The Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK reached the milestone of 85,000 members on 18 September 2025. From here, the next goal is 100,000 members.
The government is trying to hinder this progress by removing the tax deduction for union membership fees.
This doesn’t worry us too much, because TEK is developing its already strong range of services to a level where members want to belong to the union even without the tax benefit.
What does concern us, however, are cuts to education and research. That’s extremely short-sighted. How else can Finland succeed if not through expertise? TEK is a strong advocate for continued investment in education and research, and we aim to influence this in every way we can.
In my previous column, I reflected on how we can compete in global markets. I gave an example of our president Alexander Stubb’s actions, and I can’t resist praising him again. He secured orders for 4+7 icebreakers from the United States to Finland.
American news outlets even call him the “Trump whisperer.”
In this very turbulent global situation, our president’s actions are of immeasurable value.
So let’s take inspiration from his example and boldly go global—let’s be bigger than our size.
Wishing you courage and confidence for the rest of 2025!
This article was previously published as a column in TEK Magazine issue 5/2025.