Meanwhile in Finland

The 225,000-member public sector union JHL has recently called for extra wage increases for sectors dominated by women:

The biggest public and welfare sector union federation JHL has called for a separate salary hike for low-paid sectors dominated by women, in addition to a general wage increase. The 225,000-member organisation says the two-fold pay hike is needed to help women working in low-wage jobs pull even with their male counterparts.

An on-again, off-again labor dispute at the Helsinki airport has just seen the latest contract proposal turned down by the union because it would unfairly benefit workers in predominately-male sectors of airport work. Strike action is planned for Friday if the issue is not resolved before then.

The far-right Finns party has lost more than half of its support in the last two years. Contrary to the grand speculations of some American pundits, the only parties that picked up support as the Finns party declined were the major left-wing parties: Left Alliance, Greens, and SDP.

The likely reason for this collapse, as Yle notes, is that the Finns Party joined a center-right austerity government, which alienated its mostly working class supporters:

Many former Finns Party adherents think the party has betrayed the working class in Finland by signing off on the government’s cuts to wages, benefits and services.

In the face of this collapse, Finns party head Timo Soini announced he is stepping down.