The SASK delegation visiting Latin America included SASK’s Executive Director Juska Kivioja, Financial Director Ville Hirsikangas, and Susanna Haapalainen, Special Advisor for International Affairs at JHL (Finland's largest trade union representing public service workers) and a member of the SASK board. This international project supports unions in the health sector in Colombia and Brazil to promote public health as a human right, advance workers' rights, collective bargaining, and gender equality in safe and harassment-free environments. 

The meeting agenda in São Paulo focused on analyzing the Brazilian political context and its implications for health workers. During the meeting, representatives of PSI affiliates in Brazil—Luba Melo, Vice-President of the São Paulo Municipal Workers’ Union; Solange Caetano, President of the National Federation of Nurses; and Renata Scaquetti, Women’s Secretary of the São Paulo State Health Workers’ Union—shared their analyses of national health policies and how these have affected the rights of health workers at the local, regional, and national levels. They also shared details of how this joint project has strengthened their unions and increased capacities. 

One of the topics discussed was the migration of nurses from Brazil to European countries. Finland is facing a shortage of health and care professionals and has become a destination for Brazilian health workers. Finnish trade unions representing public and private sector workers have jointly developed a guide and organized events with government representatives to develop a joint plan to guarantee that these workers’ rights are respected in Finland. 

At the conclusion of the meeting in São Paulo which also reviewed the outcomes of project activities implemented in 2024 and established an action plan for 2025, Executive Director Juska Kivioja expressed her gratitude and reaffirmed the shared commitment of PSI and SASK to strengthening public services, improving working conditions, and defending human rights in Latin America through international solidarity. 

In Bogota, the day-long meeting started with a context-setting session with the participation of the vice minister for health and social protection, Luis Martinez Saldarriaga, and the adviser to the director of the social welfare department, Francisco Maltes Tello. They updated participants on the potential next steps on the proposed popular referendum on labour issues that was archived the previous day by the senate, in addition to the current debates on the health system reform that has been a key agenda of health workers since it was tabled two years ago. Presidents of the participating unions are Nancy Wilches (SINALTRAESES), Fabio Melo (SINDISTRITALES), Claudia Quiñones (SINTRASANIGNACIO), and Agustin Amaris (SINTRAHOSKEN). 

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has worked to overcome the resistance of opposition parties in congress to the social reforms' agenda of the government. The reforms enjoy broad union support, including from PSI affiliates. The Petro government is organizing a popular referendum with a focus on reforms to the labour code as a strategy to increase the political momentum for progressive change. This referendum was identified as a priority for collective action by all PSI affiliates in Colombia, including those from the health sector. Unions will be gathering on Monday, 19 May, to consider the next steps in this important agenda. 

As part of the context-setting session, SASK Executive Director Juska Kivioja discussed the political context in Finland, where the right is threatening the social security and public services through budget cuts. She thanked PSI affiliates for the solidarity letters they had sent the previous year and reported that Finnish unions brought these letters directly to the government. 

Participants exchanged analysis on the health systems of Colombia and Finland, where participants from both countries considered the particularities and similarities of their systems. Colombian unions highlighted the importance of understanding a unified health system, such as that of Finland, in their current struggle to reform the health system of Colombia. The Global Forum on Migration and Development, to be held in Ríohacha, Colombia, in September 2025, was also discussed with an intention to develop a joint strategy that can bring the issues of health workers’ migration into the debate. 

The final session of this encounter reviewed the results of the project and the strategic priorities for 2025 and beyond. The representatives from the four Colombian unions, SINALTRAESES, SINDISTRITALES, SINTRAHOSKEN and SINTRASANIGNACIO highlighted the unity between unions that the project facilitated, which also enabled a broader consensus building process amongst health workers union at a time were the importance of a united voice at a crucial political moment, which also created conditions for unity at the level of collective bargaining. Finally, the importance of international solidarity was highlighted, including an international delegation that met with Colombian elected representatives to discuss the health reform and the formation of the Regional Federation of health workers’ unions in Inter-America.