9 February, 2009
The Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) is calling for higher cooperation with employers and business groups as the protocol to lessen the sting of the current economic crisis. The group of 14 trade unions last week called on Finnish business and social partners to join the unions in a set of talks aimed at ensuring a stable labour market and income maintenance so purchasing power does not drop.
The Council has set a date of 25 February for an initial meeting with industrial and service sector employers’ groups to discuss the means in finding common ground on employment strategies and domestic market improvements. Several European Works Councils (EWCs) of leading Finland companies came out after the unions’ call and endorsed strengthened cooperation between TP and business.
The unions are eager to reach an accord in order to avert mass job losses, to strengthen and enhance company competitiveness, and to continue strong domestic demand for goods and services. Such an agreement, which would cover 90% of Finland’s two million wage earners, would be the socially conscious approach to avoid mass redundancies that, TP claims, are not brought on by lack of Finnish competitiveness, but rather by a deep crisis that has hit hard on production and demand.
“Under these circumstances, freezing wages, curbing the growth of purchasing power, or weakening other terms of employment are not the right solutions” to current economic problems, said TP in a statement. TP is calling for a social accord that would be binding on the unions, labour market confederations, central employer associations, and the Finnish public sector.
Trade unions enjoined to TP include Paperiliitto, Kemianliitto, Finnish Electrical Workers’ Union, Toimihenkilöunioni (TU), or the Salaried Employees’ Union, Finnish Media Union, Finnish Metalworkers Union (Metalli), Wood and Allied Workers’ Union, Construction Trade Union, Finnish Foodstuff Workers’ Union, Association of Business School Graduates (SEFE), Association of Graduate Engineers (TEK), Union of Professional Engineers UIL, and the Union of Machine Supervisors.