One of the main reasons behind my involvement in politics is a strong conviction that we have to change family policy in Finland. The most important part is a reform of parental leave in order to make them mor adapted to current needs. I was on parental leave for almost three years with my daughters, but today's system prevents many fathers from taking advantage of this chance. At the same time the system adds to the inequalities on the labour market.

 

With SDP:s model for a reform of the parental leaves we give our children a right to both parents. The flexible model gives considerably more people than today could stay at home with their kids for a while than today.

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Daycare centers used to be considered "storage places" for children, to be a bit frank. However, the science of education has an important role from an early age. In order for all children to have the possibility to participate I want to institute cost-free daycare. The Swedish speaking social democrats in Finland have promoted this issue in several municipalities.

I want to see a country where children also in the future are given equal possibilities to fulfill their goals. A cost-free daycare from the age of three needs to be a foundation for the learning path in the future.

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Teaching at alla stages will take place in healthy school buildings. We cannot risk lifelong health problems because of postponed renovations of schools with poor indoor air quality.

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By extending the compulsory education we can make second stage eduction cost-free. It is not reasonable that 15-year-olds have to stop their education because they cannot afford the books and tools needed in the second stage.

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Vocational education, that has been hit by large cutbacks in recent years, must be given more resources. Learning at workplaces can work well in some cases, but it must not jeopardize teaching in the classroom in certain subjects. Learning at the workplace also puts great demands on personal guidance. 

The successful Nordic model is based on agreements between the parties on the labour market. It has created a safe and secure labour market. The model demands trust between the parties, but unfortunately the current government has chipped away at the edge of this trust, since the government has worsened the conditions for the workers and broken its promises. 

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With common rules companies can compete under similar conditions. We shouldn't see low salary countries with weak labour rights advocacy and large class differences as our role models. We will be their role models. 

 

Improving wellbeing in working life is crucial for improving our competitiveness. In successful companies employees are seen as an asset – not a burden. 

 

Since working life is under constant change more people need to re-educate themselves. We need to improve the terms for continuous training in working life and the opportunity to re-educate in the case of unemployment.