Commenting Tuesday on the labour market accord aimed at making Finnish businesses more cost-competitive, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä described the package of measures agreed by employer and employee sides as "a very positive step forward."
The government met with labour market leaders Tuesday to discuss and review the agreement that had been broadly finalised Monday. Sipilä described the meeting as useful and taking place in a positive spirit.
He said that the parties agreed to conduct more detailed talks on what the package would mean for public finances. One of the main platforms the leaders discussed included a plan for local-level collective bargaining agreements.
"We also went through the current Finnish agreement model. We got more specific information on that."
An ongoing process
Journalists asked Sipilä if he thought that the provisions for local collective agreements were too loosely written into the agreement.
"We noted together that this is a kind of minimum level in the agreement. In any case the parties think that this is a process that will continue. We will now go through this in the government to see whether what’s written on paper is adequate and what the entirety means," he responded.
The PM said that it’s clear that the proposed package of competitiveness-boosting measures compensates for the government’s own programme of measures.
However he said told journalists that the government would still be moving ahead with tax and savings measures valued at 1.5 billion euros.
"In that case we are moving ahead according to the government programme. It is just this that we are calculating with labour market organisations and we are comparing our estimates," he responded.
"But this package isn’t enough to also implement tax reductions. This package still falls short. We discussed precisely this for some time," Sipilä commented.
Stubb: We’ll take our time, check the numbers
Meanwhile Finance Minister Alexander Stubb said that government and labour market leaders will proceed carefully with their evaluation of the measures proposed.
"Our starting point is the overall impact of this package on public finances and employment. Needless to say, it’s clear that the further we go, the better it will correspond to the 72 percent goal and four billion-euro goal," Stubb added.
"If by the year 2017 we are able to prove that the package includes 0.5 percent of GDP [growth] then we will be able to make concessions by way of tax reductions and can pull back additional spending cuts," he added.
However if the labour accord is found wanting, the more likely it is that government will implement more adjustment measures, he continued.
"We will proceed with deliberation. We will check that all the numbers are correct. After that we will make a joint decision," Stubb declared.
For his part, Justice and Labour Minister Jari Lindström said that he was pleased to see that a bargaining culture still flourished in Finland.
"We have many a great leap forward in many areas," he noted.