Inclusion or Exclusion? Trade union strategies and Labor migration

Inclusion or Exclusion? Trade Union Strategies and Labor Migration This research identified and analyzed immigration-related strategies of the Finnish Construction Trade Union (FCTU) and the Service Union United (SUU); e.g. how the unions react to labor immigration, whether unions seek to include migrants in the unions, and what is migrants’ position in the unions. The two unions were chosen as the focus of the research because the workforce in the sectors they represent is migrant-dense. The study also analyzed the experiences that migrants who work in these sectors have with trade unions. The Estonian labor market situation –including the role of Estonian trade unions– was also examined as it has a considerable impact on the operating environment of the FCTU. The results of the study indicate that immigration is a contradictory issue for both unions. On the one hand, they strive to include migrants as trade union members and to defend migrants’ labor rights. On the other hand, they, together with their umbrella organization the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), seek to prevent labor immigration from outside the EU and EEA countries. They actively defend current labor immigration restrictions by drawing atten- tion to high unemployment figures and to the breaches of working conditions migrants encounter. In contrast, the employer organizations promote a more liberal state policy on labor immigration because they see it as a boost for business. Both the unions and the employer organizations ground their arguments on national interest. However, the position of the trade union movement is not uniform: unions belonging to the Confederation of Unions for Professionals and Managerial Staff in Finland (Akava) embrace more liberal labor immigration stances than the SAK. A key trade union strategy is to try to guarantee that migrants’ working condi- tions do not differ from those of the natives. The FCTU and the SUU inform migrants about Finnish collective agreements and trade union membership in the most common migrant languages. This is important for the unions because it is not in their interest that migrants’ working conditions are undercut. The interviewed migrants said that natives had more negotiating power with employers, which is often negatively portrayed in migrants’ working conditions. Migrants perceive that trade unions have an important role in protecting their working conditions. However, they stressed that migrants’ knowledge of unions is often very limited. The number of migrants in both two unions studied here is increasing. Espe- cially in the SUU, a considerable proportion of the new members are migrants. The FCTU is in a more challenging situation than the SUU because migrant construc- tion workers often work only for short periods in Finland and are consequently not interested in becoming union members. The unions’ strategies partly differ: the FCTU was the first Finnish trade union to establish a trade union branch/lo- cal for migrant members. The goal is to facilitate migrants’ inclusion in the union and to highlight the specific problems they face. The SUU, for its part, insists that such a special strategy would exclude migrants within the union organization. Despite the unions’ strategies, migrants are still underrepresented as union members and officials, which some of the interviewed migrants saw as a problem. Immigrants’ perception of trade unions was pragmatic: they had joined unions when membership yielded concrete benefits. In spite of the unions’ strategies, migrants –and temporary migrants– encoun- ter specific problems in terms of working conditions. Both unions demand more state intervention to protect migrants’ labor rights because overseeing working conditions consumes union resources. However, without the unions’ intervention, these problems would be more common than is currently the case. For instance, some of the interviewed migrants had received trade union assistance in claim- ing unpaid wages. The study demonstrated with the help of building on Walter Korpi’s power resources theory, that immigration is a power resource issue for the unions: suc- cessful immigration-related strategies strengthen unions –and vice versa. The research also showed how the unions’ operating environments constrain and enable their immigration-related strategies. This study has illuminated a previously ignored dimension: the immigrant- inclusive strategies of the Finnish trade unions. The research material consists of 78 qualitative interviews, observation in trade union events, and trade unions’ and employer organizations’ public state- ments.

OSAAMISINTENSIIVISET LIIKE-ELÄMÄN PALVELUT, Osaavan työvoiman saatavuuden turvaaminen Case: Yritysten ja työhallinnon yhteistyö työvoimapoliittisen koulutuksen suunnittelussa

Työn tavoitteena on selvittää kuinka yritykset osallistuvat työvoimakoulutuksen suunnitteluun. Kyselyn avulla on selvitetty suunnitteluprosessia, johon osallistui osa TE-keskuksista ja työvoimatoimistoista. Kirjallisuustutkimuksessa tarkastellaan osaamisintensiivisiä liike-elämän palveluita, tiedon hallintaa, miljöön analysointia, liiketoimintasuhteita sekä verkostoitumista. Tutkimuksen empiirisessä osassa tarkastellaan työhallinnon tavoitteita ja kyselyn avulla selvitettyjätoimintatapoja yritysten osallistumisesta työvoimakoulutuksen suunnitteluun. Tuloksena saatiin runsaasti yhteistyötapoja yritysten kanssa, mutta Lappeenrannan työvoimatoimiston näkökulmasta ei mitään uutta noussut esille. Suoran yhteistyön esteenä on edelleen yrityksien sekä myös työvoimahallinnon motivaationpuute.

Akateemiset urapolut. Humanistisen, yhteiskuntatieteellisen ja kasvatustieteellisen alan generalistien urapolkujen alkuvaiheet 1980- ja 1990-luvuilla

Academic Career Paths. The early career phases of generalists in the fields of humanities, social science and education in the 1980’s and 1990’s This doctoral thesis analyses how generalist graduates of master’s degree have attached to the labour market in two different time periods, and how their career paths in the first eight years following graduation have shaped up. The thesis also analyses the channels of employment through which the generalists have got employed in their early career path. By generalists I am referring to graduates of studies in academic fields which have not qualified the person in a specific profession but rather offered a more general readiness for working life. I address two groups of generalist master’s degree graduates of The University of Turku; one including graduates of the year 1985 and the other consisting of graduates of 1995. All subjects have graduated in the field of humanities, social studies or education. 71 respondents from the group of 1985 and 80 respondents from the group of 1995 answered a survey, which provided the data for the thesis. I interpret the data through the theoretical approaches of changing working life, model of normal employment, transitional labour markets, linear life path, overlapping life courses, hidden labour market and social capital. The conclusion of the thesis is that societal era is connected with employment and career paths of academic generalists. Between the two groups there were differences especially in attachment to labor market, in forms of employment (permanent full-time job vs. temporary job) and in employment channels. Compared to the situation the 1985 group had been in after their graduation, the 1995 group - after getting their degree - became more often unemployed and/or employed in duties below their level of education. Their mobility was also greater and their contracts were often temporary, whereas the graduates of 1985 had been employed in more permanent positions. I demonstrate that the career paths of generalists can be categorized in five career types: steady state, transitory, linear, unsteady and diverging career. Graduates of 1985 have been treading on more stable paths than the latter group. The channels of employment they used were roughly equally divided between formal (e.g. newspaper advertisement and employment office) and informal (e.g. personal contacts and unprompted search for work) channels, whereas amongst the 1995 group employment happened through more varied channels and mostly through informal channels. Regardless of their year of graduation the generalists’ careers had begun to evolve already while they were still in the university and had started working at the same time. The thesis displays how the model of normal employment has weakened and career paths have become unsteady as a consequence of temporary positions. What is also evident in employment when turning from the 1980’s towards the succeeding decade is the rise of significance of the hidden labour market and social capital.

Ammattikurssikeskuksesta talousalueen kehittäjäksi

Maamme teollistuminen sai alkunsa 1850-luvulla. Tämän jälkeen maassamme käynnistettiin ensimmäisiä ammatillisia kouluja. Niiden perustehtävä oli palvella senaikaista teollisuutta. Sotavuosien jälkeen teollistuminen suuntautui sotakorvauksien maksamiseen. Tämän myötä maahamme kasvoi vahva teollistunut yhteiskunta. 1960- ja 1970-luvun Suomessa koettiin epävarmuutta osaavasta ammattikunnasta. Näihin aikoihin hallituksemme ryhtyi kiinnittämään erityistä huomiota työvoimapolitiikkaan. Tämän tutkimuksen yhtenä tavoitteena on tarkastella keinoja, joilla hallituksemme on ohjaillut ammatillista koulutusta tarjoavia oppilaitoksia lähemmäksi elinkeinoelämän tarpeita. Toisena merkittävänä tutkimuksen kohteena on ollut hallituksen lain muutos (40/2005 työelämän kehittämis- ja palvelutehtävä) ja sen vaikutukset Hyvinkään–Riihimäen talousalueeseen. Tutkimuksen tuloksia arvioitaessa huomataan, että Opetushallituksen laatimien lakien ja asetuksien muutoksilla on ollut vaikutusta koulutuksien toteutumiseen sekä työvoimaviranomaisten väliseen yhteistyöhön. Matti Vanhasen hallituksen esittämän lain muutoksen (40/2005) myötä Hyvinkään–Riihimäen talousalueen verkostoituminen muiden elinkeinoelämän edustajien ja oppilaitosten kanssa on onnistunut erittäin hyvin. Sen tuloksista voidaan mainita talousalueelle syntynyt aikuisopisto.

Suorien ulkomaisten investointien vaikutukset kohdemaassa: Itäisen Euroopan siirtymätaloudet

Tämä kandidaatintyö käsittelee suorien ulkomaisten investointien vaikutuksia itäisen Euroopan siirtymätalouksissa keskittyen erityisesti Puolaan, Viroon ja Ukrainaan. Suorat ulkomaiset investoinnit ovat tärkeä osa kansainvälistä kauppaa ja niillä on suuri rooli monen maan taloudessa. Työ koostuu kolmesta suuremmasta kokonaisuudesta, joista ensimmäisenä on suoran ulkomaisen investoinnin teoria. Toisessa osiossa esitellään lyhyesti kohdemaat, minkä jälkeen kolmannessa osiossa keskitytään suorien ulkomaisten investointien teoreettisiin vaikutuksiin. Teoreettisista vaikutuksista käsitellään tarkemmin vaikutukset talouskasvuun, maksutaseeseen, tuottavuuteen, tuotantoon, teknologiaan, työvoimaan, markkinarakenteeseen ja ympäristöön. Näitä suorien ulkomaisten investointien vaikutuksia havainnollistetaan esimerkeillä kohdemaista.

Extremfall, stjärnelever och verktygsskramlare : en diskursanalytisk studie av lärares tal om studerande som behöver särskilt stöd

The groups within Finnish vocational upper secondary education and training (VET) are often heterogeneous with respect to the student's need for support in their studies. According to the national core curricula, Special Education Needs (SEN) students should in the first place, get their education in the same group as everyone else. This dissertation aims to clarify and create an understanding about how the ideals and intention of equality in education is constructed in communication among teachers in VET in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. Through this understanding it should be possible to highlight a potential which could ultimately contribute to a positive development of a more inclusive education within VET. The epistemological platform of the study is to be found within the post structuralist philosophy of language that is considered as subsumed in a social constructionist thinking. The data has been collected through focus group discussions in groups of 3–6 participants (teachers) in seven schools in Finnish-Swedish VET. The analyses are based on a discursive psychological analysis combined with an analysis based on Michel Foucault's concepts with an emphasis on the subject, government and power. Four discourser where identified in the analysis of teachers' constructions of the educational assignment in relation to SEN students. The most dominant was discussing the educational assignment as a pragmatic project i.e. as a matter of transmission of knowledge. The discourse included both interpretative repertoires where the heterogeneous group was constructed as self-evident and possible to manage as well as a constructed as an impossible project. The educational assignment was also constructed as a holistic project, as part of a democratic project, and as a labor market project. Each discourse contains both including as well as excluding features in relation to SEN students. The development of an inclusive practice can and should therefore include elements from all of them. Three discourses were identified in the analysis concerning teachers' versions of SEN students: students with difficulties and problems; students who do not use or do not have ability and students who are irresponsible and lack the will to study. Within the various discourses and interpretative repertoires were both constructs when teachers described a concern and kindness in relation to the individual SEN student and constructions where teachers mainly expressed fears that other students in the group would be negatively affected by students in need of special support. Results from the third research question conclude the results from the two others, the analysis is done out of a government perspective. In the material use of different government techniques are identified: disciplinary power through direct reprimands; pastoral power by a desire of insight in order to promote the opportunities for consultation and the use of bio-power that primarily focuses on what is best for the population and whose tool racism results in a legitimation of the exclusion of SEN students. The conclusion is that teachers in VET need to pay attention to inclusive and exclusive elements identified in various discourses.