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Strikes Could Paralyse Country |
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By News
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Tuesday, 02 March 2010 |
Strikes, beginning on Tuesday, could paralyse the Finnish economy, according to analysts.
The strikes, which will begin at 6pm on Tuesday, could slow Finland's recovery from its worst economic situation since the Civil War of 1918, damage the reputation of its companies and the country as a whole and lead to shortages of basic food stuffs as two separate strikes coincide.
As the AKT transport union goes on strike, most of Finland's city bus drivers and many of its refuse workers will cease working indefinitely as of this evening. Two thirds of long distance buses will also strike as will many fuel hauliers. In addition, on 4th March, the Finnish dockers will go on strike, bringing imports and exports to a halt.
The dockers strike alone will stop ninety percent of Finnish exports. According to the Bloomberg News Agency, Finnish business leaders have complained that the strikes damage Finland's world standing and will increase unemployment as business loses trust in the country.
According to Jorma Vehivaelainen, of Index Partners Oy, the combined strikes mean that shops are likely to run out of perishable food stuffs within days because so much of Finland's fresh food is imported. Depending on who their suppliers are, they may also run out of milk.
Neste Oil told the agency that within a week, some people may start to find that oil to heat their homes is scarce, which may lead to panic buying.
According to EU Statistics, Finland is the fourth most strike-prone country in the EU after Spain, France and Italy. It lost 71 working days out of 1000 to strikes between 2000 and 2007. Sweden lost just 20 working days to strikes in the same period.
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