Nura Farah welcomes the minimum EUR 1,800 per month goal

Nura Farah's first comment on the SAK Congress is: "Good speeches". By whom? "By both presidents - Lyly and Halonen." She is, of course, referring to the President of SAK and the President of the Republic of Finland.

And her second: "At least EUR 1,800 should be the minimum monthly pay. I like concrete goals." Although she earns a little more than that as a laboratorian, some of her colleagues are paid less for working full time. "It&#;8217s difficult to survive in Helsinki with the rent, bills and other expenses, for example, if you earn less than EUR 1,800 per month."

Farah wants the trade union movement to focus much of its work on improving the standard of living of people with low pay. "Jobs for young people must be one of the priorities. It’s no wonder that young people get frustrated when they can’t find decent jobs and don’t have a decent income."

"The key", she maintains, "is to get organized." Farah even regards the relatively high organizing rate - 70 per cent - of native Finns as low. "And among immigrant labour the rate is still lower."

She is the President of the immigrant labour section of her trade union JHL (in the capital region). "It’s there where we’ve studied the rules of working life, for example. We’ve also encouraged those with immigrant backgrounds to stand as a candidate for the post of safety representative."

Photos from SAK's Congress (Flickr)