Watching a Yle news broadcast on the arrival of Filipino practical nurses at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, I could not hold back my concern for these migrants and how they could fall prey to greedy employers. It has happened too many times before.
The government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, which continues to implement its racist and hardline migration policy, reiterated that it wants labor migrants from four countries: the Philippines, India, Vietnam, and Brazil. In the face of the government’s extreme tightening of migration policy, the government – especially the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* – would be willing to give migrants from these countries a chance to move to Finland and plug our chronic labor shortage.
Reading the minds and past policies of the PS and the National Coalition Party (NCP), it’s clear that some of these future practical nurses have fallen into a trap. Apart from living in a difficult climate and culture compared with their home country, they will be effectively at the mercy of their employers.
How long will it take before some of their stories of exploitation will come to light? This is a valid question because we not only have many cases backing up such a situation but also Finland’s unpreparedness to defend the rights of foreign workers.
Apart from this sad reality, Finland’s government and its migration policy are the clearest examples that parties like the PS will admit to a flaw in their demographic calculations but are ready to accept migrants who will not challenge their white Finnish privilege and promise to be subservient to the system.