Sisters (can’t) unite! Wages as macro‐political and the gendered power orders of corporatism

Abstract

In addition to political parties and the government, trade union confederations and employer organizations are major power players in the Finnish labour market, policymaking and the wider society. This article analyses the significant role of the Finnish corporatist regime in creating and maintaining the gendered hierarchies of the labour market, including the gender pay gap. Using the case of the Finnish nurses’ industrial action in 2007, our analysis highlights the capacity of the corporatist regime to resist change in current wage relativities and effectively block attempts made to challenge the status quo. This article describes how wages are macro‐political, shaped by political processes, negotiations, power relations and vested interests of central stakeholders within the Finnish corporatist regime. The analysis focuses on the problem representations through which the actors articulate either their attempt to increase wages or to maintain the status quo, which makes their vested interests, as well as politics, visible.

Wage politics and feminist solidarity

“…This section elaborates on the key dynamics behind the gender pay gap in Finland and the key points of contestation. In my earlier work (Koskinen Sandberg & Saari, 2019), I have conceptualized wages as being shaped by political processes, negotiations, power relations, and the vested interests of central stakeholders within the macro‐economic and political framework. The case of the wage cartel and the NoPlayMoney social movement offers an interesting empirical example of how a civil society actor can successfully engage in wage politics.…”

“…The low wages of early education teachers has been a topic of ongoing discussion in Finland for decades, and there was industrial action regarding it in the 1980s (e.g., Åsvik, 1999). Despite this action, the practices of wage determination and the resulting low wage level have not been strongly problematized (e.g., in comparison to nurses' wages) (Koskinen Sandberg & Saari, 2019; Saari et al., in press). The NoPlayMoney social movement is the first large‐scale, non‐union mobilization around the question of wages in early education.…”

“…As a feminist scholar studying equal pay, the gendered labor market, and Finnish industrial relations, I have contributed to offering an alternative perspective to the debate on wages and equal pay in Finland, emphasizing the role of political decision‐making, institutional actors, gendered social practices, and historical developments in shaping wage outcomes (see also Acker, 1989; S. E. Austen et al., 2013). This different viewpoint is based on my scholarly work (e.g., Koskinen Sandberg et al., 2018; Koskinen Sandberg & Saari, 2019), but it is also presented in Finnish media, where I have frequently appeared. Although my own work is not solely responsible, I have contributed to the problematization of the mainstream media debate and changed the direction of the debate to some extent.…”

“…Health care will also leave General CA for new collective agreement that will be established (OAJ, 2020, TEHY, 2020). The unions representing these occupational groups are long‐term rivals, and they each hope that changes to their collective their collective agreements will result in improved wage development for their members, both of which are undervalued feminized occupational groups (Koskinen Sandberg & Saari, 2019, Saari et al., in press).…”

“…However, change was achieved in the form of higher wages, which is significant and highly unusual given that gendered labor market practices and institutions (e.g. collective agreements and the pay practices included in them)are typically highly resistant to change (Saari, Kantola, & Koskinen Sandberg, in press, Koskinen Sandberg & Saari, 2019).…”