Lännen Media reports on Tuesday that Finland could introduce new rules to stop the national labour conciliator switching jobs to join a party to labour talks she is supposed to be mediating. The new rules would limit the conciliator's ability to use information gleaned in the course of their job.
Heidi Nummela from the Ministry of Employment and Economic Affairs tells Lännen Media that officials are actively considering whether new terms of work are required to prevent perceived conflicts of interest in the mediation role when a new conciliator is appointed.
The current labour conciliator Minna Helle is leaving the post to take up a new role with the employers' organisation Technology Industries of Finland. Unions slammed her decision, saying it called into question her even-handedness during the current round of talks on sector-wide pay agreements.
"The National Labour Conciliator's information is mainly to do with the current negotiating stances of the parties to various contracts," said Nummela. "The quality of that information is not necessarily such that it would require a bar on switching employers."
Helle did not agree a bar on such moves when she took the job in 2015 as the current regulations on outside interests had not been agreed at that point.
There have been complaints about Helle's actions to the Chancellor of Justice and the Parliamentary Ombudsman.