Finland

Latest figures for average pay across Finnish industry show women earning €12.61 an hour and that is 85% of men’s average earnings of €14.86 an hour. The figures for energy supply are nearly identical with men’s average earnings in the sector also at €14.86 while women’s average earnings are €12.62 an hour, just one € cent more than the overall average for women workers. Read more at > Union News (EN)

JHL the main public sector union has joined with three other trade unions in attacking employers who use outsourcing to get workers transferred to different and inferior collective agreements. The union says that municipal employers and hospitals are guilty of this practice and the consequences are that workers often lose out in terms of both pay and levels of annual leave. Read more at > SAK (EN)

Our collective bargaining contact in TEHY, the nurses’ and healthcare professionals’ union sent us this report: The Executive Council of TEHY - unanimously approved a negotiated pay deal on Monday the 19 November. The agreement was reached late on Sunday 18 November by a mediation board in which both negotiation parties - the employer and TEHY were represented. Also the employer, The Commission for Local Authority Employers (KT) has approved the contract. This averted the industrial action in which about 12,000 nurses and other health care professionals threatened to start a nationwide mass resignation campaign. In October TEHY gave the employer notice of the resignation of over 12,000 nurses - due to take effect on 20 November 20 - in protest over the low salaries of nurses and other health care personnel. The four-year contract gives TEHY’s members pay increases of 22%-28% over the next four years. Job related pay will be increased between €350-€650 per month. Members will also get a lump sum of €270 in December, a-so-called Christmas bonus. The agreement and the pay increases apply only to Tehy’s members and it is separate from the municipal collective labour agreement. The separate agreement means TEHY will have its own shop stewards and negotiation practices at local level. A supplementary protocol declares the resignation of over 12,000 TEHY’s members cancelled.

JHL the biggest public service union reports that collective agreements in the state sector and private social services sector have been concluded. State sector workers will get an 11.7% increase over two years, this is ahead of general pay rises and in line with JHL’s strategy to close the gap between private and public sector pay. The two-year pay increases in private social services will be between 10.2% and 13.1% depending on the occupation. This deal is in line with the recent agreement in the municipal sector and also includes an equality allowance as a measure to reduce the gender pay gap. Read more at > JHL (EN)

The TEHY nurses’ union has reaffirmed its determination to campaign for pay increases for nurses that are higher than those agreed in the recent municipal sector bargaining. The union is backing a mass resignation of nurses on 19 November and has stated that it will be paying nurses €60 a day following their resignation. Read more at > YLE news site (EN)

The TEHY nurses’ union is continuing to build support for the planned mass resignation of nurses on 19 November. So far 13,000 nurses have committed themselves to the protest action, part of TEHY’s campaign to secure a higher pay offer from the municipal employers. Read more at > YLE news (EN)

Many nurses in the TEHY trade union are already taking industrial action by banning overtime but if they don’t get a response to their pay demands by 19 November thousands are threatening to resign. The nurses are covered by the municipal government collective bargaining arrangements and the other unions involved backed a new collective agreement two weeks ago. However, TEHY is demanding higher pay increases for nurses that the 11% agreed by the other unions. Read more at > YLE new (EN)

Workers in the central state sector have backed a new collective agreement that runs until the end of January 2010. The agreement will include three pay increases over the period of 3.5%, 2.5% and 2.0%. Read more at >YLE news (EN)

A new 28-month collective agreement for the municipal sector has been signed by all unions apart from the TEHY health and social care union. The agreement runs from 1 October 2007 to 31 January 2010 and will mean pay increases of 11% for most workers, including a 2% equality allowance for women in women-dominated professions such as care, social welfare and nurseries. Nursing staff have been offered 13% over the same period. All municipal workers will get a €270 lump sum in December. TEHY is planning to present new proposals to the employers shortly. Read more at > SAK (EN) And at > YLE news (EN)

The three main trade unions in the municipal sector have agreed common demands in the current pay round and are looking for a two-and-a-half year agreement with significant increases in pay but allowing for more agreements at local level. The overall pay demand for the 30-month agreement is around 9%. JHL, the biggest union, has also put forward a number of qualitative demands. It wants changes to the way the local government workforce is used and making the prerequisites for local agreement more equal between employees and employers. This involves issues such as providing measures to eliminate unjustified fixed-term employment relationships, improving the status of shop stewards and occupational safety delegates, and strengthening the regulations on negotiation procedures when making local agreements. Read more at > JHL (EN) And at > Newsroom Finland (EN)

Trade union news reports the latest figures for minimum wages across Finland. These are the minimum rates set in sectoral agreements. In the municipal sector the minimum is €8.19 while in health and social services it is €9.00. This compares to rates in other sectors such as €7.45 in the electronics industry. Workers not covered by collective agreements are given some protection through legislation and an effective minimum wage of €6.00. The next bargaining round will get underway with soon with the national agreement and most sectoral agreements running out on 30 September 2007. Unions are expected to submit claims aimed at improving wages for the lowest paid. Read more at > Trade Union News

A survey by the JHL public sector trade union found that most people thought that public sector workers in a range of low-paid occupations were underpaid. The 10 occupations used in the survey were mainly those where the majority of workers are women and the survey supported an average pay rise of €217 for these workers. Actual figures for basic pay and average pay for these workers revealed that most relied on large amounts of additional pay to supplement basic pay, with additional pay the equivalent of 30% of basic pay in the case of nurses. Read more at > Trade Union News (EN)

The Electrical Workers Union has ensured that Polish electricians working for the MSB company are paid according to the Finnish collective agreement and given their back pay following a picket of the company. The Poles were being paid around a third of the amount due to them under the agreement. Read more at > Finnish Labour News (EN)

A survey of working conditions in Finland by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions reveals that conditions are toughest in the local government sector. It showed the highest level of workers regarding their job as mentally (71%) or physically demanding (47%) compared to the overall figures of 58% and 38%. Municipal workers were also the most likely to have been subject to violence or the threat of violence over the previous 12 months (23% several times and 11% at least once) compared to the overall figures of 10% and 8%. Read more at > European Foundation (EN)

Doctors and teachers in Finland benefit from special pay rates to attract them to areas in the north of the country as a way of tackling labour shortages. The survey by the official Finnish statistics agency found that teachers can get 15% more in the north than in the south while doctors’ salaries can vary by as much as €800 a month between north and south. Read more at > YLE news website (EN)

A survey of highly trained professions by the AKAVA union federation found that many workers in culture, education, research and welfare are underpaid in comparison to jobs demanding similar qualifications in other sectors. The survey investigated 100 professions over a period of 10 years and found women were more likely to work in underpaid jobs such as librarian and day centre teachers. Read more at > the YLE news website (EN)

Temporary jobs in health and social services are increasingly being filled by pensioners with the percentage set to rise from 10% to 15% this summer. The TEHY union which organises health workers is not so concerned about the numbers of pensioners taking up these posts but would prefer to see them taking up more permanent positions. Read more at > the YLE news agency (EN)

Prison guards and other personnel took three hours of strike action on 18 May in protest at government plans to cut personnel by over 10%. They are particularly concerned about the health and safety implications of the job cuts.

The two-and-a-half-year national pay agreement signed at the end of 2004 includes a provision for pay increases in 2006 to benefit the low paid and women workers in particular. On average rises for all workers should work out at 2.5% in 2005 and 2.1% in 2006. But higher increases for the low paid in 2005 and the 0.3% equality supplement for 2006 mean that over the course of the agreement workers in the cleaning sector, for example, should see pay rise by 5.1% while increases in the technology sector will be around 4.5%. EIRO also reports that around two-thirds of public sector workers are now covered by gender equality plans which are a requirement of legislation introduced in June 2005. Read more at > EIRO

Following pressure from trade unions the government is committed to introducing legislation that will require employers to check certain details of any new sub-contractors or employment agencies they use. This is to confirm that they are registered in Finland for tax purposes and that they comply with other areas of legislation such as employment law. The principal company will be able to demand information about collective agreements and the pay and conditions of the employees of the sub-contractor. Read more at > SAK

A strike by bus and lorry drivers was ended earlier this month with a new agreement which will see pay increase by 6% over two years. The agreement runs until January 2008 and covers around 30,000 workers including those employed by SITA the waste disposal contractor. A key element of the strike was union opposition to employers using more part-time drivers. Read more at > Finnish news agency

In the light of the Vaxholm case in Sweden read more at > EPSU, the Finnish president has confirmed her support for the maintenance of an industrial relations system based on collective agreements. This comes shortly after an important court victory for the Finnish transport union, FSU, when a London court confirmed their right to take strike action to defend their pay and conditions. The union had taken action in protest at plans by the Viking Line shipping company to reflag its ferry Rosella to Estonia so it could employ an Estonian crew on much lower pay. The company had one an initial court case on the grounds of European law allowing for the free movement of goods and services but this judgement was overturned in London. Read more at > Finnish news site Read more at > ITF

Over half of state employees are now covered by pay systems where up to a third of pay is related to individual competence according to the EIRO industrial relations observatory. There are some concerns that the spread of the system, agreed by the social partners some time ago but only now being extended throughout the sector, will increase the gap between the low and high paid. Read more at > EIRO

The EIRO industrial relations observatory reports that the border guards’ dispute was resolved with a pay offer worth 6.1% over two years. However, as part of the deal guards will be covered by a new pay structure based more on individual workloads and performance. Read more at > EIRO

Unions have expressed their concern at the level of fixed-term in employment in the public sector in Finland which at 24.2% is higher than the private sector at 12.7%. Overall Finland has the fourth highest rate of fixed-term employment in the European Union. Public sector trade unions are particularly worried about the fact that fixed-term employment affects more women than men in the public sector and is an obstacle to closing the gender pay gap. Read more at > EIRO

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