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Public broadcaster Yle has wrapped up restructuring negotiations, the most extensive in its nearly 100-year history.
The company’s staffing will decrease by 309 out of a current total of about 3,000.
This includes 156 redundancies. Another 153 positions will be eliminated through retirements and other personnel changes. Older employees were offered retirement incentives during the negotiations.
The redundancy talks involved 1,798 employees with permanent contracts.
The redundancies include 76 people in news and sports, 33 from Creative Content, 10 from Yle's Swedish-language services and 37 from other company functions. News and sports include regional programming. Creative content includes documentaries, radio programmes and music offerings.
Last autumn, company executives said that the negotiations could lead to up to 375 employees being made redundant. That followed a long-delayed compromise decision in September by an all-party parliamentary working group.
The two main government parties, the National Coalition and the Finns Party, had aimed to cut Yle's annual funding by more than a 100 million euros. Instead, the state-owned firm’s budget in 2027 will be around 66 million euros smaller than it would have been otherwise.
"The atmosphere on a day like this is of course gloomy, even though we knew the amount of cost-cutting required by the parliamentary working group. The number of redundancies was reduced during the negotiations, but these are still really unfortunate decisions and we aim to support our staff in this change," CEO Merja Ylä-Anttila said in a press release. She took the helm at the company in 2018, becoming its first woman CEO since 1949.
Union worried about regional representation
The Union of Journalists in Finland expressed concern about the impact of the cuts on Finnish democracy, noting that these are the largest job reductions ever in the domestic media industry.
"Such a huge reduction in employees significantly weakens Finns' opportunities to access information. I am particularly concerned about how the voice of the provinces and regions is being reduced within Yle," Petri Savolainen, the union’s advocacy director, said in a statement on Friday afternoon.
Biggest cuts in Yle's century-long history
The funding cuts led to the most extensive labour negotiations in the history of the Finnish media sector. The company marks its 100th anniversary next year.
Yle's funding will be cut by freezing index increases to its budget and by raising the rate of VAT it pays.
The index for Yle has been frozen for the next three years, through 2027, translating into a revenue reduction of 47 million euros.
Starting in 2026, Yle will begin paying 14 percent VAT rather than the current 10 percent. That will have a projected annual budget impact of approximately 19 million euros.
This means that in 2027 the impact of savings measures will add up to some 66 million euros.
Yle employs approximately 3,000 people, most of them journalists and other creators of journalistic content. The company also employs temporary workers and freelancers.
1.04 pm: Added union reaction, details of redundancies.