Tag: discrimination

How serious is the Future of Migration 2020 Strategy?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The more I think of the government’s published white paper on immigration policy made public on Thursday, the more I have reason to worry.  Apart from omitting altogether the term multiculturalism and cultural from diversity in the Future of Migration 2020 Strategy, your suspicions aren’t put to rest by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), which was critical of the policy statement. 

Riitta Wärn, an EK labor market specialist, said that the government white paper missed the mark.

“As someone who has been monitoring immigration policy for a long time, I don’t consider this to be a major change,” she was quoted as saying on YLE in English. “There’s not really anything surprising or new laid out in this policy.”

A comment I read on Facebook linked to Qbee Integrator  highlights Wärn’s frustration: “This people are so funny, I just imagine which young skilled immigrants they are talking about while they cannot employ young foreigners who graduated from their own Finnish high priced education system. People finish professional degrees, masters and PHD and they are subjected to shop cleaners and dish washers. Every year the country produces 10s of new immigrant Finnish graduates in nursing, health care and social services, only one 1% is employed on short term basis, yet we hear everyday that there are shortages.”

While the government should be commended for speaking out against racism and the importance of challenging discrimination in our society, one of the matters that shines through in white paper is the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party.  Sadly it’s not its chairman, Timo Soini, that we see claiming there aren’t any racists in the party, but its far right anti-immigration pundits. 

Speaking out against racism is important but equally important is to remain focused and on our toes to distinguish between official lip service and actual deeds.

If omitting the term “cultural” from diversity raises some questions and makes it more acceptable to anti-immigration groups, another worrisome term used in the white paper is “controlled immigration.”

 “Uncontrolled immigration” is a byword used by far right and right-wing populist anti-immigration groups like the PS to keep the country white. In other words, we don’t want any Muslims, Africans and other visible immigrants to migrate and live with us. 

Another big question mark over this white paper is the credibility of Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, whose conservative Christian and views on cultural diversity get in the way of good judgement.

How on Earth can a politician like Räsänen who considers homosexuality an illness, wants to make begging illegal,  sees nothing wrong with ethnic profiling by the police and wants to tighten family reunification laws and policy seriously wants to improve the situation of immigrants and visible minorities in Finland? 

Considering that Finland is a young republic which invested a great deal of energy in undermining immigration and foreign investment to Finland, turning it into a successful and dynamic “diverse” society will take more than just a white paper.

Read the white paper (in Finnish) here. An English-language version will be available after summer.

Migrant Tales turns six years today

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales celebrates its sixth year as a blog today. Our blog has grown from a humble voice to one that gets noticed in Finland and abroad. 

Our aim is a simple: Migrant Tales is a blog community that debates some of the salient issues facing immigrants and minorities in Finland and elsewhere. It aims to be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.

Our blog’s existence hinges on challenging intolerance in all shapes and forms in this country and elsewhere.

As long as intolerance is a problem, Migrant Tales will be there.

 

Ombudsman for Minorities responds to Migrant Tales’ queries concerning phone operators and insurance companies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales spoke recently to the office of the Ombudsman for Minorities about two cases by Finland’s mobile phone operators and insurance companies. We asked as well if using the term students with immigrant backgrounds, or maahanmuuttajataustainen, at elementary and middle schools was discriminatory. 

The term maahanmuuttajataustainen appears to be so common in some Mikkeli schools that they refer to such students with the acronym “MMT.”

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If you feel that you are discriminated because of your ethnic and/or national background, the Ombudsman for Minorities is a good place to inquire about such matters from Monday to Friday from 10-noon at  071 878 8666.

In an email dated May 13 to Ombudsperson for Minorties Eva Biaudet and Rainer Hiltunen, ombudsman head of office, I pointed out the three above-mentioned cases.

The Ombudsman for Minorities gave the following responses in a telephone interview:

Mobile phone operators can in principle ask for a deposit if the person doesn’t have a credit history in Finland. This rule should not only apply to immigrants but to everyone who lives in Finland irrespective of the person’s nationality.

One of the solutions that the Ombudsman for Minorities gave was for the potential customer to ask the phone operator if it was possible to provide a credit history from the person’s last country of residence.

On the second mater concerning residence and language requirements by insurance companies, the Ombudsman for Minorities said that such cases are still ongoing. The cases and sources supplied by Migrant Tales would be given to the department in charge of negotiating these matters with with insurance companies.

The final matter, whether it was discriminatory for elementary and middle schools to openly call third-culture children ”students with immigrant backdgrounds” was discriminatory, the Ombudsman for Minorities asked what better word could be used in place of maahanmuuttajataustainen. 

At some learning institutions the term ”immigrant” or ”person with immigrant background” has been dropped and replaced by  “mulitucltural student.” Even if this isn’t the best term, it’s much better than immigrant or person with immigrant background.

It’s clear that the terms used to label immigrants, their children and visible minorities can fuel discrimination and promote inequality. By labelling a person who was born in this country or who has lived most of his or her life in Finland a person with immigrant background is making the following affirmation: Your not equal to me because I’m a native and you’re a foreigner.

ENAR press statement: Riots in Sweden – time for government to finally address ethnic minorities’ exclusion

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:   As Migrant Tales has written on a number of postings, the riots in Sweden mirror the dire situation of some immigrant groups in that country and how marginalized they are from the rest of society. 

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Brussels, 28 May 2013 – The ongoing riots in Stockholm, Sweden are a strong wake-up call for Swedish  authorities. For too long, Sweden has turned its back on the dire social and economic situation of migrants  and minority communities who are facing increasing marginalisation, scarcer access to decent housing, higher unemployment rates, as well as excessive use of power by policing authorities. The European  Network Against Racism (ENAR) condemns both the violence use on the street by rioters and the ongoing  institutional violence of successive Swedish governments, which have chosen not to address the deeprooted causes of exclusion plaguing Swedish society.

For instance, the Swedish police project ‘REVA’, aimed to crack down on irregular immigrants, has led to racial  profiling in checking ID and residency permits of anyone ‘foreign-looking’. Such practices are clearly  discriminatory and undermine the rights of individuals. They also contribute to the exclusion and demonisation of particular communities.

We call on the Swedish government to:

– Put measures and resources in place to remedy the discrimination, high unemployment rates and segregation faced by ethnic minority communities                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       – Put an immediate end to the excessive use of police powers targeted at ethnic minorities and migrants.                                                                     – Engage in a dialogue with grassroots NGOs to develop an action programme to decrease tensions in communities and rapidly improve their socio-economic conditions.

ENAR Chair Chibo Onyeji said: “It is essential to use non-violent methods in the pursuit for justice and socioeconomic change. But urgent action is needed to create a constructive environment that can give young people  growing up in ethnic minority communities a foundation for a bright future. Fostering inclusion and reducing the increasing inequalities faced by ethnic minority communities should be at the forefront of Sweden’s political concerns.”

Read original statement here.

City of Helsinki shouldn’t contract companies exploiting foreign workers

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng

Foreign workers in the cleaning services sector in Finland face exploitation and abuse from employers and sometimes from customers. The authorities, including city councils that award cleaning contracts to companies that violate employment rules and collective agreements share the blame.

cleanersImage: The Copenhagen Post

According to a Yle report, work safety inspections conducted in about 20 cleaning companies that employ foreign workers revealed problems at every company inspected, and the City of Helsinki is considering contracting the services of one of the companies.

Violations uncovered by inspections carried out this year include irregularities in registering work hours, payment irregularities and employment of workers without work permits.

As a foreign national with experience and connections in Finland’s cleaning sector, I am not surprised by news that inspections turned up problems in every cleaning company inspected. What is surprising to me is that the City of  Helsinki is considering contracting a company that violates employment standards.

In my view, companies that do not register work hours exploit workers – intentionally or unintentionally – by not remunerating all work hours since some hours “slip through the cracks”. Payment irregularities could mean workers are not paid as per their work contracts and collective agreements. For instance, some foreign employees work without a fixed payment date, hence they can’t plan payment of bills, rents and other living expenses because they don’t know when they’ll be paid.

Workers employed without work permits, in my opinion are vulnerable and subject to exploitation and abuse since they mostly work in hiding and cannot take legal action against exploitation and abuse. Employers take advantage of undocumented workers.

Background checks

The City of Helsinki and all other authorities in Finland, including private sector businesses requesting bids should ensure that bidding companies respect labor laws and collective agreements before contracting their services. This can be done by working closely with labor inspectors and trade unions.

Service suppliers should be subjected to background checks before bid contracts are accepted.

In 2009 I wrote a complaint to the City of Espoo about the exploitation of workers (mostly Africans and Chinese) by a cleaning company operating in Espoo. In reply to my complaint a lawyer at the City of Espoo said, that before contracting companies the city ensures that the companies comply with labor laws and collective agreements. It was hard to believe the lawyer because the company in question, in my assessment, violated many labor standards and collective agreements in the cleaning services sector, including the obligation to register hours spent on the job by all employees. (Read my story, in Finnish, on PAM-lehti).

Exploitative companies that disregard labor regulations, collective agreements and workers’ rights should not be given contracts. Contracting such companies sends a wrong message that exploitation of foreign workers is acceptable in Finland.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Dear Migrant Tales…when the workplace becomes a hostile place

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Dear Migrant Tales,

Being the only black person at work can be challenging but what about if the workplace becomes openly hostile to you? By hostile I mean being constantly watched by your coworkers, if you make a mistake it’s always a bigger deal than if a white coworker did it, if you’re speaking on the phone, your work mates are the first ones to tell you that you’re not on a break.  

I got fired from my last job after working there for about four months. I’ve had many jobs but the last one was the worst. The work atmosphere there was terrible.

I confided in a worker, an older man, at my former job. I spoke openly to him about myself and some of my problems. I found out from another coworker that he was talking behind my back and exaggerating what I had told him.

One day while I was on a break, the person I confided in started to raise his voice at me. He told me that Somalis shouldn’t live in Finland and why don’t I  return back to where I came from.  I couldn’t take it anymore and raised my voice back at him.

The older man went immediately to our boss and told him that I had raised my voice at him. The boss spoke to us and then told me that he didn’t believe anything I said. He said he believed the white worker because he had worked at the company much longer than I.

I ended up getting fired.

White Finns have effective ways of excluding you at work. At the job I got fired, your opinion didn’t matter because nobody cared what you thought. It’s such a stressful situation! Some of my coworkers even asked me to do their job because they thought I was dumb. I’m not dumb.

I’m extra careful at my new job. I don’t want to get fired again and I’ve learned an important lesson: Not to mix with my coworkers and just mind my own business.

I’d appreciate any good advice on how a black person can survive at a Finnish company.

Abdulah 

 

Abdulah, who speaks to us under condition of anonymity, has appeared on Migrant Tales a number of times. 

 

DNA, Saunalahti, IF, Nordea: “Backward-looking” rules and laws mirror Finland’s anti-foreign sentiment

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A comment on Migrant Tales by Chef summed up pretty well how “several backward-looking” rules used arbitrarily by mobile phone and insurance companies continue to discriminate and make life difficult for immigrants. Why does this still happen in Finland, a Nordic welfare state country that promotes and bases its values on social equality (tasa-arvo)?

The suspicion that some Finns have of foreigners is very real. It hinges on our difficult history with the former Soviet Union and being under Swedish and Russian rule for over 650 years. Irrespective of such explanations, they sound more like excuses than proactive solutions.

Our suspicion of foreigners is not only evident in our actions and attitudes but in our laws.

Take for instance the Restricting Act of 1939 (law 219/1939), which became redundant in 1992. The aim of the law was to keep key sectors of the economy off limits to foreigners.

The act prohibited foreigners from owning real estate and acquiring a majority stake in Finnish companies – limiting this to 20% normally and 40% under special permission. It stipulated as well that foreigners could not own shares in key sectors such as forestry, securities trading, transportation, mining, real estate and shipping.

When I moved to this country permanently in December 1978, non-Finns weren’t allowed to establish a newspaper, organize demonstrations, no habeas corpus never mind appeal a deportation.

Until 1983, or about 65 years after gaining independence,  Finland got its first Aliens’ Act. Before and even after new act came into force, foreigners were at the mercy of the aliens office, whose aim  was to hinder immigrants from moving here.

Why was it so difficult for a foreigner to establish a business in Finland or move to this country in the last century? The answer is clear: They didn’t want you to invest or move here.

We rarely speak about how our anti-foreign sentiment continues to influence us today. How do you think an anti-immigration and anti-EU party, the Perussuomalaiset, was able to score a historic election victory in 2011?

Fortunately matters have changed for the better after we became EU members in 1995. Even so, the remnants of Finland’s anti-foreign sentiment can still be found in some of its rules, laws and what’s most important in attitudes.

“Several backward-looking” restrictions imposed by mobile phone companies, insurers and banks are some examples.

The sooner we throw them in the dustbin of history, the better.

 

DNA and Saunalahti don’t openly advertise that immigrants must live in Finland for two years and pay a deposit

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales got in touch today with two telephone operators: DNA and Saunalahti. Both companies said that the minimum residence requirement of two years in Finland for an immigrant to get a mobile phone line or contract. Everything got complicated, however, when I asked them to tell me what they said in writing.

When I asked a DNA employee over the phone about a hypothetical friend who was a foreigner who has lived in Finland for a year, she said that there is a two-year minimum residence requirement and that the deposit could be anywhere from 300 to over 500 euros depending who was applying.

I did get a prompt SMS message from DNA: “Costumer service cannot determine beforehand the amount of the deposit to be paid. The customer will receive a personal letter stating if he has the possibility to get a contract [with DNA]. If a deposit is asked, we’ll tell the person why this is required. Greetings from DNA”

The Saunalahti employee couldn’t find on the company’s website any mention of a two-year residence requirement never mind any mention of a deposit.

Both operators offered a quick solution: Why not get a prepaid phone line or a friend to open a mobile phone line for you?

One of the valid questions that we could ask concerning these requirements is why they are required in the first place.

Is this the way DNA and Saunalahti build customer relations and mutual trust?

 

 

 

A case for the Ombudsman for Minorites: Finnish mobile phone and insurance companies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has reported on how difficult it has been for some immigrants to open a bank account in this country never mind get access to online banking services. We learned last week that immigrants are having similar problems with mobile phone operators and obtaining life insurance.  

Migrant Tales will send Monday to the Ombudsman for Minorities a list of cases whereby non-Finns have been required to make a 300-500-euro deposit to get a mobile phone line, and even be the bearer of a social security insurance Kela card for two years to get life insurance.

One reader, who is a British citizen, who wrote to us said that in order to get life insurance, Nordea required five-year residence in a Nordic country plus fluency in  Swedish or Finnish.

Unbelievable?

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Here’s the link with the conditions in Finnish required by Nordea.

Apart from being between 18 and 59 years, it does state that you must have lived five years in the Nordic region and be fluent in Swedish or Finnish to get life insurance coverage from Nordea.

But that’s not all. Another Migrant Tales reader, who is a Swedish citizen, said that he was required to have a Kela card for two years in order to get life insurance at IF.

We hope that the efforts of our readers, and of this blog to address what we believe to be discriminatory behavior by large Finnish companies, will yield positive results.

 

Do mobile phone companies and insurers discriminate against immigrants living in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales published Monday a story about how mobile phone operators in Finland require immigrants to make at least a 300-euro deposit and be a resident of this country for two years to get a mobile phone line.  

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The Ombudsman for Minorities is a good place to inquire about your rights. They have a customer service line that one can call on weekdays 10-12  at +358 (0)71 878 8666

Thanks to Stephen Penny, whose blog entries have been published previously on Migrant Tales, wrote to us about the problems he’s been having in getting a mobile phone line in Helsinki. “Nightmare!” he tweeted. “I went to get a pre-paid SIM at the weekend, & was told 5 years for a mobile contract or EUR300-500 up front deposit!”

Penny said that one operator, Elisa, told him that it would take as long as five years before he could get a contract.  He said that the 300-500-euro deposit would only be refunded when the contract ended, normally after 24 months.

Asking a potential customer to pay a 300-500-euro deposit can be a tall order if you are a refugee and living off social assistance, which amounts to a few hundred euros a month.

An official at the Ombudsman for Minorities told Migrant Tales that the only reason why a phone operator can ask a potential client to meet the two-year residence requirement is if the person doesn’t have a credit history.

Another official at the National Discrimination Tribunal of Finland (Syrjintälautakunta) said that there was no cases brought to the tribunal’s attention concerning the two-year-or-more residence requirement by Finnish mobile phone operators.

Another interesting story that was brought to our attention Tuesday was how some Finnish insurance companies like IF require immigrants to have a social security institution Kela card for two years to get life insurance.

Writes Joe: ”I had a similar experience when I tried to get a life insurance policy here and was told that, even though I’m an EU citizen, I would have to live in Finland for between 2 and 5 years before any insurance company would consider me.”

Carlos Loarca confirmed in an email what Joe said: ”My experience about the insurance company IF [one of the biggest or the biggest in Scandinavia] told me that I can not apply for a personal insurance after I have my Kela card for longer than 2 years.”

The official from the Ombudsman for Minorities office was unaware that insurance companies like IF require immigrants to have a Kela card for two years to get life insurance.

One way of moving ahead would be to complain to the Ombudsman for Minorities with some concrete cases and/or bring it to the attention of the National Discrimination Tribunal of Finland as well.

If you want your case to be heard by the Ombudsman for Minorities, write to [email protected] .