Brussels, 09/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 September, the centre-right Finnish government announced measures to reduce hourly labour costs, some of the highest in Europe, by 5%.
The announced measures include the cancellation of two public holidays (Epiphany and Ascension), a reduction in overtime payments (by half for overtime hours and by one quarter for Sundays) and reducing paid annual leave from 38 days to 30 for civil servants. In the event of sickness leave, the first day would be unpaid and subsequent days paid at a level of 80%.
These austerity measures, to which several unions have objected in the strongest possible terms, will apply to all sectors once each sector's collective-bargaining agreement expires, the Finnish Prime Minister, Juha Sipilä, explained, according to reports by the news agency Belga. In power since April, he has opted to legislate after talks with the social partners broke down over the summer.
According to the spring economic forecasts of the European Commission (see EUROPE 11314), Finland is expected to struggle out of three years of recession in 2015, growing its GDP by 0.3%. The creation of wealth fell in the country in 2012 (-1.4%), 2013 (-1.3%) and 2014 (-0.1%). Unemployment is expected to go over 9% of the working-age population of Finland. Although the public deficit was more than 3% of GDP in 2014, the European Commission has decided not to open excessive deficit proceedings against Helsinki at this stage. (Mathieu Bion)