Workers and employers organisations have joined forces to demand changes to the government s coronavirus vaccination policies.
Over the Christmas period the Ministry for Social Affairs and Health published a paper outlining policies surrounding the vaccine rollout, but the labour market organisations now say there are significant practical problems with the proposal.
The blue collar trade union confederation SAK, its white collar equivalent STTK, the confederation for professional unions Akava and the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK all want to see costs associated with vaccines delivered by occupational health services reimbursed in full by the taxpayer.
In the current proposal 60 percent of costs will be reimbursed. Most people working in Finland have access to occupational health services from their employer, either through in-house staff or a private contractor.
Finland Consumer Sentiment, Industrial Confidence Improve In December Finland’s consumer and industrial confidence improved in December, separate survey results showed on Monday.
The consumer sentiment index rose to -4.6 in December from -4.8 in November, Statistics Finland said.
Among the four components, households’ intention to spend money on durable goods declined slightly in December.
Meanwhile, views on the current state of the own economy, expectations concerning Finland’s economy and expectation concerning one’s own economy increased in December.
The data was collected from 1,133 persons between December 1 and 16.
Data from the Confederation of Finnish Industries showed that the manufacturing confidence index rose eight points to -5 in December from -13 in November. The reading was well below the long-term average of +1.
The Ministry of Finance announced new measures to improve employment among the over-55s.
Government party leaders outlined employment measures affecting workers over the age of 55. Authors at a press conference on Thursday.
Image: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva
Government parties have come to an agreement to scrap the ‘pension pipeline’, an enhanced unemployment benefits scheme offered to older people in Finland.
The agreement came after Finland s unions and employer organisations failed to secure a deal on eliminating the pension pipeline earlier in the year, in a blow to Finland s system of tripartite labour market negotiation.
The scheme (
eläkeputki in Finnish) allowed workers close to retirement age who become unemployed to claim higher, income-linked jobless benefits for an extended period until they can claim their pension.
Prime Minister
Sanna Marin (SDP) said on Friday that the latest European Union agreement on emissions reductions is good news for Finland.
Speaking after an all-night negotiating session that led to the agreement, the premier said that Finland was satisfied with the final result.
“The negotiations took time because there were different views about the level of detail at which [emissions cuts] should be discussed at this stage,” Marin said.
Fighting climate change is not only imperative, but also represents an economic opportunity, Marin said.
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Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) arrived at the EU summit on Thursday.