FINLAND

Finland: Top companies team up to face coronavirus

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Prominent Finnish companies have joined forces to increase their lead in digitalisation and the green economy, said the Confederation of Finnish Industry (EK) in a press release on Monday.

Their shared vision and innovative cooperation aim to pave the way to billion-euro investments in the digital customer and service experience, industrial processes, productivity, remote work, and climate solutions.

The cooperation was launched at the initiative of Pekka Lundmark while he was the CEO of Fortum. Lundmark is now the CEO of Nokia Corporation and the chairman of the EK Board.

In addition to Nokia, the cooperation involves the following companies: ABB, Cargotec, Finnair, Fortum, Konecranes, Kreab, Neste, OP Financial Group, Varusteleka, VTT, and Wärtsilä.

Together, they have outlined a digital vision for the future and prepared significant investments.

Increased public innovation funding would enable investments in a wide range of areas. These include, but are not limited to, world-class customer experience, climate-neutral industry and transport, remote industrial operations in the 5G environment, and autonomous maritime logistics.

In addition, cyber security for remote operations as well as digital work and leadership would also benefit from the funding. Furthermore, analyses were carried out to investigate the impact on business and change in customer expectations in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic.

It is in our common interest for Finland to seize new and emerging opportunities, said OP Financial Group President and CEO Timo Ritakallio. He said, “The COVID-19 pandemic showed how digital solutions help in ensuring secure and easy availability of services even in extreme circumstances. This is the time to further accelerate digitalisation – and to do it through cooperation between all companies and in the society as a whole.”

Digitalisation, climate solutions, and sustainability are closely linked, stressed Neste Corporation President and CEO Peter Vanacker:

“There is not only room for all of the alternative solutions – there is a gigantic need for them. At Neste, digitalisation is an important enabler, such as in increasing energy efficiency in production and enhancing sustainable supply chain management of our low-carbon solutions.”

The best innovations are often created under pressure, said Finnair CEO Topi Manner:

“Investing in digital development is essential for improving Finland’s competitiveness. This also applies to service industries. Human interaction continues to be vital, but it needs to be supported by innovative technology.”

“Now is the time for Finland to invest in future economic growth. Substantial innovation funding is required from the Government Budget Session this September. Our aim is for Business Finland’s Veturiyritys Programme (a challenge competition for leading companies) to receive EUR 100 million in funding. The Artificial Intelligence 4.0 Programme requires EUR 40 million, and the Digital Leap Programme requires EUR 20 million. In addition to industry, the trade, finance, and service sectors must also be considered,” said EK Director Taina Susiluoto.

It is, however, equally important that the EU recovery funding allocated to Finland is used to advance digitalisation and green transition, emphasised Susiluoto.

Finland: Mother’s Day awards to be handed over in 2021

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The mothers who were awarded this year will receive their decorations at the national Mother’s Day ceremony to be held in 2021, said a government press release.

The award-giving ceremony has been deferred to next year due to the emergency conditions caused by the coronavirus epidemic.

In May this year, the president of Finland conferred First Class Medals of the Order of the White Rose of Finland with Golden Cross to 36 mothers for their merits as educators.

Because of the coronavirus situation, the decorations were not presented at the traditional national Mother’s Day ceremony this year.

The district organisations of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare were meant to organise the presentation of the decorations in the autumn.

However, this will not be possible either, as the coronavirus epidemic still continues, the press release added.

Finland: Helsinki Design Week 2020 slated for Sept 3-13

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The Helsinki Design Week 2020 will be held from 3 to 13 September, said the City of Helsinki in a press release. The main exhibition, PechaKucha Night and Children’s Design Weekend will take place at the Olympic Stadium, the main venue of the event.

The main exhibition is to present topical and interesting fashion, design and architecture – the track and field events of design.

Exhibition contents will include individual products and installations as well as a comprehensive review of young designers’ works. These include an installation made of concrete and mycelium by the studio Caracara, Seitikki by carpenter Antrei Hartikainen, and an exhibition of benches curated by Jasper Morrison.

The main venue will offer an unforgettable setting for the largest PechaKucha Night in Europe on Saturday, the 12th of September.

“In addition to a unique architectural experience, the Olympic Stadium provides us with an exceptionally spacious venue. We can let 1,000 persons attend the PechaKucha Night in the grandstand outside, without compromising the safety distances,” said the festival director, Kari Korkman.

Children are our guests of honour during the weekend at the Olympic Stadium. Entry is free to the Children’s Design Weekend, which will feature a fun and engaging route designed by designer duo Anna van der Lei and Kristos Mavrostomos around the famous green of the Olympic Stadium. Families can enter this kids’ event freely.

The COVID-19 situation also impacts the design festival.

“Helsinki Design Week can be organised safely, because it is a series of responsibly arranged events of various sizes, not a single mass event. We have made the programme more virtual and designed the events sufficiently spacious,” said the programme director, Anni Korkman.

The Design Market, which in previous years attracted more than 20,000 visitors at the Cable Factory, will this year take place online and in various retail stores from Thursday, the 3rd of September to Saturday, the 5th of September.

The sixth Data-Driven Design Day is organised in digital format. The speakers include people from Finnish organisations, such as Kesko, Fortum, Posti, YLE, Sanoma Media Finland, HRT, and Helen.

YOUNG PEOPLE have found the pandemic difficult to handle. Calls to youth mental health helpline up by 25 percent

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Calls to a national mental health helpline for young people have increased by a quarter compared to last year, but referrals for mental health care have reduced during the pandemic.

“There were a lot of contacts linked to self-harm in April and May, and in June and July there were more than at the start of the year,” said Satu Sutelainen of Mental Health Finland, which together with the Red Cross runs the Sekasin chat service aimed at young people.

Sekasin was contacted by some 4,000 people in April, up by a quarter on the same period in 2019, but referrals to healthcare professionals were significantly down nationwide, according to THL figures.

The disparity is explained in part by the shutdown of schools and daycare centres in the spring, when school nurses had less access to children.

The number of referrals is now on the rise again, and youth workers expect that to continue through the autumn.

“When schools opened again referrals started to climb again,” said Sari Iltanen, who heads up children’s psychiatry for Lapland hospital district. “There’s an autumn full of work ahead of us.”

Finland: Coronavirus has hit employment rates. Unemployment up by nearly 50,000 in a year

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Finland’s unemployment rate in July was 7.7 percent, up from 6 percent a year earlier, according to Statistics Finland.

The equates to around 47,000 more people being out of work in July compared to the same month in 2019. Nevertheless unemployment dipped by 30,000 compared to the number for June.

The total number of unemployed people was 216,000, according to Statistics Finland. The Ministry for Employment and the Economy recorded some 387,500 unemployed jobseekers at the time, up 116,000 on a year earlier.

The national statistics agency conducts a Labour Force Survey each month to determine unemployment rates, meaning its figures differ from those used by the Ministry for Employment and the Economy.

The survey method is used by similar agencies in different countries, making that number comparable to those released by similar agencies abroad.

Furloughed employees are included in the ministry’s numbers, as they have to register to receive income-linked unemployment benefits. Labour Force Survey statistics only include those who have been looking for work in the last month and are ready to start a new job in the next fortnight.

POSTMEN in Finland might only ring thrice (per week) from 2022

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Posti says reduced volumes of letter mail are behind the proposal which, if approved, would come into force in 2022. A government working group on Wednesday suggested that state-owned mail carrier Posti reduce deliveries to three days a week starting in 2022.

The group justified scaling back from five-day deliveries because Posti is handling increasingly less physical mail. In many areas households and businesses already do not receive letter deliveries on Tuesdays.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, state secretary Olli Koski said fewer delivery days would improve cost efficiency for the company. “This will of course lead to personnel changes,” Koski noted.

Physical mail volumes are decreasing at a faster rate in Finland than in many other European countries, according to the working group, which said that it was unlikely this trend would see a reversal after the coronavirus crisis ends.

However, this past spring, Posti reported rising profits during the crisis, saying it delivered one million more packages during the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same a year ago.
More subsidies

The working group suggested Posti receive a temporary subsidy of 10-15 million euros per year to support weekday newspaper deliveries in rural areas. This subsidy hinges on the state’s role in securing the flow of information.

The working group also proposed installing letter boxes in blocks of flats that could be used instead of individual mail slots found on apartment front doors.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is to review the working group’s proposal, however, any reforms will still require changes to the Postal Act.

The Prime Minister’s Office set up the postal working group following a series of scandals involving Posti. Late last year a protracted labour dispute at the state-owned postal firm set off a chain events that culminated in then-premier Antti Rinne resigning.

In 2019 former Posti boss Heikki Malinen stepped down following a backlash for ‘excessive pay’ as he was drawing an annual salary of nearly one million euros. At the same time, postal workers earning an average of 2,000 euros per month were facing 30-50 percent pay cuts as part of the management’s plan to shift to a new pay structure.

Kalevi Sorsa Foundation: RICH ARE GETTING richer in Finland

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The wealthiest percentile in Finland has seen its share of net wealth surge from 8.4 to 13.5 per cent between 1987 and 2016, finds a study of income and wealth equalities published by Kalevi Sorsa Foundation.

The share of the nine lowest deciles has contrastively diminished from 65 to 55 per cent.

The study found that income inequalities in the country have become more pronounced since the 1990s. The amount of income at the disposal of the wealthiest percentile increased by 3.2 per cent and the wealthiest decile by 2.4 per cent between 1990 and 2017. Disposable income, by contrast, has risen by 1.6 per cent on average and by only 0.8 per cent for the lowest income decile.

Income differences had diminished in the roughly two-and-a-half decades leading up to the recession that began in 1990.

The study was conducted by Marja Riihelä, a senior researcher at VATT Institute for Economic Research, and Matti Tuomala, a professor emeritus of economics at Tampere University. They pointed out that the tax scheme has stayed largely unchanged since the major tax reform carried out in 1990.

The reform brought about a shift to separate taxation of earned and capital income and effectively removed the progressivity of tax on capital income. The tax rate on capital income is currently 30 per cent for income not exceeding 30,000 euros and 34 per cent for income exceeding 30,000 euros.

Riihelä and Tuomala argue that the tax system should be scrapped and the progressivity of capital income tax restored.

Kalevi Sorsa Foundation is a social democratic think tank named after Kalevi Sorsa, a three-time prime minister of Finland and long-time chairperson of the Social Democratic Party.

Finland: Finnair to cut 1,000 jobs in response to new travel restrictions

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Finnair announced it will initiate consultative negotiations with 2,800 of its staff with a view to reducing its headcount by roughly 1,000, reports Helsingin Sanomat. The Finnish majority state-owned airline cited new travel restrictions as the reason for the redundancies, explaining that they have left it in a situation where it believes temporary lay-offs will not suffice.

The airline will also resort to new temporary lay-offs and extend the temporary lay-offs of almost all of its employees in Finland.

No members of its flight crew are presently at risk of losing their job, however. Finnair revealed that its objective is to safeguard the continuation of its core business and ensure its flight crew – namely, pilots, co-pilots and cabin crew – can resume work gradually once the markets begin to recover and the number of flights increase.

The airline also announced it will raise the target of its belt-tightening campaign from 80 to 100 million euros.

Topi Manner, the CEO of Finnair, on Tuesday reiterated that the coronavirus pandemic is the worst crisis in the history of the aviation industry. The pandemic and the “exceptionally strict” travel restrictions adopted by the government have undermined demand for flights to the extent that the airline will operate only a small share of the flights it did last year.

“No immediate change for the better is unfortunately on the horizon,” he added. “Our revenues have diminished substantially, and that is why we simply have to align our costs with our new size.”

Finnair saw its passenger traffic come to a near complete stop due to the adoption of travel restrictions in and outside Finland in April and May. Although the coinciding up-tick in cargo traffic offset some of the losses, the airline was incurring a daily operating loss of two million euros.

Although passenger services started to increase last month, the volumes remained at about 10 per cent of those of July 2019.

Manner estimated last month that the airline could be able to operate roughly a half of its usual flights as soon as in September. The estimate has since been lowered to 30 per cent due to the adoption of new travel restrictions by the Finnish government.

“Airlines are fighting for their existence,” conceded Tytti Tuppurainen (SDP), the Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Steering.

The Finnish government, she underlined, has yet to make any decisions on additional financial support for the airline but is committed to supporting the airline to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.

“As the majority owner, we’re committed to supporting the company in weathering this difficult crisis,” she affirmed.

Featured image: NordenBladet

Finland’s largest paper mill UPM in Kaipola to close permanently, 450 jobs lost

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The Finnish forestry giant UPM has announced that it will be closing its paper mill in Kaipola, the largest still in operation in Finland and the only mill to still produce newsprint paper inside the country. An estimated 450 jobs will be lost as a result of the closure.

In a press conference earlier today, UPM attributed a number of factors to the closure. Among these were rising labour costs, regulatory barriers, taxation issues, and the decreasing profitability of the paper mill itself.

Anu Ahola, UPM’s Director of Newsprint, also stressed the importance of “remaining competitive in a shrinking industry”. UPM also outlined further planned measures that could lead to a total of 1000 jobs being cut before the end of 2020.

The Kaipola paper mill is the only one in Finland that still produces newsprint paper. Many of the main newspapers in Finland source their paper directly from the Kaipola mill, meaning that they will have to switch suppliers once operations cease, as newsprint will have to be imported from abroad.

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UPM-Kymmene Oyj is a Finnish forest industry company. UPM-Kymmene was formed by the merger of Kymmene Corporation with Repola Oy and its subsidiary United Paper Mills Ltd in 1996. UPM consists of six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Communication Papers and UPM Plywood. The Group employs around 18,700 people and it has production plants in 12 countries. UPM shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki stock exchange. UPM is the only paper company which is listed in the global Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the only forest industry company invited to the United Nations Global Compact LEAD sustainability leadership platform.

UPM is the owner and maintainer of the Verla mill, which has been a museum since 1972 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

Finland: HSL to begin distributing free face masks at metro stations from tomorrow

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Helsinki´s public transport authority will begin distributing face masks free-of-charge to all travelers from metro stations across the city. The announcement comes after repeated studies have shown that residents of the capital are failing to follow the government’s recommendation on the wearing of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In an announcement earlier this afternoon, HSL said it would be setting up collection points around the city from Wednesday where people could pick up their own face masks as needed.

Face mask distribution points will be located at the following stations:

Compass level of Rautatientori metro station Wed 26.8. from 2 pm
Tikkurila railway station Wed 26.8. from 2 pm
Keilaniemi metro station Fri 28.8. from 2 pm
Tapiola metro station Fri 28.8. from 2 pm
Tapiola metro station Sat 29.8. from 11 a.m.
Matinkylä metro station Sat 29.8. from 11 a.m.

Although it is not clear whether distributions on this scale will become a regular occurrence, it is a sign that HSL is taking the government’s mask recommendation seriously and would like commuters to follow suit. According to recent research, fewer than 20% of public transport users have been wearing masks, despite face masks having been consistently proven to reduce the spread on COVID-19 in confined spaces.

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