JHL to refrain from govt´s anti-racism campaign

The Public and Welfare Sectors Trade Union JHL will not take part in Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government’s antiracism campaign, said JHL in a press release on Thursday.

JHL termed this campaign as a disgraceful attempt to cover up policies that undermine equality.

The trade union sees the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led four-party alliance government’s soon-to-be-launched campaign “Me puhumme teoin” (“We speak with action”) as a dishonest attempt to cover up policies that are historically discriminatory and harsh on immigrants.

“We thank warmly all experts who have participated in the planning of this campaign for their good work. Unfortunately, the Government’s actions blatantly conflict with the objectives of the campaign,” said JHL’s Chief Executive Officer Mari Keturi.

“We speak with action, and therefore we cancel our participation in this campaign. If the government parties commit to taking action instead of being evasive, we will be happy to get involved,” Keturi said.

In the campaign organisations and employers who have been invited to join the antiracism work draw up their own commitments for measures in their organisations.

These measures include for example creating an equality promotion plan and offering support for those who have faced racism.

“The Non-discrimination Act already obligates organisations to create these plans. It’s disgraceful of the Government to challenge others to promote equality at the same time that they want to remove individual equality promotion plans from early childhood education and care units,” Keturi added.

Almost 15,000 new members joined JHL last year, and a significant portion of them have an immigrant background.

The trade union is particularly worried about how the Government’s anti-employee and anti-immigrant policies will affect their lives.

In addition to institutional racism, the Government is also making discriminatory and racist speech more accepted and mainstreaming hate speech.

“As a trade union we are committed to doing all we can to fight racism and discrimination. Therefore, we cannot participate in this campaign when the Government parties have no intention to commit to it. We see this campaign mostly as an attempt to cover up policies that undermine equality,” said JHL’s immigration activities specialist Neleah Kagiri.

Trade Union JHL will publish a guide about equality and non-discrimination this autumn.