The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest

employers' association An employers' organization or employers' association is a collective organization of manufacturers, retailers, or other employers of wage labor. Employers' organizations seek to coordinate the behavior of their member companies in matters of mutual ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It was formed at the beginning of 2005 when the two employers' associations ''Palvelutyönantajat'' (Employers of the Service Sector) and ''Teollisuuden ja Työnantajain Keskusliitto'' (Union of Industries and Employers) merged. EK's member companies collectively contribute over 70% of Finland's GDP, and over 95% of Finland's exports. It has considerable negotiating power, since Finland has

universal validity of collective labour agreements A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

, and often a

national income policy agreement Finnish national income policy agreements or comprehensive income policy agreements (, often called ''tupo''; ) are tripartite agreements between Finnish trade unions, employers' organizations, and the Finnish government. They are policy document ...

is reached. EK focuses its activity on the following goals: * A business environment which stimulates growth and success for companies * Securing the competitiveness of Finnish work * Ways to benefit from the opportunities offered by globalisation * Economic policies promoting competitiveness * Efficient member services The organisation consists of: * 43 branch associations * About 15,000 member companies, 96% of which are

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

(SMEs) * About 900,000 employees

External links

The Confederation of Finnish Industries Official site
Economy of Finland 2005 establishments in Finland Organizations established in 2005 Business organisations based in Finland {{business-org-stub