Finland Protests: Thousands of Demonstrators Strike Against Planned Labor Market Changes

Thousands of protesters in Finland joined a strike against the center-left government's planned labor market changes.

The Wednesday demonstrations included labor unions and are expected to last three days and will affect 300,000 workers and severely disrupt Finnish people's daily lives. Trade unions are protesting against revisions to labor market legislation and social security cuts.

The demonstrations are expected to shut down kindergartens and pre-schools, disrupt air traffic and postal services, close public transport, and shut down factories across Finland. From Wednesday to Friday, grocery stores, hotels, and restaurants will also be affected by the strikes.

Finnair, the national airline, said that it is being forced to cancel some 550 flights and substantially cut down traffic at Helsinki Airport, which is its main base of operations. The majority of the strikes were called by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK).

Their member unions argued that the measures that were proposed by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's Cabinet will increase inequality in society, weaken the position of workers, and harm lower-income groups as well as the unemployed, as per ABC News.

The Finnish government has proposed a system in which pay across the economy is tied to the export sector. It would ban the national labor mediator, which is typically involved in setting pay, from proposing wage hikes in any labor dispute that are higher than those that were agreed with the export sector.

Local media outlets said that the goal of trade unions in their massive strikes is to force the government to start negotiations with labor organizations on the suggested social security cuts, according to the Washington Post. The three-day strike comes ahead of further protests planned for next week.

Effects on Workers Nationwide

The demonstrations come amid a febrile political atmosphere and ahead of the country's second round of presidential elections that are scheduled for Feb 11. They also come after Alexander Stubb of the National Coalition party and Pekka Haavisto, a member of the Green party running as an independent, both qualified on Sunday.

The president of the SAK, Jarkko Eloranta, said that the first cuts affecting the unemployed have already taken effect. He noted that the government is already preparing further measures. Eloranta argued that weaker job security, unpaid sick leave, and restrictions on the right to strike could come soon.

Antti Palola, the president of the STTK, said that the government's reforms of employment conditions are motivated by ideology. He added that they lack verified impacts on employment or the national economy.

A professor of labor law at the University of Helsinki, Ulla Liukkunen said that the scale of the Finnish strike in terms of participation and breadth of sectors signaled "a broad front that is not satisfied with the government's policy."

She added that it was no surprise that workers chose to go on strike given the current Finnish government's program. Liukkunen added that the way in which the reforms have been pushed forward has been relatively quick as well, said The Guardian.

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