31/01/2024
Up to 300,000 people are expected to join the three days of action – also planned for factories, postal services, preschools, hotels and restaurants – with significant disruption predicted across the country.
On Friday, trains, trams and underground services are expected to stop and buses to be severely affected. Finnair said it would have to cancel about 550 flights and cut traffic at Helsinki airport.
The strikes are in reaction to proposals by Finland’s centre-right government, led by the prime minister, Petteri Orpo of the National Coalition party, to make changes to the labour market. These would restrict employees’ rights to strike and prevent the national labour mediator from offering wage increases that exceed those received by export sectors and cuts to unemployment benefits.
The strikes come amid a febrile political atmosphere. The second round of Finland’s presidential elections will take place on 11 February after Alexander Stubb of the National Coalition party and Pekka Haavisto, a member of the Green party running as an independent, both qualified on Sunday.
The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK), two of the unions that called the strikes, urged the government to immediately abandon the planned cuts and changes, which they say will lead to a huge rise in inequality.
