Helsinki (26.11.2017 - Heikki Jokinen) Trade Union Pro has reached an agreement for clerical employees in the ICT-sector just before a strike planned to begin on Monday 27 November. The deal covers 12,000 employees working in the Information and Communication Technology sector.
The main reason for the dispute was the use of temporary rental labour.
Pro President Jorma Malinen says that rental labour is now used to replace staff and this is totally unacceptable. According to the collective agreement rental labour can only be used temporarily when there is a special need, Malinen makes clear.
"Within the branch there are more than one thousand rental labourers and at least one half of these have been working for more than two years. In no way can this be considered as temporary."
Trade Union Pro and the employers' association Palta both accepted the proposal presented by the National Conciliator Minna Helle. And it has been agreed that this will last for a period of 27 months.
"The pay settlement proposed is in line with other collective agreements settled so far at sectoral level", Minna Helle says. This refers to the 3.2 per cent pay rise set for the next two years in the collective agreement of technology industries by the Finnish Industrial Union.
The Pro press release says the new agreement "solves the problems of the ICT branch only satisfactorily", not well, that is. But it "includes elements to look for solutions for the long-time disputes of the use of external labour in the branch".
Trade Union Pro has 115,000 members and is the largest private sector union for clerical employees and the largest member union of the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK.
In the middle of November the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland reached a deal for 3,000 senior salaried employees in the ICT branch. They will get a 3.2 per cent pay rise as part of a two year agreement.