By Essi Lehto
HELSINKI (Reuters) -Some 290,000 Finnish workers began two days of strike action on Thursday to protest against the right-wing government's planned labour market reforms and proposed cuts to social welfare.
Companies and labour unions said the strikes were expected to halt much of Finland's air traffic, hit oil refinery output and close many shops, factories and kindergartens.
"The government's plan is cold-blooded. First, the right to strike will be severely restricted, and then tough cuts are pushed through," Jarkko Eloranta, president of Finland's largest trade union association SAK, told Reuters.
In recent months, labour unions have protested against government plans to favour local work agreements over centralised accords, limit the right to strike, make it easier to terminate work contracts and cut unemployment benefits.
The unions have said they are up for a long fight if needed, threatening to follow up with more strikes if the government, which took office last year, does not back down.
The government has stayed the course however, arguing that Finland needs to boost productivity and cut its fiscal deficit.
Some 13,000 workers gathered for a rally in central Helsinki, among them grocery store employee Niko Pentinmaki, 25, who sat on a bus for four hours to reach the capital with his colleagues.
"The most vulnerable workers might not stay home when they're sick if the first day became unpaid and money already was tight," Pentinmaki said.
Union representative Tarja Furuholm, 61, from Nordea Bank said she was upset that the government and employers were forcing their plans on employees rather than negotiating changes as they had in the past.
"If political parties, who take turns being in power, do the decision-making, work life can become unpredictable," she said.
Booing echoed across Helsinki's Senate Square (NYSE:SQ) when Employment Minister Arto Satonen took the stage to defend the government's plans.
Satonen later told Reuters he found the widespread strikes regrettable, but said the government's plans were vital to the future of Finland's welfare system.
"These reforms are absolutely imperative to strengthen the Finnish economy and employment rate, and that is why we need to be determined in pushing them forward," he said.
Top industry lobby group EK and the government have said the changes are needed to bring the Nordic country's economy on par with comparable states such as neighbouring Sweden.
The striking workers comprise 13% of the 2.29 million people employed in Finland, according to official statistics from 2023.
Finnish flag carrier Finnair said on Monday it would cancel some 550 flights due to the strike, while fuel producer Neste's Porvoo refinery will supply less petrol and diesel for approximately a week.
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