Teachers and healthcare employees fight budget cuts in municipalities

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In October 1999, trade unions representing Finnish education, health and social care employees announced the launch of a joint campaign against lay-offs, cost cutting and fixed-term jobs in the municipal sector. Municipalities that hire fixed-term workers illegally are being threatened with court action. The municipal employers admit that some illegal actions may have occurred under the pressure of budget cuts.

After the severe recession earlier in the 1990s, cost cutting and fixed-term employment have been the order of the day in the Finnish public sector. Despite the economic recovery of recent years, the sector has not been able to improve its reputation as an employer. In October 1999, the Union of Health and Social Care Service (Terveyden- ja sosiaalihuoltoalan ammattijärjestö, TEHY) and the Trade Union of Education in Finland (Opetusalan ammattijärjestö, OAJ) announced that they were about to begin a joint campaign against lay-offs, cost-saving agreements and fixed-term jobs (FI9811183N). Together, the two unions represent 225,000 teachers and nurses, and the initiative demonstrates that very different occupational groups - including both front-line healthcare staff and highly educated professionals - are now coordinating common goals in the municipal sector.

According to the chair of OAJ, Erkki Kangasniemi, the lay-offs and continued savings in staff wage costs must be stopped. In his opinion, there is no real justification for continued savings. The chair of TEHY, Jaana Laitinen-Pesola, stated that savings originally meant as interim measures have become a constant phenomenon, which is endangering the quality of basic services, the equality of citizens, and the future of the whole country. The two organisations call for contractual wages to be paid in full in the future, and for increases in the paybill not be cut by lay-offs or other cost-saving measures.

TEHY and OAJ also want to tackle a special problem in the public sector - jobs that are fixed term, regardless of the fact that the work tasks involved are permanent. As many as one-third of TEHY members are on fixed-term contracts, while many teachers are dismissed before the summer school holidays and then hired again in the autumn. The unions state that there has been considerable illegal activity in this area and Mr Kangasniemi of OAJ promises to take these cases to court.

The municipal employers' organisation, the Commission for Local Authority Employers (Kunnallinen työmarkkinalaitos, KT), admits that mistakes may have been made in municipalities, and that illegal practices may have occurred, but denies that all the fixed-term jobs are illegal. According to KT's lawyer, Lauri Niittylä, it suits municipal employers very well that the unclear cases will be handled in court - implying that the employees are exaggerating the problem. KT's director for labour market issues, Jouni Ekuri, points out that the municipalities have been forced to make savings, but that some of them have now started to convert fixed-term jobs into permanent ones, as the economic situation has improved. However, some municipalities are still in bad shape. Mr Ekuri states that if fixed-term contracts are not allowed and lay-offs are prohibited, then there are not many choices left. In other words, this will mean redundancies for employees, if no other way of cutting costs can be found.

The state has cut its funding for municipalities and there will be no help from that direction. In fact, the state is facing the same problems as the municipalities. However, the Finnish economy has now enjoyed a long period of growth and it has been possible to pay off part of the huge state debt, a factor which will possibly bring some relief to the situation in the long run.