33% trade union’s members face discrimination at work

A survey commissioned by the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors- JHL revealed that discrimination is common at workplaces, said JHL in a press release on Tuesday.

About one third (33%) of the respondents answered that they had experienced the kinds of discrimination that are the topics of the Finnish Non-discrimination Act or Equality Act.

“The results show that trade unions still have work to do in ensuring that our members can do their work safely and well. The results also raise the question if everything possible really has been done to root out discrimination in Finland,” said the President of JHL Håkan Ekström.

Most often discrimination at workplaces is done by supervisors or managers. About 67% of those who had experienced discrimination mentioned that their supervisor or manager had discriminated against them, and 59% told that a co-worker or colleague had discriminated against them.

According to the respondents, the most usual reason for discrimination was opinions and 41% of those who had experienced discrimination stated that it was because of their opinions.

Other frequently mentioned grounds of discrimination were age, state of health and gender.

The most usual context where discrimination occurred was everyday work. It was mentioned by as many as 79% of those who had experienced discrimination.

In the second place was salary or wages, which was mentioned by 28% of those who has experienced discrimination.

“There is discrimination in all of JHL’s occupational sectors. Problems occur at workplaces and in everyday work,” said JHL’s Special Advisor Anna Korpikoski.

The survey results also showed that 34% of female respondents and 29% of male respondents have experienced discrimination.

Experienced discrimination is distributed almost evenly between all age groups.

About 32% of under 35-year-olds, 33% of 35–50-year-olds and 51–65-year-olds, and 31% of over 65-year-olds had experienced discrimination.

Majority of those who had experienced discrimination, (76%) had told about it at their workplace. However, most of these (75%) did not get help with discrimination.

“When help was received, it was primarily from a co-worker, colleague, manager or supervisor. Thus, the local work community and its actions can both be a source of discrimination and potentially provide a solution to it,” said Korpikoski.

The survey was conducted by research company Aula Research and answered by more than 2,200 people working in JHL’s occupational sectors.