Finland's opposition parties have unanimously submitted a no-confidence motion in the government over its plans to link wage rises to the export sector.
Last week, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government submitted a labour market reform proposal to Parliament which aims to ensure that labour dispute mediations do not result in wage increases exceeding those in the export sector.
Unions representing workers in fields with a greater share of women workers have voiced concern that the government's plans will make it harder to reduce historical pay gaps for such employees.
According to Social Democratic parliamentary group chair Tytti Tuppurainen, the entire opposition shares the opinion that Orpo's government should withdraw the "wage pit" legislation.
Wage pit is a Finnish term which refers to a permanent wage gap.
Tuppurainen said the government's proposal would be harmful to the country's average wage earners, and would condemn female-dominated industries to eternally low wages.
The chair of the opposition Centre Party, Antti Kurvinen, described the proposed law as harmful and damaging, and a mockery of Sweden's wage model. Kurvinen said passing the law would weaken the national mediator's capabilities as well as other dispute resolution mechanisms.
The government has claimed that its proposed labour model was already in practice in Nordic countries. However, last spring a researcher specialising in the matter explained the issue was more nuanced than that.
Greens chair Sofia Virta said her party does not accept how the government is "insulting" workers in low-paid, female-dominated fields.
Opposition outrage
The Left Alliance's parliamentary group chair, Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, also voiced concerns about the plans. She noted that the government will effectively be condemning workers in female-dominated sectors to a permanent wage shortfall.
"I am a nurse by profession and am really angry about the way this government is treating my former colleagues and many other low-paid workers, without whom this country would be unable to run," Pekonen said at a joint press conference held by opposition party members on Friday.
She added that if the new laws go into effect in the spring as planned, nurses and other workers in the social and health care sector will be denied salary hikes that have already been agreed upon.
"The government could not treat employees more outrageously than this," Pekonen said.
According to the sole MP from the Movement Now party, Hjallis Harkimo, the law will destroy the national mediator's position.
"It's the dumbest law that has ever been made and will not affect the export industry's competitiveness in any way," Harkimo said.
Critics of the bill, including public sector trade unions, argue that if the government's wage model is implemented, it will make it even more difficult to improve the position of women and others in low-paid sectors and also complicate the mediation process.
Earlier this year, an Yle survey found that the government's wage model plans and other proposals were also unpopular among some Finns.
After the submission of a no-confidence motion, the government is required to reply within 15 days. Parliament will then discuss and vote on the matter.
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