People rally yesterday against budget measures proposed by the Finnish government, at the Central Railway Station in Helsinki.

Reuters/AFP
Helsinki

More than 30,000 people rallied in Helsinki yesterday to protest government plans to cut workers’ benefits, with strikes also halting railroads, harbours and paper mills around the country.
Outside the square where the demonstration – the biggest in Finland since 1991 – was held, the capital’s rainy streets were quiet, with office workers opting to stay at home as much of the public transport system was shuttered due to the strike.
The centre-right government, facing an economy in stagnation, announced plans last week to cut workers’ overtime pay, holidays and sickness benefits – matters traditionally agreed by labour unions and the employer organisations alone.
“The economy has not been well, but it will not recover by force, it requires co-operation,” Antti Rinne, leader of the opposition Social Democrats and a former union boss, said in a speech to the cheering crowd.
“You can be certain that rain, wind and thunderstorms will continue if you keep up this line,” he said, addressing his message to the government.
About 300,000 workers went out on strike yesterday.
The demonstrators, mostly union activists, said it was unfair make cuts in sectors where salaries were already low.
They expressed anger that the government had unilaterally pushed through the changes.
“Back in the day, other sectors got wage increases while public sectors were given more holidays. Those holidays just can’t be taken away like this,” said a public day-care centre worker who gave her name as Maija.
Prime Minister Juha Sipila took matters into his own hands after talks with unions failed twice since he took office in May.
This week, he gave a rare speech to the nation, urging citizens to find a “common spirit of reform” to save the welfare state and create more jobs rather than letting strikes impede an economy already hit by vast staff cuts at former national growth engine Nokia.
“The Finnish state has contracted debt at a rate of almost a million euros ($1.13mn) per hour for seven years, day and night, every day of the week. We cannot continue like this,” Sipila said in a rare televised address to the nation on Wednesday, urging Finns to accept the measures.
He has insisted the plan is “indispensable” to increase productivity by reducing labour costs, describing Finland’s economic situation as “exceptionally serious”.
But the impact of those measures was shown by protester Miikka Rauhala, a 46-year-old museum employee, carrying a sign saying “1848 euros ($2,112), cut from that Sipila”.
“It’s my gross monthly salary without the weekend supplements that they now want to cut. Museums are open six days a week. They also want to cut my holidays and the retirement age keeps being pushed back,” he said.
The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) estimated that yesterday’s one-day strike cost the economy €100mn.
“Everyone should understand that in the future, we can’t afford these kind of losses. It’s hitting both the companies and their employees,” EK executive Ilkka Oksala said.
The benefit cuts are part of Sipila’s long-term plan to save €10bn ($11.4bn) by 2030 to balance Finland’s public finances.
Yesterday’s strike hit Helsinki’s transport system leaving around 400,000 people who regularly use trains, trams, metros or buses in Helsinki having to find other ways to get around, many of them either cycling, walking or opting to stay home.
Finnair said it had cancelled 15 domestic flights, while domestic ferry traffic, harbour and postal services were interrupted.
Only a few schools and daycare centres were closed, and police services were operating with minimum staff.
Finland, once a top performer in the eurozone, has seen its economy crumble under the effects of its rapidly ageing population and declines in key sectors such as forestry and technology, the latter once led by one-time world leader Nokia.
Despite the huge anti-austerity rally, a surprising number of Finns said they approved of the austerity measures.
A poll by tabloid Iltalehti last week showed that more than 70% of over 1,000 respondents were fully or partly in favour of the cuts, including more than 20% who said the measures were insufficient.
And by yesterday afternoon, more than 85,000 people – almost three times the number of demonstrators in Helsinki – had joined a Facebook event called “At work also on Friday. And proud of it”.
The country of just 5.5mn people has seen its competitiveness decline since 2007 relative to Germany, the rest of the eurozone and Sweden, as labour costs have climbed despite a poor economic performance.
Yesterday, Sipila said that unions could have until the end of the month to present a new “social contract” if they wanted.
Some of the unions said they would negotiate, but at the demonstration their leaders were critical.
“Last Tuesday was a black Tuesday for Finnish employees when the government announced its plan to wreck the Finnish way of negotiating,” Antti Palola, the head of the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK, said to a cheering crowd.
Paavo Salo, a 61-year-old industrial union employee attending the demonstration, accused the government of acting undemocratically.
“This is like a dictatorship, when they start to dictate” instead of negotiate with the unions, he said.
Another STTK representative, Katariina Murto, echoed that sentiment.
“We the unions have organised this demonstration against the government’s measures, including the restrictions to freedom of agreement, coercive laws and the deterioration of employment conditions,” she said.