---
title: "The construction union is after the entrepreneurs | Katariina Komulainen, Tia Kiiskinen | Negotiator 206"
titleOriginal: "Rakennusliitto yrittäjien kimpussa | Katariina Komulainen Tia Kiiskinen | Neuvottelija 206"
episodeNumber: "206"
guest: "Katariina Komulainen, Tia Kiiskinen"
datePublished: 2023-08-09
duration: "46:42"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o"
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["finnish_economy_policy","leadership_governance"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page assembled from YouTube metadata, the neuvottelija.fi episode record and the publisher's own chapter marks, translated one for one; their spacing is irregular and matches the recording. No transcript is published here — the channel has no English caption track for this episode and the Finnish one is YouTube's automatic track. Both guests run businesses that sell services to the self-employed people the episode is about, and the trade union whose actions are criticised is not represented; the long-form write-up in the Neuvottelija AI editions states both."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/467-rakennusliitto-yrittajien-kimpussa-katariina-komulainen-tia"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep206-rakennusliitto-yrittajien-kimpussa-komulainen-kiiskinen/
---
# The construction union is after the entrepreneurs | Katariina Komulainen, Tia Kiiskinen | Negotiator 206

English subtitles are not available on this page. This is an episode summary, not a curated transcript.

## Chapters

- [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=0s) The guests: Katariina Komulainen and Tia Kiiskinen
- [00:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=41s) Serial entrepreneur backgrounds from Saudi Arabia to the Baltics
- [01:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=76s) Being a woman in construction
- [03:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=193s) New construction has halved and layoffs have begun
- [04:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=261s) Construction firms going bankrupt as in the 1990s
- [05:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=334s) A Yle story about Ukrainians, and pressure from the union
- [06:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=363s) Light entrepreneurs removed from sites in June
- [08:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=503s) The tax wedge, the pension wedge and free will
- [08:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=539s) Why would a Ukrainian pay into a Finnish pension
- [10:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=643s) Four models: light entrepreneur, sole trader, co-operative, limited company
- [12:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=749s) What Euro Work does as a co-operative
- [13:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=838s) A union leader's tweet about foreign entrepreneurs
- [16:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=975s) An Estonian is acceptable, an Uzbek is not
- [17:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1068s) Who counts as an entrepreneur in YEL's eyes
- [19:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1199s) 93 per cent of entrepreneurs are micro-entrepreneurs
- [20:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1229s) Kiiskinen's column on discrimination against entrepreneurs
- [22:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1331s) The unions shake the ground because the work is running out
- [23:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1425s) A holding company and the hybrid model
- [24:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1483s) School teaches paid work, not entrepreneurship
- [25:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1536s) A business ID for every Finn
- [26:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1600s) YEL felt like an ineffective system
- [28:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1712s) How many unemployed entrepreneurs do you know
- [30:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=1847s) An example: a facade renovation by a co-operative entrepreneur
- [33:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2017s) The co-operative through left-wing eyes
- [35:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2131s) The new government and the YEL reform
- [36:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2169s) The YEL fund is 400 million in deficit
- [38:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2294s) A thousand a month for forty years: YEL or investment
- [40:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2436s) The English model: pension saving without the tax wedge
- [42:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2532s) Frightening people about entrepreneurship in both directions
- [43:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2608s) Does Finland hate entrepreneurs
- [44:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2654s) A recession is an opportunity for small entrepreneurs
- [46:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o&t=2785s) Closing words

## Summary

Katariina Komulainen of Euro Work and Tia Kiiskinen of Yrittäjän Tili ja Laki join Sami Miettinen. The episode is about what happened on Finnish building sites in June 2023, when people working through invoicing services were removed from the sites — and why traditional sole traders went out with them. It sets out the four forms of self-employment, the motive behind the YEL pension reform and the co-operative model, and the numbers underneath: 93 per cent of Finnish entrepreneurs are micro-entrepreneurs, and the YEL fund was 400 million in deficit. Both guests sell services to the people affected.

## What happened, and why it was not simple

In June 2023 people working through invoicing services were removed from Finnish building
sites — and traditional sole traders went out with them. The episode's useful contribution
is separating the four forms of self-employment, because they behave completely
differently in law and the removals treated them as one thing.

## The numbers underneath

Ninety-three per cent of Finnish entrepreneurs are micro-entrepreneurs, and the YEL
pension fund was 400 million euros in deficit. Those two figures constrain every reform
proposal in the episode, including the guests' own.

## Whose account this is

Both guests sell services to the group being discussed, and the union whose actions are
criticised is not in the room.


## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Rakennusliitto yrittäjien kimpussa | Katariina Komulainen Tia Kiiskinen | Neuvottelija 206](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4hnBSzn9o).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/467-rakennusliitto-yrittajien-kimpussa-katariina-komulainen-tia).

## In depth

The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode:
[English](https://www.neuvottelija.com/ai/ep206-rakennusliitto-yrittajien-kimpussa-komulainen-kiiskinen/) · [suomeksi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/economy/ep206-rakennusliitto-yrittajien-kimpussa-komulainen-kiiskinen/).

---

Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — The construction union is after the entrepreneurs | Katariina Komulainen, Tia Kiiskinen | Negotiator 206, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep206-rakennusliitto-yrittajien-kimpussa-komulainen-kiiskinen/, 2023-08-09. For quotes include episode 206 and timestamp.