The UJF is also lobbying to get additional help for its self-employed members. The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the fact that the most precarious workers need protected and that the Employment Contracts Act needs to be clarified.
Among the union's actions to support freelances are:
· Covid-19 pandemic focuses need to safeguard status in law of self-employed
· Guidelines for freelancers in the event of a Covid-19 epidemic
· Are you being laid off? What do temporary changes to collective agreements mean?
Financial support
In addition to professional guidance, the union granted financial assistance to journalists through its own foundation. The union has already awarded 40 special Coronavirus grants - € 232.000 in total - to help freelancers and their media projects. The next set of grants will be announced in June.
The other main field of work has been lobbying the Nordic authorities for a media support package. Finland has yet to announce any aid for the media while media houses have started announcing layoffs of journalists and salary cuts. This poses a threat to the public’s access to quality information and media plurality at a critical moment where this right is more important than ever before.
For this reason, the UJF launched a campaign involving employers to secure state aid for media. The union and employer’s organisation Finnmedia have now agreed to propose that support should be aimed at bolstering the production of journalistic content. Temporary support could be granted to those media that are most affected by the loss of advertising revenues during the crisis.
· Union welcomes first steps by government for emergency and long-term support for the Finnish media
IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: “Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the IFJ has urged public support for media workers and the media sector. All our proposals are contained in the IFJ platform for Quality Journalism. We praise UJF’s work to support Finnish journalists and call on the government to hear its petitions and take action”.