300,000 people involved

Massive strike largely paralyzes Finland

Striking workers in Helsinki(Bild: EPA)

Finland's largest trade unions have called a strike in protest against the center-right government's labor market reform. Around 300,000 employees responded to the call and largely paralyzed the Scandinavian country on Thursday.

The strikes affected public transport, numerous large manufacturing companies, transport and retail companies, the post office, kindergartens and airlines, among others. According to police reports, around 13,000 people demonstrated against the planned reform in Helsinki at midday. The organizers of the demonstration, the trade union union SAK and the professional association STTK, had originally expected 7,000 participants.

The controversial key points of the reform
The government's planned changes to labour law include high penalties for unauthorized strikes and a mandatory time limit for strikes. In future, the first day of sick leave will no longer be paid. Various social benefits, including unemployment benefit, housing benefit and child benefit, are to be cut.

The trade unions accuse the government of not wanting to negotiate a mitigation of the reform. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo criticized the mass strikes on Thursday as disproportionate and excessive. He defended the planned changes to the law. These would not affect the lives of "ordinary wage earners". In a statement from Brussels, Opro also rejected the accusation that it was not prepared to negotiate.

Strike runs until Saturday
The strike is set to continue until Saturday morning. Finns will therefore have to prepare for massive disruptions to public transport on Friday as well.