This week Finland saw a series of trade union actions protesting the government’s planned labour market policies and cuts to social welfare.
As this week’s series of political strikes comes to an end, it appears that the strikers still have the support of the majority of Finns, according to an Yle poll.
Pollster Taloustutkimus carried out an Yle-commissioned survey to find out what Finns think about political strikes.
Taloustutkimus conducted interviews on Thursday and Friday, when transport strikes impacted many people’s lives.
“The majority of Finns have accepted the adverse effects of the strikes,” said Jari Pajunen, CEO of Taloustutkimus.
According to the survey, 58 percent of Finns said they approved of the trade union strikes against the government’s labour market reforms. At the same time, 35 percent of respondents said they did not approve of political strikes while seven percent were undecided.
Sixty-three percent of Finns reported being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the government’s actions in reforming the labour market. Around a third expressed satisfaction.
The survey results broadly reflect respondents’ political party affiliation.
The majority of National Coalition Party (NCP) and Finns Party supporters did not approve of the trade union strikes against the government, whereas those voting for the opposition SDP, Greens and Left Alliance reported being dissatisfied with the government’s labour market reforms.
Pajunen noted that it was particularly interesting that overall satisfaction with the government’s actions amounted to 31 percent.
“That’s less than the combined support for the National Coalition Party and the Finns Party,” he said.
That said, the survey data provides indications that there is some dissatisfaction among NCP and Finns Party voters regarding the government’s labour market reforms.
The survey’s margin of error was three percentage points both ways.
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