Finnish unions call off nursing strike, start planning mass resignation

Chairpersons Silja Paavola of Super and Millariikka Rytkönen of Tehy led a protest in Meilahti, Helsinki, on 1 April 2022. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

THE FINNISH UNION of Practical Nurses (Super) and Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy) on Tuesday revealed they have begun planning mass resignation after calling off the second phase of their nursing strike.

About 25,000 nurses had been on strike in six hospital district across Finland since 1 April. The strike was to expand to cover roughly 35,000 nurses in 13 hospital districts on Wednesday, 20 April.

Super and Tehy on Tuesday said they chose to call off the second, larger phase of the strike due to efforts to restrict the right to strike by Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Aki Lindén (SDP).

Lindén on Tuesday declared on YLE A-studio that he intends to move forward with the new patient safety act, a controversial proposal that would obligate nurses to perform certain duties in circumstances where the health and lives of patients are at risk, if the unions continue their strike on Wednesday.

“The strike has been called off, but if it continues I would’ve naturally presented the proposal [to the government] especially given the situation that was hanging over us tomorrow morning,” he said, reiterating that it would be his official duty to move forward with the proposal if the strike disrupted vital patient care.

He added that the government will have no choice but to respond if nurses indeed start resigning in large numbers.

Super and Tehy have dubbed the patient safety act as a mandatory work act.

“The mandatory work act has been drafted in collaboration with the other party to the labour dispute – partly based on inaccurate information. As a result, the employer is no longer under pressure to find a settlement,” argued Millariikka Rytkönen, the chairperson of Tehy.

“The government can try in vain to scramble and run away from its responsibility – it is bogged down so deep in the labour market.”

The boards of the two unions are to sit down in the coming days to mull over new measures in the protracted dispute over the terms and conditions of employment of nurses. They have already announced an overtime and shift-trading ban across the municipal sector that comes into effect at 6am today.

Rytkönen refused to comment on the details of the planned mass resignations, including their extent and schedule, to Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday. “We naturally won’t be revealing that,” she retorted.

The Central Finland Hospital District, Oulu University Hospital and Tampere University Hospital on Tuesday reported that the 25,000-nurse strike has also paralysed urgent care services. Oulu University Hospital revealed that it has seen the number of nurses on duty on an ordinary weekday fall from 1,400–1,500 to fewer than 100.

The National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) warned that the second phase of the strike would have severely compromised patient safety, as the number of staff performing essential duties would be so low that patient deaths and injuries would be unavoidable.

Markus Henriksson, the CEO of Valvira, told Helsingin Sanomat that the decision to call off the strike was a relief, albeit only in the “very short” term.

“Over a several-day or week term, the situation remains very serious,” he said, referring to the possibility of large-scale nurse resignations. “It sounds extremely alarming.”

Aleksi Teivainen – HT