Helsingin Sanomat leads with words of advice from former Nokia front man Jorma Ollila, now chair of one of the world’s leading multinational corporations, Shell Oil. First, he is concerned that Finland does not understand the gravity of the situation in Russia. Finland’s neighbour to the East is now a serious threat to the world economy, as it is very dependent on the export of crude oil and gas. Ollila says US-led sanctions against Russia prohibit foreign companies from exporting new technology to Russia related to natural gas, oil production in the Arctic and deep-sea oil drilling. If things continue as they are, Ollila fears oil production in Russia will start to contract in just 1.5 to 2 years. This would be a death blow to the Russian economy, as oil and gas production accounts for roughly half of the country’s revenue. By extension, the world-wide repercussions of a Russian economic meltdown would be monumental.
Second, Ollila expresses his frustration with political indecision in his homeland, calling for Finnish politicians to take the necessary action to start making changes. “We need strong leadership to implement sweeping changes. No more mucking about with pensioner’s fishing licenses or cutting university funding just to turn around and give that money to gardeners and farmers,” he says. “Gerhard Schröder in Germany and Göran Persson and Fredrik Reinfeldt in Sweden were able to implement large structural reform. There is no copyright on the methods they used. We should be able to copy those steps that have proven to work.”
For Ollila, this kind of reform means loosening labour markets and reducing the public sector. ”I am a proponent of privatizing public services, if it can generate efficiency,” he says. He feels the largest challenge facing Finland’s industry is technological development. Innovations like robots, nanotechnology, 3D printing, embedded computing devices and artificial intelligence are the future, he believes.
Icebreakers may be on thin ice
The top story on Wednesday from the Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet features Commander Jon von Weissenberg’s negative appraisal of Finland’s pending agreement with Russia to conduct joint icebreaking operations. Weissenberg, who works as a teacher at the National Defence University, says the Russian icebreakers could in the course of their work gain access to classified maritime information, like the position of underwater monitoring equipment in the Gulf of Finland.
Finland and Russia have entered into an agreement to allow icebreaking vessels to operate in each other’s waters. Any operations outside the nations’ borders must first be authorized by the authorities. The government has proposed that the agreement be approved and the Parliament is scheduled to discuss the issue today.
Acute need for forest harvest workers
Tabloid Iltalehti runs a story on one line of work that is not laying off workers: forestry. The paper says there is a desperate need for workers, as forest harvesting vehicle operators in particular are in short supply. The situation will only get worse in future, because there aren’t enough applicants for training positions in these areas. The forest industry employed 44,000 people in Finland in 2013, 160,000 if you count all of the related business. One-third of the forestry labour force will retire in the next ten years.
“The paper, pulp and board mills won’t necessarily be hiring, but we have an acute shortage of timber lorry drivers and forest machinery operators. There is also work available for laboratory technicians, R&D personnel and maintenance and usage employees,” says forest industry umbrella organisation Metsäteollisuus’s Communications Director Anne Pirilä. Metsäteollisuus has arranged campaigns in schools this autumn to raise the awareness of young people considering their future occupations. The forest sector is also ideal in that it offers jobs throughout the country, in urban and rural areas alike.
Better to use the money in other ways
Southwest paper Turun Sanomat calls attention to a rising movement in opposition to a proposed express train that would connect the southwest city of Turku with Helsinki. The proposed fast train would make the trip between the two cities in one hour. The connection is estimated to cost an exhorbitant one billion euros, and many believe the money would better be spent elsewhere, but other factors are also worrying. Nothing in Finland’s railway service provider VR's rolling stock purchases indicates preparedness for a move to high-speed rail services. Last year VR ordered 80 new electric locomotives from Siemens for delivery in 2017–2026. With a standard speed of 200 kilometres per hour and a life cycle of 40 years, the company says there is no reasonable rationale for purchasing all new equipment for just one route.