NTF:n kirje pääministeri Sipilälle

Dear Prime Minister 

The Nordic Transport Workers' Federation, NTF, organises 400 000 transport workers through its 47 Nordic member unions, including 12 Finnish unions. 

Your government’s proposal for a series of measures in the labour market has been brought to the attention of the NTF. Through mandatory legislation you will be introducing a number of deteriorations for Finnish employees which would also mean that you deviate from the Finnish as well as the Nordic model for collective bargaining agreements which has been used in Finland and other Nordic countries for more than half a century. Your proposal for the series of measures will also mean that you in practice will scrap general collective bargaining agreements and introduce a number of minimum regulations set by the government for the Finnish labour market without negotiations with social partners.

The measures can also be seen as discriminatory as they will substantially affect low-paid workers in female-dominated industries.

To inflict such severe restrictions as your proposal in the series of measures suggests, with the purpose of creating more work opportunities, has already been tried by the Swedish Allians government without success. The NTF especially opposes that the Finnish workers should be paying for the financial problems created by the capital, the banker’s and corporate businesses.

To believe that cuts to social security benefits, reducing over-time and weekend compensation and reducing social security contributions made by private employers would increase labour productivity is directly naïve.

The NTF will in all instances fully support the Finnish unions in their demands and actions, including strike.

We therefore ask you to review your decision about the series of measures and instead let social partners deal with negotiations concerning the labour market.

Yours sincerely

Peter Lövkvist
General Secretary