The past week has seen nearly daily announcements by Finnish unions that their members will take part in action at the beginning of February to pressure the government to abandon plans they say will weaken workers' positions in the labour market.
In addition to plans previously announced by several industrial sector unions, it was reported on Tuesday that daycare centres in the Helsinki metropolitan region are set to close their doors on 31 January and 1 February due to a strike by teaching staff. On Wednesday, the Paperworkers' Union joined in, announcing that some 3,000 of its members will walk off the job on the morning of 1 February for two days.
Strikes or something else?
Mika Helander, a senior lecturer at Åbo Akademi, told Yle that he would describe the upcoming wave of labour actions as a protest or a broad expression of a political stance by the labour union movement.
"The term strike is perhaps not so descriptive here, even though it's being carried out in the form of walkouts and work stoppages. The goal is clearly to send a political message," said Helander.
While in some quarters next week's action is being seen as a general strike, Mika Helander considers the term hard to define. Finland saw a general strike in 1917 which was clearly political in nature, and another in 1956.
The protests now planned could turn into a general strike, he points out, but that would require somewhat broader joint coordination from the central union organisations. In the current situation, various unions have announced that they will join in these protests. There has been no broad, overall coordination.
The threshold for central union organisations to declare a general strike is high. However, according to Helander, the practical impact next week may be quite similar to that of a short-term general strike.
Political in nature
The labour movement views government plans as undercutting workers' rights. Entitlements to income-linked unemployment benefits would be cut back, and sick leave would become partially unpaid under the plans.
The government also wants to make it easier for firms to agree different terms and conditions of employment to those in the sector-wide collective agreements that currently govern most workers' contracts.
Traditional strikes in Finland usually take place within the context of the bargaining for collective agreements with the aim of pressuring employers during negotiations.
This is something different.
"The term 'political strike' is now being used, but a better name for this would be a political statement, and in concrete terms, walkouts and protests. These could better describe their purpose," Helander explained.
He also pointed out that the target of the protests is the country's government, not directly employers or collective bargaining agreements.
The last large-scale labour disputes in Finland were seen during term of the government of Juha Sipilä (Centre) which was in office from 2015 to 2019.
"Back then, there were a lot of labour actions, but I don't think it was this widespread. There were demonstrations in the early 1990s related to plans to weaken unemployment benefits. At that time, a general strike was threatened three times, and the government and the business community backed down. That was probably the closest to this situation," said Mika Helander.
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