Employers' think-tankassuming an active role

The Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA ) has been increasingly taking part in public debate in recent times, arguing strongly for employers’ interests. In December 2004, it was given a further boost by the appointment of a new high-profile board of directors and by bringing it closer to the employer-funded research institute, ETLA. The Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK) responded to EVA’s challenge in January 2005 by proposing the establishment of a similar organisation for the labour movement.

The Finnish Business and Policy Forum (Elinkeinoelämen Valtuuskunta, EVA) has defended employers’ interests in Finnish public debate since the early 1970s. Its original goal was to offer a counterweight to left-wing ideas and from the 1980s onwards its main focus was the integration of Finland into the European Union. Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc and Finland’s EU accession in 1995, EVA appeared to have achieved many of its objectives and took on an increasingly passive role. In recent years, however, it has again risen to prominence. The new active phase began with the appointment of Risto EJ Penttilä to the organisation’s leadership in 2002. He is the former chair of the now dissolved Young Finns party and is known for provoking heated debate. According to Mr Penttilä, there were three main reasons for EVA to assume a more active role: the Nice European Council summit in December 2000 (EU0012288F); the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001; and Finnish business leaders’ concern over the success of Finland in the context of globalisation. The conclusion drawn by EVA was that the attitudes of Finns were an obstacle to coping with the new challenges. People had become more nationally-minded and conservative and this was also reflected in negative changes in the country’s political leadership, Mr Penttilä argues. Among the new 'political elite', internationalism turned to rhetoric about neutrality, and competitiveness made room for the defence of the welfare state, especially after the 2003 parliamentary elections, he insists. In these circumstances, it was thought that EVA should more forcefully promote public debate and make policy proposals that are in line with employers’ interests.

Recent developments

In recent months, EVA’s organisation has been changed with the objective of strengthening its role. In November 2004, EVA announced that Sixten Korkman, currently the director general for economic and financial affairs at the EU Council, would assume the role of director general of EVA, starting in September 2005. The following month, a new heavyweight board of directors was nominated for the organisation. It consists of top Finnish business leaders and managers from the Confederation of Finnish Industries (Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto, EK), the country’s central employers’ organisation. The most prominent of the former group is Jorma Ollila, the chair and chief executive of Nokia Corporation, who was chosen to chair the board of EVA. The board members represent EVA’s three member organisations, which are EK, the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers Foundation (Teollisuuden ja työnantajain keskusliiton säätiö) and the General Employers' Association of Service Industries (Palvelutyönantajien yleinen työnantajaliitto).

At its meeting in December 2004, EVA also decided to increase its cooperation with the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Elinkeinoelämän Tutkimuslaitos, ETLA), which is accountable to the same board of directors. The stated aim of this move is increasingly to make use of the results of research in public debate.

EVA’s renewed activity has been reflected, especially since 2004, in it organising many discussions and presenting more reports and research findings. The main project of EVA in 2004 was drawing up a 'Roadmap to Finland's future success', which was presented in October 2004. It sought to identify barriers in the way of the country’s success in the world economy and to make policy proposals that would alleviate these problems. The report was based on interviews with about 60 leading Finnish executives and it may be regarded as a synthesis of Finnish employers’ views on the country’s present condition. Competitiveness was a prominent theme in the report. Two-thirds of the interviewees were of the opinion that Finland’s ability to compete has declined in recent years, and various reasons were given for this. These included the failure of tax policies, inefficiency of local government, resistance to change, rigid labour markets and lack of leadership. The ageing of the population and persistently high unemployment were also identified as major challenges. The report argued that major changes in many fields are needed. In terms of the Finnish industrial relations system, it was recommended that collective agreements should be made more flexible and workplace-level bargaining ought to be increased. The Finnish system was also criticised for being based on undemocratic corporatist structures, although the stability brought about by the tripartite and largely centralised framework was appreciated.

Trade union response

The new activism of EVA has given rise to discussions among trade unions over their role in public debate. The position of the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (Toimihenkilökeskusjärjestö, STTK) is that unions should respond by organising a joint debating forum to act as a counterweight to EVA. The STTK president, Mikko Mäenpää, proposed in January 2005 that the Labour Institute for Economic Research (Palkansaajien tutkimuslaitos, PT) could be turned into such a forum from its current role as an organisation that mainly conducts economic research. PT receives part of its funding from trade unions but is an independent institute. The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö, SAK) does not favour this, however. It is not willing to politicise the role of PT as it fears the credibility of its research could be reduced by doing so. However, it does not rule out increasing the cooperation among trade union organisations in public debate in other ways. The Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland (Akateemisten Toimihenkilöiden Keskusjärjestö, AKAVA) dissociates itself from the formation of a common forum resembling EVA. It maintains that there are too many differences in the positions of the three main union organisations, especially in terms of pay and tax policies.

Commentary

The renewed activity of EVA is part of a wider trend in Finland towards employers consolidating their position. A major event in this process was the merger of the central employers’ organisations into EK in 2004 (FI0403201N). Now that EVA and ETLA are to combine their efforts and represent employers’ interests in public debate, the process moves one step further. Consolidation has also been visible in the management of these three organisations. EVA and ETLA share the same board of directors which has now been filled with nearly all the leading figures in Finnish business. Moreover, of the 25 board members of EVA and ETLA, three are employed by EK and a further eight have a seat on the board of EK (which has 70 seats in total). Employers’ power is therefore concentrated in the hands of relatively few people. During the last few years, employers have used their consolidated power forcefully to demand a greater role for the market mechanism in the Finnish political economy, including in the industrial relations system. EVA has played an important role in voicing these demands.

It remains to be seen how trade unions will respond to EVA’s 'onslaught' and to the joining of forces by employers. Trade unions too have been consolidated in recent years, especially at sectoral level as various unions have merged. Meanwhile, the union confederations, SAK, STTK and AKAVA, have no plans to unite. AKAVA has distanced itself from the other central union organisations in the last year or so and, for this reason alone, a common think-tank for the union movement is hard to envisage. However, SAK and STTK have increased their cooperation quite substantially in recent years, which could also be been seen in the recent incomes policy negotiations (FI0501203F). EVA’s challenge may increasingly lead them to adopt common positions in public debate.

EVA is provoking debate in Finnish society, which has been characterised by relatively consensual politics in the last few decades. As a consequence, all parties including the social partners will be required to define more clearly what they stand for. This is very positive as it will enable more conscious choices to be made over the direction of society. (Aleksi Kuusisto, Labour Institute for Economic Research)