Archive

Helsinki (03.03.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) By now, most of the industry sectors have agreed upon new collective agreements. For example, the Industrial Union announced on 24 February that they have reached a resolution in negotiations for all of their collective agreements in the technology sector.

Trade Union Pro has also made new progress in collective bargaining, being able to close some deals and move forward in other negotiations. The employers are finally ready to negotiate and strike a deal with Pro, after a long period of reluctance to do so.

Signs of an end to the deadlock in the private services sector are also apparent after Service Union United PAM reached major agreements for the retail trade and facilities services. However, PAM still has many agreements to negotiate.

Helsinki (25.02.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) Unpaid work will now end in the mechanical forestry industry also, the Industrial Union says. The new collective agreement for sawmills and plywood factories drops the notorious 24 annual unpaid working hours, which was effectively steamrolled into collective agreements in 2016 by Finland's then right-wing Government.

The Industrial Union agreed on 23 February to the proposal made by the National Conciliator. The employers accepted it, too.

The agreement follows the general line of this negotiation round: a 3.3 per cent pay rise with a 25 months agreement. And the unpaid hours are gone.

Helsinki (19.02.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) The press journalists' new collective agreement follows the general line of pay rises and ditching of the 24 unpaid extra working hours included in the old agreement.

On 19 February, the Council of the Union of Journalists in Finland UJF unanimously approved the settlement reached in negotiations with the employers' Finnish Media Federation. They had already signalled acceptance of the deal some days earlier.

The issues at hand were similar to the other negotiations: pay rise level, what to do about the 24 annual extra unpaid working hours appended to the collective agreements under strong political pressure in 2016 by the then right-wing government, and other questions concerning working time.

Helsinki (17.02.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) Just a day before a strike was due to start in the facilities services, the Service Union United PAM reached agreement on a new collective agreement in the sector on 17 February.

The new 25 months agreement will increase pay by 2.0 per cent from 1 April 2020 and a further 1.3 per cent from 1 April 2021. The troublesome 24 annual extra unpaid working hours - added to the agreement in 2016 as a part of the national competitiveness pact - will disappear at the end of this year.

The employers were successful regarding some questions concerning more flexibility in setting working hours. Details of the deal will be published within a few days.

Helsinki (11.02.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) Three major collective agreement conflicts have ended in agreement. Now there are collective agreements in the chemical and paper industry and for white-collar employees in the technology industry. The pay rise approximates 3.3 per cent generally and with 25 month agreements.

A new collective agreement for the chemical basic industry and oil, gas and petrochemical products industry and plastic and chemical product industry was agreed on 6 February. A strike was scheduled to begin only some days later.

The agreement is valid until the end of 2021 and will raise salaries by 3.3 per cent.

"The pay rise follows the general line in the export industry and the unpaid 24 hour extra annual working time will be deleted completely in the agreement", says Toni Laiho, Sector Director at the Industrial Union.

Helsinki (31.01.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) The long and complicated electricians strike took a step towards a solution. The Board of the Finnish Electrical Workers' Union accepted on 30 January company level agreements with Konecranes and Valmet Automotive.

The electricians strike began on 5 December and has continued ever since. Industrial action is still ongoing at seven companies, like the Meyer dockyard, the Boliden zink factory, SSAB steel factories and the Outokumpu steel factory.

The core issue is union member’s right to their own shop steward. In 2017, the Industrial Union and Technology Industries included the industry electricians terms of work in their collective agreement. The Finnish Electrical Workers' Union then lost  their own collective agreement in respect of some one thousand union members in the industry.

Helsinki (26.01.2020 – Heikki Jokinen) A new series of industrial action is set to begin from Monday 27 January onwards. The Industrial Union and Trade Union Pro have announced strikes in the mechanical forestry industry and energy sector. The paper industry is also heading towards a strike.

The strike in the chemical industry is, however, to be delayed. The Minister of Employment, Social Democrat Tuula Haatainen used her prerogative, under law, to delay the strike – set to begin on Monday 27 January – by two weeks. According to Minister Haatainen the strike could affect critical functions as it would close the Neste oil refinery. This could lead to serious disturbances in transport.

Minister Haatainen also used her prerogative to delay, by two weeks, the Trade Union Pro strike in respect of clerical employees in the technology sector.

Helsinki (10.01.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) The PM Sipilä right-wing Government drastic actions in the labour market some years ago casts a long and dark shadow today over this year’s collective bargaining round.

In 2016, the Government forced almost all trade unions to accept 24 unpaid annual extra working hours in their collective agreements. The alternative would have been harsh punishments in labour legislation cutting the rights and benefits of wage and salary earners.

At the same time unions were forced to accept a transfer of some labour social costs from companies to employees. According to calculations by the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK this shift will benefit employers in 2017 - 2020 to the tune of 6.577 billion euro.

Helsinki (06.01.2020 – Heikki Jokinen) After several months of negotiations the new collective agreement for the technology industry was accepted on Saturday 4 January. It will bring a 3.3 per cent pay increase and the agreement is for 25 months.

The agreement covers some 93,000 employees and is considered important in paving the way for other collective agreements. Negotiations in almost all other sectors have been halted as the parties involved have been waiting to see what the pay rise in the export industry would be.

Riku Aalto, President of the Industrial Union views the disappearance of the 24 unpaid annual extra working hours as being the most important element in the new agreement. This punitive measure was agreed in 2016 under heavy pressure from the right-wing Government of PM Sipilä.

Helsinki (18.12.2019 - Heikki Jokinen) The long struggle concerning terms of work in the City of Turku owned food and janitorial services company Arkea were finally resolved at the beginning of December.

The company decided to return to their earlier collective agreement after a failed attempt to move one thousand employees to other agreements with major cuts in salaries and holidays.

JHL, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors hailed this as a victory. "The result is a clear victory for the Union. This was exactly the agreement we had put forward and offered in the first round of negotiations",says Maaret Laakso, Varsinais-Suomi Regional Chief of JHL to the Union magazine Motiivi.