Alarm over government plans

Finnish unions have become increasingly concerned about the plans of the country’s new government, which came to power in June.

The coalition government is led by Petteri Orpo of the centre right National Coalition Party but includes the right-wing populist Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns.

The government has already said it will move away from the country’s tripartite model, where social and employment legislation is decided jointly by the government, unions and employers.

And the programme it intends to drive through seems strongly influenced by the employers, with cuts in unemployment benefit, limits on wage increases in the public sector and changes in redundancy arrangements, making it easier to dismiss employees.

In a statement, Päivi Niemi-Laine, head of JHL, the largest public sector union, said the Finns Party had appeared “to side with workers in their election promises, but now they are in government they are agreeing to lower pay for workers”.