Minister of Employment Arto Satonen (NCP) has invited the main employers’ groups and trade union federations for talks on 16 January. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment said on Monday that the discussions would focus on "developing the nation's labour market model".
Its statement did not specify clearly what would be discussed at the meeting, but suggested that it would include "the development of the labour market negotiation system".
"The government's goal is to strengthen the export-led labour market model in order to increase Finland's long-term competitiveness," the ministry said.
Last week, the largest blue-collar labour federation, the SAK, broke off talks with employers’ groups on the issue before staging a wave of nationwide strikes. It said this was in response to the right-wing government’s refusal to expand negotiations to cover its planned labour-market reforms. Unions argue they will curtail workers’ rights.
National labour conciliator Anu Sajavaara has also been invited to take part in the January event.
Gov't aims to lighten load for firms
Last week the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment appointed a tripartite working group to prepare amendments to the Co-operation Act, which governs how companies must carry out redundancy negotiations, for instance.
That is part of the government’s labour market reform package, which calls for the act to only apply to firms with 50 or more employees rather than any with 20 or more workers as at present.
The cabinet also proposes that companies should be able to carry out layoff talks more swiftly than now. It also wants to lighten requirements for employee representation in corporate boards or senior management groups.
Besides the SAK, the two other main labour federations, the STTK and Akava, were also invited to take part in the working group, along with the two big employers’ groups, the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) and the Federation of Finnish Enterprises.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) criticised the SAK, saying it was “regrettable that the SAK broke off the discussions…which had clearly started constructively.”
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