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Description

Itset is a working group comprising the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK), the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff (Akava) and the Union of Journalists in Finland. The group seeks to represent the interests of self-employed workers. It also seeks to include self-employed workers in collective bargaining negotiations around pay and working conditions.  

The group was established prior to the parliamentary elections in 2019 with the objective to have the following demands included in the new government programme:  

• An amendment to the law that redefines employment and establishes self-employed workers as part of the labour market with a right to collective negotiations and full social security rights. In particular, this concerns self-employed people who are economically dependent on their employers and who therefore should be classified as employed in order to gain access to social security.
• Guaranteed equal access to occupational healthcare for the self-employed.
• Since many self-employed workers are working in creative professions, the Copyright Act should guarantee fair compensation and contracts for the authors. In this context, the group argues that oftentimes authors must surrender their rights as a precondition to getting commissions.

During the Covid-19-pandemic, the group voiced the demands listed above once again in response to containment measures imposed especially on the service and cultural sectors. 

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Additional metadata

Keywords

social protection, working conditions, regulatory changes, collective bargaining

Actors

Employee organisation

Sector

No specific sector focus

Sources

• Trade Union News from Finland