Image: Yle Uutisgrafiikka

Tampere University’s Professor Pertti Koistinen says that individuals working outside of traditional salaried work should be entitled to better employment and social security benefits.

“Changes in working life have given rise to new kinds of work relationships. It’s astonishing that in the development of social security and social policies we haven’t been able to open a window to see these changes,” Koistinen said.

The academic charged that the current national debate over proposed changes to pension coverage amounts to nothing more than tinkering with a system that should be completely overhauled.

“We are talking about the normative retirement age and not about all of the people not covered by the pension system. We hear nothing about the fact that the entire society is facing the threat of a horrific future given that the vast majority of people will fall outside the cushion of social and pension coverage,” Koistinen explained.

“Those who are in the greatest distress with respect to social security reform don’t have the same defenders as others - like traditional wage earners,” the Tampere University professor pointed out.

Trade unions passive

Professor Koistinen also had a word of advice for Finland’s traditional trade union movement.

“Powerful unions should also be able to defend the rights of the vulnerable – whether or not they are members,” he said, highlighting the union’s dependence on paid membership.

For example at this point micro entrepreneurs, freelancers, artists and volunteer workers can only dream of the kind of security that those who do regular paid work can enjoy, the professor remarked.

“They always say that those who are affected by an issue should agitate. But I wonder about the large business lobby groups, for example, who talk about freeing up enterprise and simplifying rules. Why don’t they talk about social security for their own members?” he questioned.

Time to revisit the idea of social insurance

According to Koistinen individuals in vulnerable circumstances should help develop a "next generation social insurance" that would include features such as a national wage.

“Now if ever is the time for this. At the same time we need to consider whether or not our current systems are equitable,” he added.

Koistinen’s reform proposals raise the inevitable question of who would pay to fill the gaps in the social safety net. He had an answer for that too.

“The payment problem is of course a serious matter. But it’s amazing that many trade union representatives ask the same thing, forgetting where their money comes from,” the academic quipped.

“They weren’t specifically born with the idea of social insurance – the workers themselves have paid for it, employers have chipped in and society also supports it,” Koistinen pointed out.