finland's long-term competitiveness."

Who is striking in Finland?

The proposals have infuriated unions, who are now set to bring the country to a standstill by striking across industries, including public transport, energy, schools, health care, hospitality, retail and the postal service.

They planned to shut down Finnish air traffic on February 1-2, leading national carrier Finnair to cancel 550 flights, affecting 60,000 passengers.

The striking workers make up some 13% of the 2.29 million people employed in Finland, according to official statistics from 2023.

What are the proposed labor reforms?

Proposed cuts to social benefits would include making the first day of sick leave unpaid and cutting earnings-related unemployment benefits, with the amount decreasing the longer the period of unemployment lasts.

The reforms also include restrictions on the right to strike.

"The government's plan is cold-blooded," Jarkko Eloranta, president of Finland's largest trade union association SAK, told the Reuters news agency. "First, the right to strike will be severely restricted and then tough cuts will be pushed through."

But top business lobby the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK)  has criticized the strikes, with chief executive Jyri Hakamies saying: "Reforms are necessary and the unions have not offered any alternatives for correcting our alarming economic situation."

What effect could the strikes have?

According to EK, the direct and indirect effects of the strikes would result in a loss of around €360 million ($388m) in gross domestic product, while fuel producer Neste's refinery in Porvoo said that petrol and diesel supplies would be down for approximately a week.

Strikes are relatively uncommon in Finland, especially in more white-collar industries. But Pekka Ristela of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) said the government proposals would "weaken the livelihoods of especially low-income employees who become unemployed."

He said the strikes were intended to show the government "how much resistance there is to these reforms" and hoped "it will make the government reconsider."

With more industrial action also planned for some professional sector workers for February 6, the umbrella union for university-educated workers, Akava, has urged the government not to abandon what it called the Finnish tradition of negotiation.

mf/rt (AFP, Reuters, DPA)