Sami Rusanen Archives - Migrant tales

Sami Rusanen:* Halpaa työvoimaa kotimaisten hoitajien sijaan – Attendo Oy kriittisen tarkastelun alla

Posted on February 25, 2026February 25, 2026 by Migrant Tales

Suomessa puhutaan hoitajapulasta, mutta todellisuus työmarkkinoilla näyttää erilaiselta. THL:n tilastot osoittavat, että vanhustenhoidossa puuttuu tuhansia ammattilaisia lakisääteisen hoitosuhteen täyttämiseksi. Silti tuhannet kotimaiset hoitajat ovat työttömiä tai alityöllistettyjä, usein riippuvaisia työttömyyskorvauksista tai sosiaalituesta. Samaan aikaan yksityiset hoivapalveluyritykset, kuten Attendo Oy, rekrytoivat aktiivisesti työntekijöitä kolmansista maista, mikä on herättänyt laajaa kritiikkiä (https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/art-2000011836321.html).

Vuodesta 2020 Attendo Oy on palkannut noin 1 500 hoitajaa Filippiineiltä, Etiopiasta, Keniasta ja Intiasta. Monet työskentelevät määräaikaisilla sopimuksilla, mutta nauttivat erityisestä irtisanomissuojasta. Kotimaiset hoitajat puolestaan menettävät usein työpaikkansa ensimmäisenä säästötoimien yhteydessä. Lisäksi ulkomaiset työntekijät tienaavat selvästi vähemmän kuin suomalaiset kollegansa, mikä on johtanut syytöksiin palkkadympingistä: työnantajat alittavat tarkoituksellisesti työehtosopimusten ja lakien mukaiset minimipalkat. Tämä heikentää työntekijöiden toimeentuloa ja luo epäreilua kilpailua.

Kriitikot varoittavat, että kolmansien maiden työntekijät heikentävät kotimaisia työehtosopimuksia. He tekevät usein kaksoisvuoroja tai ylityötä, joita voimassa olevat sopimukset eivät salli. Samaan aikaan Attendo on vähentänyt erikoispalkkioita, kuten hälyrahoja SOTE-sopimuksen alaisille työntekijöille. Kolmansien maiden hoitajat ovat jatkuvasti käytettävissä ja ottavat vastaan ylityöt harvoin kieltäytyen.

Sami Rusanen* (Linkedin): The happiest?

Posted on January 24, 2026January 24, 2026 by Migrant Tales

Finland, the happiest country in the world—so sings the choir of statistics, gently accompanied by the pleasant rustling of freshly increased government salaries and bonuses. What an excellent job they must be doing! Their rising compensation stands as living proof of national happiness.
Meanwhile, the healthcare system is invited to explore the art of efficiency without resources, social welfare practices the virtue of austerity, and housing benefits master the elegant trick of disappearing without farewell. Unemployment benefits, too, grow philosophical: they still exist, but mainly as an idea.
Mass layoffs? Naturally—a small and necessary sacrifice at the altar of “labor-market flexibility.” Trade unions are carefully weakened, no doubt to spare them the exhausting burden of influence. Progress, after all, must hurt—preferably someone else.
But let us not despair. Finland remains the happiest country in the world. One merely has to ask, in the true spirit of the Enlightenment:happy for whom, exactly.

*Sami Rusanen is “an international lawyer, legal counsel, critical analyst, executive consultant, project & HR Manager, Investment” (Linkedin)

Sami Rusanen: How migration reshaped Finnish identity from the 1970s to today

Posted on January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 by Migrant Tales

By Sami Rusanen

International Lawyer, legal counsel, critical analyst, executive consultant, project & HR Manager, Investment (Linkedin)

Since the 1970s, Finnish identity has undergone a profound transformation, closely tied to Finland’s shift from a largely homogeneous country of emigration to an increasingly diverse society shaped by immigration. What was once a marginal issue has become central to political debate and everyday conversations about belonging. Migration has not only changed who lives in Finland, but also how Finnishness itself is understood, questioned, and redefined.

In the 1970s, Finland was primarily a country people left rather than moved to. Tens of thousands of Finns migrated abroad, especially to Sweden, in search of work and better economic opportunities. Migration at the time was seen mainly as a practical response to labor demand, not as something that challenged national identity. Finnish society was widely perceived as culturally and ethnically homogeneous. Being Finnish was closely associated with speaking Finnish, sharing a common historical narrative, and fitting into a relatively uniform cultural framework. Apart from the Swedish-speaking minority and the Sámi—whose voices were often sidelined—internal diversity received little public attention.

This began to change slowly in the 1980s. Finland started to receive small numbers of refugees, including people fleeing war and political repression in Vietnam and parts of Latin America. There were also labor migrants and Finns returning from Sweden. Yet immigration remained limited in scale and visibility, and it rarely sparked broader political debate. Finnish identity was still largely seen as stable and clearly bounded. Integration, where it was discussed at all, was understood as a one-way process: newcomers were expected to adapt to Finnish society, rather than society adapting in response.

The 1990s marked a turning point. The collapse of the Soviet Union reshaped migration patterns across Northern Europe, and Finland was no exception. Ingrian Finns arrived from Russia under policies that framed them as ethnic “return migrants.” At the same time, Finland began to receive more asylum seekers, notably from Somalia and the Balkan region. Finland’s accession to the European Union in 1995 further embedded the country in European migration and asylum frameworks. Migration became more visible, and with visibility came debate—about citizenship, integration, and who could truly belong. Finnishness started to shift, slowly, from a narrowly ethnic concept toward a more civic one, based on citizenship, language skills, and participation in society. Still, anxieties about cultural difference and social cohesion were never far from the surface.