A story of cooperation across the borders

“It started one Friday afternoon. I received a call from Volvo, which was in need of holiday relief or “temps”. I was asked whether I might be able to provide as many students as possible from the technical university. The challenge was that they had to report for work in Gothenburg on Monday morning”.

Oili Nätynki is the senior labour consultant with the local employment centre in Oulu. From 1978 she served as a Nordic labour consultant. In 1994, she became the second person in Finland to train as a Eures consultant and has held that job since. Oulu, which is located on the innermost part of the Gulf of Bothnia in the north of Finland, is a long way from Gothenburg, on the west coast of Sweden. Her story took place towards the end of the seventies:

“I knew the person who called fairly well, and I had provided many workers for Volvo before, but never on such short notice. There was no way around it, I had to go forward, call people and fill in the forms on the run. During that weekend, people came and went, picking up the forms they needed. When Monday morning came, 30 youths reported to Volvo’s plant in Gothenburg.

During one summer, we were able to provide some 350 to 500 temps for industries in Sweden and Norway.”

She smiles. Today, people offer their thanks in public for those efforts. If not for those temporary jobs, they would not have had the means to carry through with their studies. But she is also somewhat wistful. Presently, unemployment in Oulu remains at 13 percent. Traditional industry is up against hard times, and that includes the IT trade as well. In particular, youths are having problems finding jobs. The alternative might be to take a job in another country, at least for a limited period, according to Oili Nätynki.

“However, the opportunities to help people in a difficult position are becoming scarce. In the past, we had personal contacts in the companies, and knew the conditions in the labour market both in Sweden and Norway well.”

Providing hands for Norway started with the fish industry. Then came welders and plumbers for the oil industry. Oili Nätynki had arranged for employers themselves to come to Oulu and

pick their workers. In the course of two years, during the early eighties, there were frequent charter flights between Stavanger and Oulu. In the nineties, a mobilisation of nurses took place. Norway had too few, and in Oulu there was a surplus. But in order to match the requirements for the jobs and those of labour, the language barrier had to be overcome.

Courses were arranged with expenses shared between  employment services in Norway and Finland. The employers arrived and conducted their interviews with the applicants, and all those who had completed a course were offered a job. Different systems offered several challenges. In order to understand the complexities and offer advice about taxes, social security and unemployment benefits, seminars were held with representatives of the authorities.

As for the intermediary, it was a job that required personal initiative, good relations, insight into public systems and working conditions in the neighbouring countries, as well as an awareness of the needs both of the employers and the employees.

She takes pride in the job they did, but she is not impressed with recent developments. The Eures consultant is responsible for a range of countries, and she neither gets to know the employers nor the job seekers. It has become easier to get access to information about job perspectives in other countries, and a good network has been established between the Eures consultants.

But at the same time, the cooperation has become less warm and personal; everything must pass through the computer. The job seekers themselves have to search for available jobs on the net. The employers are out to cut costs, and the number of shortterm contracts is increasing. The time of the personal meeting is past.

“We don’t talk with people any longer. Everything must be done by computer nowadays.”

As the biggest industrial enterprise ever seen in northern Norway is being launched, in the shape of the rock gas project Snøhvit, few Finns have acquired a job. Many factors play a part, but what may be the reason, in your opinion?

“Poor relations“, Oili Nätynki states for a fact. “And that is a pity,” she adds.

“The cooperation becomes much more efficient when relations are better. Besides, we need to help people acquire the skills that are needed.”

After the start of the Eures cooperation, the Nordic cooperation was pushed aside.

“We did not have sufficient strength to take on the Nordic cooperation as well. Now, however, it has started to pick up momentum again. It makes things easier when we are closer to each other,” Oili Nätynki says.

“To go abroad, to live and work in another land, is a big challenge for the individual. Under such circumstances, it is important to be able to rely on the one who provides employment, and on the employer who offers the job. To make everything function, personal relations are decisive.”