Finland falls in rankings – Trade union rights under­mi­ned by the government’s actions

The Orpo-Purra govern­ment has announced its inten­tion to intro­duce measu­res that seek to reduce Finland’s pull factors for immi­grants. These policies will natu­rally weaken the social and unemplo­y­ment secu­rity of all Finns.

The govern­ment has been particu­larly success­ful in weake­ning workers’ rights. This year, Finland was the only Nordic country to drop out of the group of best count­ries in the world for workers. The compa­ri­son is publis­hed by the Inter­na­tio­nal Trade Union Confe­de­ra­tion ITUC. The 11th annual ITUC Global Rights Index report was publis­hed in June.

The ITUC ranks the world’s count­ries into five rating groups based on the reali­sa­tion of labour rights in prac­tice. Previously, Finland has always been in the top rating group.

Otherwise, the group of best count­ries in the world remai­ned unchan­ged. In addi­tion to the four Nordic count­ries, it inclu­des Italy, Ireland, Austria and Germany. In its new rating group, Finland is accom­pa­nied by 21 count­ries, inclu­ding Ghana, Malawi and Moldova. Finland is the only country among the top two groups to dete­rio­rate in its rating.

Finland is the only country among the top two groups to dete­rio­rate in its rating.

The ITUC collects data about viola­tions of trade union and labour rights around the world. For the report, the data is compa­red to the 97 rights ensh­ri­ned in inter­na­tio­nal conventions.

Busi­nes­ses and govern­ments around the world are infrin­ging on trade union and labour rights at an acce­le­ra­ting pace. The right to strike was viola­ted in nine out of ten and the right to collec­tive bargai­ning in eight out of ten count­ries. Trade unio­nists were arres­ted or impri­so­ned in nearly half of the countries.

Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s exten­sive devas­ta­tion in Gaza and tigh­te­ning occu­pa­tion in the West Bank have furt­her dete­rio­ra­ted rights in all of the four count­ries involved.

The ten worst count­ries in the world for workers are Bangla­desh, Ecua­dor, Egypt, Eswa­tini, the Philip­pi­nes, Guate­mala, Myan­mar, Tuni­sia, Turkey and Bela­rus. Twelve count­ries in which the rule of law has broken down, inclu­ding Haiti, Libya and Syria, are grou­ped in a sepa­rate cate­gory below the five rating groups.

Poli­tical strike in Nigeria

Unlike in Finland, prolon­ged poli­tical stri­kes are legal in Nige­ria. In June, two of the count­ry’s cent­ral labour orga­ni­sa­tions star­ted a poli­tical strike without a stated end date. Their demand was increa­sing the mini­mum wage by more than the 60,000 naira (€37) offe­red by the govern­ment. Howe­ver, the unions ended the strike quickly to allow nego­tia­tions to begin.

Vanguard, a Nige­rian news­pa­per repor­ting on the strike, writes that viola­tions of workers’ rights are still commonplace in Nige­ria. In the recent ITUC Global Rights Index report on labour rights around the world, Nige­ria was one of the count­ries to drop its rating.

Read the article in Finnish!