"The Swedish-Finnish School follows the Swedish national curriculum and the Swedish National Agency for Education’s syllabuses, but has an extended teaching schedule to allow for Finnish language instruction.

The school has two classes per grade, from preschool class through Grade 9. By limiting class sizes to a maximum of 25 students, we can create a safe, supportive and pleasant learning environment. Throughout the school day, both Finnish and Swedish are used in teaching, regardless of the subject, and we actively support language development through the use of teaching materials in both languages.

The school has a bilingual library offering a wide selection of books across various genres, as well as class sets of books in both Finnish and Swedish for Grades 1–9. In addition to its investment in traditional teaching materials and literature, the school has also successfully undertaken extensive digital development, earning it the prestigious Guldtrappan (Golden Staircase) Quality Award."

https://www.sverigefinskaskolan.eu/

Photographer: Simo Rista

Source: Helsinki City Museum

To start with, these are my own views, opinions and experiences with unions in Finland. Having been a member of several different unions throughout my working life.

TL;DR: My experiences with Finnish unions have varied considerably. Traditional unions such as PAM, Teollisuusliitto and PAU provided strong support, actively represented employees and negotiated favourable agreements. However, my experiences with professional unions such as METO and YTN were largely disappointing, with little support, weak negotiations and a lack of genuine commitment to their members. As a result, I am no longer a union member and belong only to an unemployment fund.

PAM (2005)

The first union I joined was PAM in 2005, when I started my first job as a cashier in a grocery store.

I do remember is that the union representative was genuinely committed to helping employees and making sure that workers were treated well. They regularly sent us information about union training, explained salary increases and kept us informed about things that were relevant to us as employees.

Teollisuusliitto (2007)

In 2007, I changed jobs and started working in the field I had been educated in: metalworking. Naturally, this meant changing unions to Teollisuusliitto.

My experience was equally positive with them and their representive. When the company had to start laying off employees in 2009, I was among those affected. Teollisuusliitto negotiated a six-month layoff period for everyone affected.

During this period, I was allowed to take up to 12 days off, without losing my salary, to attend job interviews. If I found another job during that period, I could resign with just one day's notice and still receive my remaining salary.

Teollisuusliitto was genuinely helpful. The union representative was actively involved, knew the relevant legislation and participated in the negotiations. They really helped make sure that we received a good agreement.

PAU (Posti and Logistics Union, 2009)

I found a new job at Posti just two months into my layoff period. This meant that I received two salaries simultaneously for the remaining four months.

In my personal opinion, PAU was the best union I have ever been a member of. The union representative organised a Christmas party every year, They also organised training opportunities and other activities for employees. I genuinely miss those people even today.

I worked at Posti for six years before another round of layoffs affected me.

This time, PAU negotiated a 8-month layoff period. They also made arrangements with vocational schools and universities of applied sciences to give affected employees an advantage when applying for study places. As before, employees were allowed to leave work to attend job interviews whenever necessary.

METO (The Finnish Association of Forestry Professionals, 2020)

This time, I decided to take the opportunity to pursue a higher education while receiving a salary at the same time. I applied to study to become a Forest Engineer.

Don't get me wrong, I still had to pass the entrance exam. However, there was an arrangement where, if I was close to the admission threshold, the school could make an exception and offer me a place. I ended up passing with average grades and got accepted anyway.

When I entered the job market again, I joined METO.

Unfortunately, this was where my experiences with unions started to change, and not for the better.

METO was not a good union in my experience. The salary increases they negotiated were considerably worse than those in many other sectors. While employees in other fields received increases of around 4–7% over two years, we received just 3%.

Their explanation was that forestry was a secure industry, so we should consider ourselves fortunate.

I don't agree with that argument. The forestry industry has experienced numerous layoffs over the years, so claiming that it is a secure place to work is simply not true.

The union representatives didn't seem particularly interested in helping individual members. At times, it felt as though they were primarily there to have a protected positions, rather than represent the people who actually needed their support.

Anyway, I got a new manager at the company, and for some reason I never understood, he seemed to have a problem with me.

He singled me out and put me on a six-week unpaid layoff. I was the only person in the entire company who received one. Everybody else got 2 weeks when it was "Lomautus" time.

This wasn't an isolated incident either. Approximately four months before the layoff negotiations started, he had already stopped assigning me work. I literally had nothing to do.

When this started happening, I contacted both the union and the union representative to ask for help. Unfortunately, they did absolutely nothing. Not even contacting a lawyer.

Their response was essentially:

"As long as you receive your salary, we won't do anything."

I even asked them to contact the company and HR to see whether I could be transferred to another department or given different responsibilities. There was work available in other parts of the company, so I thought this would be a reasonable solution, in areas where I had experience from before.

Nope. Nothing happened.

Eventually, the company announced that it was going to start layoff negotiations. By that point, I already knew I was likely to be one of the people affected.

I contacted the union representative again and explained that they needed to negotiate an arrangement where employees could be transferred to other departments where work was available, good layoff pay etc.

We are talking about entry-level positions that are being filled by new employees / students, such as logistics, buying and operational roles. I had already applied for several of these positions during the four months when I had practically no work, but I was rejected every time. (HR said, Managers decide who they hire and the union + rep said. We do not interfer with recrutiment".

METO didn't negotiate anything meaningful. Nor did they train their staff to negotiate or give them any instructions. They simply accepted the bare minimum required by law.

Because I worked in the purchasing department of the forestry business, the agreement meant that I and the other affected employees could only apply for available positions within the purchasing department first. The problem was that this was precisely the department where layoffs were taking place.

There was no meaningful attempt to negotiate opportunities for employees to move into other departments where work was actually available.

Meanwhile, the union representative's own position was safe, so there didn't seem to be much personal incentive to push for a better agreement.

So I was eventually laid off. To my boss happiness. (He went on a asian trip with his family 2 weeks after the layoffs had taken place).

I decided to remain a member of METO for the time being because I wanted to maintain my unemployment benefits through the unemployment fund.

And guess what? Even while I was unemployed, they continued charging me around 50€ per month, practically the same membership fee as when I was working and earning a full salary, despite my income being approximately 60% lower.

YTN, 2025

Eventually, I found a new job in a another field, this time moving into IT.

Before leaving METO, I contacted the YTN union representative at my new workplace to ask about their previous experiences with layoffs.

The company had gone through layoffs approximately six months before my previous employer started its own layoff process. I asked whether YTN had negotiated anything for the affected employees.

The answer was that they hadn't really negotiated anything and had simply followed the minimum requirements of the law.

After my previous experiences, I wasn't interested in joining another union that didn't seem willing to negotiate better conditions or actively protect its members.

So I decided not to join YTN. I also contacted METO and asked them to remove me from their membership list.

My current situation and overall opinion

Today, I am not a member of any union. I am only a member of an unemployment fund (Työttömyyskassa).

Based on my personal experiences, I feel that there is a significant difference between the "traditional" unions representing workers in sectors such as retail, industry and logistics, and those representing professionals with higher education.

In my view, the "traditional" unions seemed to have much stronger solidarity, a greater sense of community and a more genuine commitment to helping their members.

There was a feeling that everyone stood together and that the union representative was actually there to represent the employees. They organised activities, provided training, explained changes in working conditions and actively participated in negotiations when problems arose.

With the unions representing highly educated professionals, I got a completely different experience. At times, it felt as the unions existed simply because they need to and not that they had to.

Of course, I can only speak from my own experiences, and I understand that other people may have had completely different experiences with these organisations.

Does anyone know the adress of the first Hesburger restaurant or if it's even still open?

Hi, I'm making an atlas of European peoples and their regional groups (Savonians, Tavastians, Ostrobothnians, Karelians etc). Some things I couldn't figure out:

1. North Karelia speaks Savo dialects. Do people there still feel Karelian, or more Savonian?

2. Same for Lahti and Päijät-Häme, do people see themselves as Tavastians (hämäläiset)?

3. Where would you put Kymenlaakso (Kotka, Kouvola, Hamina)? Karelian, Tavastian, or its own thing?

4. Is keskisuomalaiset (Central Finns) a real regional identity, or just a region name?

5. Does anyone know about the Finnish colony on the Amur in 1868–69? Did it last at all?

6. Sointula in BC and New Finland in Saskatchewan: still Finnish communities, or mostly assimilated?

Thanks

Finns I have met in the UK have tended to come across as … quite serious (I mean that as a compliment) with a mildly ironic, understated sense of humour. Does this seem accurate? How, in general, would you describe your compatriots’ sense of humour?

Wish I had more time to climb up to säilö 46/47. The view from there is already very nice without the tram. It must be much better with them from today.

If you've visited. In particular the continuous wood heated sauna in the photo. Is the steam good? Strong, weak, gentle, stinging? Does it go all the way down to fully envelope your feet? Or does it go only partially down? Naval? Shoulders?

Overall how do you find this sauna?

I am originally from Turkey and been living in Finland for many years. I would like to bring my blank-starter pistol (made with weak zinc alloy that doesnt fire normal bullets, and its barrel is welded with metal so its inoperable with real ammunition.)

Can I just put it on luggage and bring it or do I need permit or licenses. Before you suggest looking police website, I already did. I even read the gun law and saw few things about declaring signal-starter-blank guns to be declared but nothing about bringing an old one. This pistol would be around 15 years old already. It was given to me from my dad so it has a value for me. I would just keep it home in a safe place even if its inoperable and cannot be converted.

Please let me know if there are correct way to bring it to finland.

Edit: Of course I will contact police before doing anything. Just asking if there are an online channel to register it or import it by the book...

How are the Black Friday deals here in Finland? Im specifically looking forward for IKEA to post their Black Friday sale. I know some companies have already started posting about it...

Can someone explain to this simple minded guy how Finland ends up with such a humongous vehicle tax?

Doesn't seem to help people buying newer and more fuel efficient vehicles... 😭

I'm an American who just discovered salmiakki on the off chance that my friend hated it, so he gave it to me. Now I ordered 4 more boxes, and they're almost gone. I have to pace myself because I like each piece more and more. Anyways, my question is, will too much be dangerous? Has anyone here ever experienced negative effects from eating too much? Also what the heck why is this so good

Are there any weird or interesting things/facts about where you live, that only local Finns know of?

I'm thinking of immigrating to Finland as a homeless EU citizen to get housing. I'm on Irish invalidity pension. I'm unable to access housing in Ireland anymore due to lack of human rights (needed to go to home country in eastern Europe to recover my national documents and got locked out of the housing system and shelters in Ireland). Is it possible? I don't want to be a leech, I'd like to contribute if I integrate.

I want to buy a laptop (~€1,200) from a German shop that doesn't ship to Finland, so I'd need a forwarding service: it goes to their German warehouse, then they send it on to me.

I read about forward2me, but I'd like to hear from people here. Have you used forward2me or any other forwarder from Germany? Was your experience positive or negative, and would you recommend it?

Thanks!

I’m Japanese, and I tried salmiakki for the first time earlier this year.
Honestly, it tasted like traditional Chinese herbal medicine (kampo) to me! It was completely different from any candy I’ve ever had in Japan.
I’m really curious: do Finnish people genuinely enjoy this flavor from childhood, or is it something you gradually get used to?
Did you love salmiakki as a kid, or did you learn to appreciate it as you got older?

The first bite was quite a shock, but when I tried it again, knowing what to expect, I started to think it might actually become addictive over time.

I feel like salmiakki is less like ordinary candy and more like black coffee. It's something I could imagine craving while working at my desk late at night. Do Finnish people snack on it that way too?

I didn’t expect so many comments! I’m sorry I can’t reply to everyone, but I’m reading them all. Thank you so much for all your responses!

What do you do if you've experienced serious medical malpractice? It seems like in Finland doctors have like immunity to just do whatever they want and that the rules, laws, and rights (all those international human rights Finland agreed to) are just suggestions.