The Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö (SAK), or Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, runs the only service in Finland providing free legal advise to migrants so they can be fully aware of their rights as employees.
How it works
The advise comes in the form in free legal assistance provided by a lawyer.
SAK can provide advice to migrants who, for example:
- do not understand their employment contract or would like a specialist to check it before signing
- suspect they are not getting the correct pay, as well as shift work or holiday bonus
- would like to know more about the typical wage levels in their industry.
- would like to check details concerning their holiday entitlement or working hours
- are suffering harassment or discrimination at work and need advice on how to deal with it.
The service is offered for free, is available to all and does not require trade union membership. It is available over the phone (0800 414 004) and via email (workinfinland
sak [dot] fi (workinfinland[at]sak[dot]fi)), both in Finnish and English. The hotline responds between 14:00 and 17:00 on Mondays, and between 9:00 and 11:00, as well as between 12:00 and 15:00 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The initiative has been a part of the At Work in Finland project subsidised by the European Social Fund (ESF).
- Start date
- 1 Jan 2022
- Project locations
- Finland
- Project website
- Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö (SAK)
Results
The free legal advice has already helped thousands of migrant workers with questions and concerns related to their employment.
As part of the service, SAK has also organised trainings for migrant associations and trade union officers. It also produced materials on work-related rules in Finland in over 20 different languages and available online on Fairplayatwork.fi.
In the framework of this project, the International House Helsinki was been established, providing a wide range of information and services to meet the needs of migrants and refugees in the Helsinki metropolitan area.