Now we have #SeriousGrounds to act: the first cuts affecting employees will take effect at the start of next year

06.09.2023

You may have come across the #SeriousGrounds hashtag on Facebook. It stands for a campaign that brings SAK, the trade unions and their members together to highlight and resist unfair measures by the Orpo-Purra Government that would damage the interests of workers and the unemployed.

The Government is seeking significant changes in labour law, and in the right to strike. Its programme also includes a wide range of social welfare reductions, including drastic cuts in earnings-related unemployment benefit and housing allowance. A huge raft of measures is already in preparation. 

Many of these cuts and legal changes are scheduled to take effect next year, with the first already introduced at the start of 2024. This means that we must act swiftly. We cannot delay in lobbying the Government for a change of course. 

Measures to undermine the status of employees and limit the right to strike will exclusively benefit employers, with no significant impact on the national economy. 

Examples of Orpo-Purra Government objectives include limiting the rights and opportunities of employees to protest, withholding pay for the first day of illness, and reducing job security by making it easier to dismiss employees and hire them for only temporary employment. These changes will damage the interests of employees by increasing insecurity in the working world. 

Cuts in social welfare are bad news not only for the unemployed, but also for those in low-paid jobs. The envisaged cuts are in no way marginal. The reduction in earnings-related unemployment benefit will cut some EUR 300 from the monthly benefit payable after two months of unemployment to a claimant who initially qualified for about EUR 1,500 based on earnings of EUR 2,500 while working. The Government is also abolishing the child supplements that were formerly payable to these claimants. 

The overall impact of the Government Programme is highly unfair to employees. SAK and the trade unions have called for the Government to study the effects of its planned measures, examining such aspects as the combined impact of cuts on social welfare as a whole. 

The Government has sought to justify these cuts in terms of improved competitiveness and austerity required by the growing national debt. Many economists have nevertheless pointed out that the planned measures will not lead to significant savings or new jobs. Finland is already competitive in relation to benchmark economies. 

SAK and the trade unions exist to defend the interests of employees. We cannot stand by and do nothing as the burden of cuts and austerity falls solely on employees, the unemployed and low-paid workers. 

A catalogue of Orpo-Purra Government cuts 

Erosion of working conditions 

• No pay for the first day of sick leave 
• Job alternation leave abolished 
• “Relevant grounds” becoming sufficient for dismissal, instead of the present higher threshold of “relevant and serious grounds”. 
• Broader scope to set aside statutory employment standards by collective bargaining at individual workplaces with no shop steward 
• Special grounds for temporary employment only required when the job lasts for longer than one year 
• Hampering settlement of industrial disputes by limiting the powers of the national conciliator 
• Shortening notification and bargaining periods for temporary layoffs 
• No duty to re-engage dismissed workers in businesses with fewer than 50 employees 

Restrictions on the right to strike 

• Restrictions on sympathetic and political strike action 
• A €200 fine for individual strikers when a strike is found to be illegal 
• A dramatic increase in union strike fines 

Cuts in social welfare 

• Child supplements abolished in unemployment benefit 
• Earnings-related unemployment benefit already reduced after two months 
• A prolonged waiting period for unemployment benefit 
• Wage-subsidised employment no longer counting towards the employment condition for earnings-related benefit 
• A longer employment condition for earnings-related benefit 
• An employment condition based on prior earnings instead of working time 
• Cuts in housing allowance 
• Eligibility for unemployment benefit to begin only after phasing of outstanding holiday compensation 
• Obstacles to eligibility for social assistance 
• Abolition of the increased parental allowance rate payable for the first 16 ordinary weekdays 
• Abolition of the unemployment benefit and housing allowance portions that are protected during part-time working 
• Abolition of adult education benefit 
• Cuts in benefits for unemployed elderly workers 

How can I get involved? 

• Share information at work 

Your trade union and SAK produce plenty of material that you can share or refer to when discussing government measures at work. This includes the list of cuts available on the SAK website.  

• Take part in events, sign petitions and attend demonstrations 

Collective strength is an effective way to be heard. Take part in and share information about trade union and other events. 

• Share, like and comment on social media under the #SeriousGrounds hashtag 

We will be using the hashtags #SeriousGrounds, #PainavaSyy and #VägandeSkäl. Follow them and spread the word by reposting and reacting.