This. So much this.

From my point of view, the Sipilä government is working with own best interest in mind, even though I actually do believe they also think that's what's best for the country.

Being selfish now won't help me if I need someone else's solidarity in 15 years though, so I'd rather support the cause now and know that I did what I could when it mattered and not when it happened to suit me.

The difference is in methods. Not on the concepts.

As an example I aim for system where employment is at will but that is balanced by strong social security and unemployment benefits. It kinda gives best of both worlds. When you are not screwed when you're fired you don't need insanely strong protections.

I refuse to accept that as a worker I have to support decisions that I personally think as stupid just due to "solidarity". I vote based on my own conscience just like everyone else ought to vote according to theirs.

If Finland was like Sweden where unions don't have legislative power I'd by all means belong into one. And considering that so many more in Sweden belong in unions vs in Finland I am not alone in my thoughts.

I guess this change by the Sipilä government could be fine in isolation. But the fact is that the same government has done/is pushing for cuts to the social safety net, unemployment benefits, schooling, health care etc at the same time.

Please don't look at Sweden as an example for how it should work. Personally, I'd prefer a system more like the Danish one, with unions that are less politicized but with a social welfare net that will catch you fairly quick if you need to change jobs or get fired or whatever.

I worked on that side of the Pond for almost a decade, and was quite involved in the union where I worked. They're quite politicized there as well although I heard the Social Democrats are slowly losing their grip of the larger unions now.

There's more to at-will employment than just "unemployment kinda sucks."

At-will employment is the reason there's no real workers' rights in the US. If the employer can fire you at any time on a whim and for no reason, it becomes impossible to enforce any other labor protection laws, from discrimination on down.

Sure it was illegal for my employer to fire me from my job at a thrift shop in the States after I got injured on the job doing work I shouldn't legally have been expected to do alone. So they just found another excuse and fired me anyway (in this case, because I took a day off to mourn my dying father. Remember what I said about America?).

This happens over and over, with racial, gender, disability discrimination, labor violations, and on and on. There's no real way to enforce the law when there's a giant loophole around it, and who do you think has more money to win a labor suit? The unemployed person, or the company who fired them?

There's also the pressure and the power imbalance it creates. If my employer can fire me whenever they want for no reason, then I have basically no clout at all on the job. I'm under relentless pressure to just do whatever I'm told, because if I don't, then I'm out on my ass in a day. You make a normally small mistake on a day when the boss is in a bad mood? Disagree with the wrong manager? Decide to stand up when the corporation wants you to do something unethical, or even illegal?

Tough luck. Better hit the dole queue tomorrow.

It creates a constant, oppressive pressure on employees, because you will never have job security. You are always one bad day or one wrong move away from the unemployment line.

And let's face it, the same kind of voters and politicians who say things like you do, are the same ones that aren't gonna be in a hurry to raise the unemployment benefit to actually fit the cost of living. The last time I lost my job in Finland I nearly wound up homeless (surprise! I was on the very probationary period the gov't wants to extend indefinitely, and got let go along with all the other new hires, so my startup could cook the books for the VCs). Helsinki benefits haven't been adjusted for cost of living since the 70s, and if you think the same government looking to toss more people out on the street is gonna be in a hurry to fix that, well then I have some very interesting cryptocurrency investments I'd love to show you.

Part of having a strong safety net is employees having the security not to need it all the time. If anyone can just shit-can people for something as simple as fudging the budget for next quarter, then unemployment costs rise, and the response to that has consistently been to cut benefits, not raise them.

For all the system is imperfect here, Finns need to understand just how good they have it already, and stop supporting people who want to drag us down to the Americans' level just to make a few more euros.