Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has called on trade unions organising a new wave of political strikes next week to cancel their plans.
"Now is not the time to go on strike, because these strikes do not affect the government's decisions," Orpo told a press conference on Friday afternoon.
He further emphasised that the "very expensive strikes" would have a negative effect on employment and the wider Finnish economy.
"We consider these things included in the programme for government to be absolutely necessary. This is about Finland's well-being," the PM said.
However, Jarkko Eloranta, head of the Confederation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), spoke to the media after Orpo's statment on Friday afternoon, and reiterated his organisation's position that the strikes will go ahead.
The press conference followed a meeting called by Orpo with trade unions and employer groups, held at the prime minister's official Kesäranta residence on Friday afternoon.
The meeting was called to discuss Finland's labour market model, with discussions focusing on the government's aims to ensure that wage increases agreed to within the export sector are not exceeded by pay rises in any other sector of the economy.
However, expectations were not high that the meeting would lead to a compromise in the months-long dispute between the government and the unions.
Eloranta had said earlier this week that his organisation will not enter into talks with the government on the model topic alone — calling instead for the discussions to also include issues related to the right to political strikes as well as rules on local labour contracts.
The government has however repeatedly refused to negotiate about these separate issues, as the draft bill on restricting the duration of political strikes is already before parliament and the proposed changes to local labour rules is currently in the consultation phase.
Employment Minister Arto Satonen (NCP) responded to Eloranta's comments by saying that the government would not agree to SAK's demand to bring other issues to Friday's negotiating table.
The political strikes planned for Monday are set to see the Finnish export industry grind to a halt for a period of two weeks, with potential knock-on effects for grocery stores and petrol stations.
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