Hundreds of thousands of workers in Finland have begun a three-day strike action aimed at halting the country’s right-wing government’s proposed labor market reforms and cuts to social welfare.
Approximately 300,000 workers quit their jobs in the first three days of the strike called by the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), with air traffic halted, public transport suspended, and jobs affected. And on Thursday, much of Finland was paralyzed. -space.
National airline Finnair said it was forced to cancel around 550 flights, significantly reducing traffic at its main hub Helsinki Airport, affecting 60,000 passengers.
Finland’s conservative Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s coalition government is calling for a more “export-driven labor market model” to reduce the budget deficit and “increase Finland’s long-term competitiveness.”
The proposal deeply angered trade unions, which led them to plan widespread strikes that would disrupt sectors as diverse as public transport, energy, schools, health care, hospitality, retail, and the postal service.
SAK’s Pekka Listera said the strike was aimed at showing the government “how great the resistance is to these reforms” and hoped it would “force them to reconsider.”
Employment Minister Aruto Satonen, while expressing his disappointment regarding the large-scale strike, stressed the vital importance of the government’s plans for the future of Finland’s welfare system.
“We need to carry out structural reforms to increase employment rates,” Satonen told Reuters, adding that strikes would be costly.
The protesting workers, who make up about 13 percent of Finland’s total workforce of 2.29 million, say they will fight a long war if necessary, and if the newly elected government does not budge. They have threatened to carry out additional strikes.
According to the top business lobby, the Confederation of Finnish Industry EK, the direct and indirect effects of the strike will cost gross domestic product around 360 million euros ($388 million), while Porvoo’s Fuel producer Neste’s refinery will have gasoline and diesel supplies cut off for about a week.
The EK and the government said changes were needed to bring the Nordic countries’ economies on par with comparable states such as neighboring Sweden.
In recent months, unions in the Nordic country of 5.6 million people have backed government plans to prioritize regional collective agreements over centralized ones, limit the right to strike, make it easier to terminate labor contracts and cut unemployment benefits. is protesting.
Akava, the general trade union representing university-educated workers, calls on the government to uphold Finland’s bargaining traditions as further industrial action against certain specialized workers is scheduled for February 6th did.