Finland Times

Equal work should receive equal pay, Palola said on Saturday in the Ykkösaamu (morning breakfast) programme of the national broadcaster YLE.

Immigrants should be able to get work, but not at the cost of Finnish working conditions or backpedalling wages, said Perussuomalaiset Chairman and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

The comments came in response to Interior Minister Petteri Orpo’s statement on Saturday that all resources should be at the disposal of helping immigrants find employment.

In an interview with the Finnish language daily Helsingin Sanomat, Orpo said he is prepared even to change the law in order to bring employment quickly to immigrants and help them find their place in the society.

In practice, this could mean, according to the minister, flexibility in wages.

Social Democratic Party Chairman Antti Rinne also chimed in on Orpo’s announcement.

Rinne told the Social Democratic Party’s newspaper Demokraatti that the prime minister had asked him “and a few others” in November to discuss whether to apply weaker collective agreements to immigrants.

According to Rinne, there was nothing to discuss.