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Helsinki (06.08.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) Talks surrounding the so called social contract promoted by the Sipilä Government begin to take shape. The Government has invited labour market organisations to agree on what kind of measures are needed to boost the Finnish economy and how to reach these goals, giving them until August 21 to come up with a plan.

The social contract idea has not worked according to plan so far. The Government Programme set a target to improve Finnish economic competitiveness by reducing unit labour costs by at least five per cent. The contract should show the way how.

However, previous attempts to reach a labour accord failed. The Government adopted more or less fully the employers’ shopping list for labour market measures. This included an idea to make Finns work two and half weeks more in a year without any pay increase.

The initiative says that current Finnish legislation allows municipalities to limit institutional care and replace it with home care. This results not only in problems with the level of care but also higher costs for the older people themselves.

Helsinki (30.07.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) CEO incomes of the major listed companies have reached their highest levels in the last ten years. These top incomes rose by 8.3 per cent in a year. At the same time the income of those Finns working full time rose by 1.5 per cent.

The figures are from a report carried out by the leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. It has been tracking the top CEOs incomes of the same 43 listed companies for ten years now.

The salary and bonuses of the major company CEOs was last year 79 000 euro more than a year before. This amount is almost double the average full time salary in Finland, 41 350 euro.

Helsinki (02.07.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) The new Government Programme of Prime Minister Sipilä goes against the Finnish Constitution when it comes to labour rights, says a professor of labour law.

Jaana Paanetoja, Professor of Labour Law at Rovaniemi University, writes that the Government Programme shows a a meagre knowledge of the labour legislation.

According to the Programme ”the objective is that companies will be able more widely than at present to agree locally on ... terms of employment such as pay, working hours, conditions for terminating employment, use of a working time bank, reduction of sick leave, and issues affecting wellbeing at work.”

The Government Programme includes several unclear bits, Paanetoja says. Issues like reduction of sick leave has nothing to do with terms of employment, for example.

JHL (01.07.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) Negotiations on collective agreements in the Municipal and Central Government sector ended well. The proposals were accepted both by JHL and the Employers' Unions.

On June 15 the Trade Union Confederations agreed to extend the 2013 national agreement on pay for another year, and settled also to keep the latest pay rises at a very low level so as to boost the ailing Finnish economy. Individual trade unions now have a job before them to put the national agreement into effect in their own collective agreements.

JHL has now managed to coalesce its five collective agreements in the municipal sector. Around 429 000 people are affected by these agreements. The municipal sector employs one fifth of all wage and salary earners in Finland. The total amount of salaries and social security costs in this sector comes to 21.2 billion euro.

The agreement will raise pay by 16 euro a month and at least by 0.43 per cent. This means that incomes of under 3 720 euro a month will get a flat rise of 16 euro and higher salaries will see an increase of 0.43 per cent.

JHL’s goal in these negotiations is to see that pay rates should be clearly established in the municipal and state sectors until the end of June. Other negotiations will be held according to varying schedules, as agreed between the negotiating parties. In some sectors there is already an understanding that negotiations will be held later on in the summer or in the autumn.

Helsinki (25.06.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) The Helsinki Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called collective agreement which was concocted by employers for those employed distributing unaddressed mail and free-sheet newspapers is not legally valid.

The case is unique in Finland. From the end of 2009 there has been a collective agreement in place of a generally binding character in this field of work. Employers were unhappy with it and decided to set up their own ‘trade union’ Suomen Mainosjakajien Etujärjestö SME.

The new organisation was not doing anything bona fide trade unions do. It has no office, no staff, no unemployment fund and no shop stewards. It has no activities other than agreeing on terms of work with employers.

Helsinki (16.06.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) The Trade Union Confederations accept a negotiated continuation of the national pact for employment and growth. This was initially settled in October 2013 for a two-year period with an optional third year. Now this option has been agreed upon.

Basically, the agreement will raise pay by 16 euro a month but at least by 0.43 per cent. This means that incomes of under 3 720 euro a month will get a flat rise of 16 euro and higher salaries will see an increase of 0.43 per cent.

The unemployment insurance contribution will go up by 0.5 percentage points for both employees and employers. This contribution covers a part of unemployment benefits.

All three Trade Union Confederations Akava, SAK and STTK accept the negotiated proposal.

Helsinki (12.06.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) Discussion on the so-called social contract is becoming ever more heated in Finland. The new right wing Government wants to squeeze an agreement out of the labour market organisations before the end of August this year. The Trade Union Confederations wish to delay the deadline for a conclusion to these negotiations to the autumn of 2016.

The trade union movement has stated very clearly that they will first negotiate on the optional third year of the national pact for employment and growth. This centralised agreement sets pay rises to an almost zero level in order to help the Finnish economy.

Helsinki (29.05.2015 - Heikki Jokinen) The idea for a labour market social contract is back. Earlier in May PM Juha Sipilä presented his ideas to the labour market organisations on extending Finnish working hours and other changes to the terms of employment. The negotiations fizzled out.

Now Finland's new government has taken a different tack. If the labour market organisations do not accept the list of measures proposed by the government, extra budgetary cuts will be imposed, along with further tax levies, totalling 1.4 billion euros altogether. But if the government list of measures is adopted there will be a ‘sweetener’, a one billion euro cut in taxes.

The Government Programme promises to present an exact list of proposals before the end of July and the labour market organisations will be obliged to commit broadly to the agreement before the end of August.