Violation of employee's right in Finland

[sammy]

Ah, but they only switched over to a five-day work week in the turn of the 1970's - you really expect miracles in 40 odd years?

Mind you, on the public sector this 'Saturday counting' has just recently been done away with... but at the same time, they've abolished the "extra days" you earned if you took some of your annual holidays outside the regular holiday season (June - September). Now, one can earn a maximum of 38 days of annual holiday. Since Saturdays are not counted, that amounts to almost two months altogether. However, for that luxury of 'full holidays' you need to work 15 years in public service... and do I need to mention the salary levels... )

[riku2]

I think it is only good for you nationalists that certain people get good information about e.g. holidays which are strangly counted, lack of employee protection etc. etc. before they get here. It might be a reason why it will get more difficult to get (and keep) highly educated professionals.

yes, when I had my job interview for finland many years ago they didn't really explain "holiday pay", they just quoted the monthly salary. but for any full time job in finland you get 13x this amount per year, so there is nothing really wrong with discussing here the bad (and good) points of a job contract in finland.
Same goes for holiday, if you arrive here from a country where the initial allowance is pro-rated to when you start in the year then you better negotiate some paid holiday up front or you'll only have unpaid holiday at first.

It is funny how sensitive finns can get if you criticise things about their country, they take it so personally. Brits would say that if you like britain then stay, otherwise you're free to leave. I don't think they take if personally and start to whine if you criticise the crime or traffic or poorly built buildings or having to write letters to the counci or write out cheques by hand.

[Pursuivant]

Because if we wouldn't take it personally, we'd end up like the UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZuzRSYSsqo

[Geezus]

I always worked for friends; mostly Finns. Never been a member of workers union of any kind. But If I was working for a such company yes, I would definitely join any union available and they are more than happy to support you.

[Sulawesi]

Hi,

If you suspect that your rights as an employee have been violated, contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; they have inspectors focusing also especially on foreign labour. Have a look at the www-site: http://www.tyosuojelu.fi/fi/workingfinland. The name of the authority has changed, but the information is valid and there's a lot of stuff in Finnish, English, Russian, Swedish and Estonian. This authority is the one taking action if the employees rights are violated and they are very co-operative. You just have to be specific with your complaint!

To contact them, in Helsinki area (Southern Finland) the e-mail address is: tyosuojelu.etela(at)avi.fi, tel. 020 636 1040, in Western Finland (Vaasa, Tampere, Jyväskylä) info.lansi(at)avi.fi, tel. 020 6361 060. More regional contact information can be found at: http://www.avi.fi/fi/virastot/Yhteystie ... fault.aspx (you'll just have to figure out which region you're in). Too bad the English pages aren't up yet, but the old pages I referred to are very good.