Finnishy wages

Unionized public sector employees take advantage of their monopoly, in the usual way, by inconveniencing the public;

Finnish public transport and other services have been disrupted, as trade unions staged country-wide protests against an austerity plan. Shift workers and retail employees are among those to be hardest hit by cuts.

Though one wonders why 'retail employees' pay would be determined by government, and not by the supply and demand of retailers and customers.

Strikes in the capital and elsewhere across the nation halted rail traffic, harbors and paper mills, while office workers also opted to stay at home.

Yes, when the public transportation network is shut down, private sector workers often can't get to work.

The center-right government had unilaterally announced plans to cut employees' overtime pay, as well as some holidays and sickness benefits – matters traditionally agreed in Finland by labor unions and employer associations alone.

 Blocheads.

"The economy has not been well," opposition Social Democrat leader Antti Rinne said.

He acknowledged GDP had contracted about 3 percent over the past four years - not least due to a labor market more expensive than the EU average and that of key overseas competitors.

"But the economy will not recover by force, it requires cooperation," Rinne told a cheering crowd in Helsinki.

Then cooperate to get prices down to market clearing levels, guy. The economy won't recover until that happens.