Employees at the Motonet in Hämeenlinna are taking the working life questionnaire – what about your workplace?
Sirkku Kangas, Janina Kemppi and Miia Rantanen believe that it’s good to focus on employment issues close to the elections. Photo: Harri Nurminen
When someone in the break room of this store is tapping at their smartphone, they may not be posting on Facebook, but musing on the fundamental questions of the world of work.
These women have made things happen at Hämeenlinna’s Motonet. Sirkku Kangas, Janina Kemppi and Miia Rantanen are encouraging their coworkers to take the questionnaire on employment issues. It’s possible to answer using a mobile app.
“The reception has been positive,” they say happily while sitting in the meeting room of their workplace.
Less than two years ago, employees of the store voted in the shop steward elections for the first time. Now there’s an ongoing project to motivate the employees to cast their vote in this spring’s parliamentary elections.
Despite the project, politics is not a favourite topic at the Hämeenlinna Motonet. It’s almost the opposite.
“Many of our employees are quite young. They like to talk, but not about politics!” laughs Janina Kemppi, 22, a store assistant who is also in charge of loss prevention. Nevertheless, since Miia Rantanen, a store assistant specialising in spare parts, got a permanent contract, she has found herself increasingly thinking that a job should have a proper salary and decent working conditions.
“And we can’t fix everything at the workplace: some of these things come from further up,” says Rantanen, referring to legislation.
Supporters promise to vote in the elections
The working life questionnaire is a tool relating to the Nation of the Free campaign for the parliamentary elections. The questionnaire asks respondents to state their opinion on certain issues in the world of work, such as termination protections or the possibility to make a living from a single job.
“They are value questions in the world of work, and very relevant for our field,” says Sirkku Kangas, 31, store manager and deputy shop steward.
People who take the questionnaire can also decide to become supporters of the campaign, meaning that they commit to voting in the parliamentary elections.
People from many different kinds of workplaces in Finland are currently taking the survey. Despite its grass-roots style, the campaign also involves seven trade unions, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK as well as individual local branches. You can take the questionnaire online or through the Ääni vapaudelle smartphone app, which is available from most app stores. The questionnaire is currently available in Finnish and Swedish.
Voting for the first time
While the 21-year-old Miia Rantanen is encouraging her coworkers to vote, this spring also marks the first time she will be allowed to vote in parliamentary elections due to her age.
“I might vote in advance,” she plans. The official election day is 14 April.
The active trio of ladies have explained the main points of the campaign at their workplace, but have let their coworkers make up their own minds.
“We’ve let people fill out the questionnaire in peace,” Kangas explains.
They say that the questionnaire is simple, easy and fast to answer.
Text:: Marie Sandberg-Chibani