SEL, alongside other trade unions, is prepared to take industrial action in the food industry to repel the Orpo administration’s proposed efforts to erode workers’ rights.

Finnish Food Workers’ Union SEL does not condone the Orpo administration’s plans to undermine workers’ rights and unemployment benefits. SEL is prepared to take industrial action in the food industry alongside other SAK unions to prevent the government’s proposed efforts to undermine workers’ rights.

– Orpo and Purra’s administration has launched an unforeseen assault on workers’ rights and security. We are prepared to take action to protect them, says SEL Chairperson Veli-Matti Kuntonen.

The Government Programme of the new administration formed by the National Coalition Party, the Finns Party, the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats contains a laundry list of legislative amendments to undermine workers’ rights and security. The government is hastily preparing amendments that seek to curtail the workers’ right to strike, to be followed by reductions to employment conditions and social security.

– Should the proposals of the Orpo administration pass, workers’ lives in Finland will without a doubt become harder and more uncertain. Fixed-term work will become more common, and termination of employment will become easier for employers. The government will create an opportunity to undercut salaries and employment conditions with a local agreement model that bypasses shop stewards. Dialogue between workers and employers will be reduced by excluding a significant number of companies from the Co-operation Act, Kuntonen says.

In addition to general reductions to workers rights, the Government Programme also includes a commitment to repeal the Work in Bakeries Act as of 1 March 2025. SEL opposes the repeal of the law. As SEL outlined in its statement during the government negotiations, the Act is needed to secure living wages for bakery workers and the availability of labour in the bakery sector. SEL aims to secure reasonable employment conditions for bakery workers in the future as well.

According to SEL’s estimate, the amendments proposed in the Government Programme will not only make working life in Finland worse but are also likely to exacerbate the country’s labour shortage.

At its meeting in August, the SEL Executive Committee discussed the Government Programme and measures to prepare for industrial action. SEL will continue to inform food industry workers about the effects of the proposed reductions to workers rights in the Government Programme and prepares to take action to protect workers in the food industry.