Leif Fagernäs, the new Director General of the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT), is expecting trade unions to provide detailed proposals on how to improve the security of employees in dismissal situations.
In an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, Fagernäs emphasised that the employer side is willing to discuss dismissal terms with trade unions.
According to Fagernäs, TT would gladly change the wage determination model used in centralised incomes agreements in the next round of negotiations.
"Income agreements that are made based on average productivity are clearly a key problem in the Finnish wage system. We could get rid of this problem by adjusting wages according to productivity on the industry or firm level. This latitude should be increased."
Fagernäs points out that only two sectors will exceed the average Finnish productivity in the long run. "I guess it is understandable that this will lead to either the transfer of production elsewhere or its discontinuation in low-productivity sectors. Then you can ask which shows more solidarity: having nominal incomes closer to each other, or an increase in unemployment?"
Fagernäs does not feel it would be important to achieve a centralised wage agreement in the next round of talks in the fall. Even if wages are negotiated on the union level, the system for determining wages can be altered.
The TT head also maintains that bonus and profit-sharing systems can be developed in a way that will increase productivity.
Fagernäs also says that social security benefits should be designed so that they encourage the unemployed to accept jobs in all situations. However, he declined to specify whether wages should be raised or unemployment benefits cut in order to achieve this goal.
Fagernäs, who officially assumes the TT helm next week, is due to become the chief of the new organisation Finnish Industries as well. Finnish Industries will be formed by combining TT and the Employers' Confederation of Service Industries.
