The Finnish Public Services Unions' International Network FIPSU has created ethical principles for the recruitment of foreign employees. Labour exploitation cases and human trafficking that have come to light highlight the need for the principles.

All employees must have the same rights and obligations, such as the right to organise and the right to the same pay and the same working conditions.

Finland cannot transfer the burden of its own shortage of labour to other countries. The basic services in the countries of origin must not be eroded, nor shall the education system be distorted to produce professionals for the needs of other countries.

FIPSU calls for sufficient resources for the supervision of compliance with the employment terms of foreign employees. More severe sanctions must be imposed for the exploitation of employees, extortion-type work discrimination and human trafficking. 

The ethical principles stress language proficiency and the employer’s responsibility in language training. For employees who cannot work directly in the tasks for which they have been trained, a training route must be created in order to guarantee a similar level of competence according to Finnish training, sufficient language skills as well as employment as quickly as possible in the tasks for which the training was provided.

Ethics and compliance with collective agreements and legislation must be taken into account in public sector tendering and procurements. Procurements and subcontracting must be supervised better.

FIPSU highlights the significance of family reunification to help employees arriving from abroad commit to Finnish society and working life.

In its own work, FIPSU commits to promoting the integration of migrants. Through co-operation, labour migration can be made ethically sustainable.

FIPSU’s ethical principles here > 

he Finnish Public Services Unions' International Network FIPSU supports the international advocacy and EU collaboration of seven public sector trade unions. FIPSU's affiliate trade unions are Trade Union Pro, Trade Union Jyty, Trade Union Unio, Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ), Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer) and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy).