Local government, Economic Policy, Finland

JHL, Jyty and other unions have negotiated pay increases for employees of companies covered by the Avaintes employers’ organisation. This includes (joint) municipal companies and private companies providing services to municipalities. The pay increases also apply to the Seuretes staff supply company and cover the third year of the collective agreement which runs until the end of April 2025. There will be a general increase of 3.1% as of 1 May 2024 and from 1 February 2024, a previously agreed general increase of 0.3% will also be paid. As of 1 October 2024 there will be a further 0.3% increase

The JHL public service union is organising a series of one-day political strikes as part of the continuing campaign by the trade union movement in protest against government policy. The unions are challenging government proposals on changes to welfare and employment rights and threats to weaken the right to strike and impose restrictions on pay bargaining. The strikes will hit different regions over the three-day period 7-9 November. A range of services will be affected including sports facilities, waste services, laundry and catering services, public transport and energy. So far the

Trade unions and their confederations continue to raise concerns about the government’s proposals that will impact trade union rights, employment conditions and the welfare state. Members of the SAK confederation has been involved in a series of events, protests and work stoppages since September and more are planned for November. The STTK confederation is mobilising for a major demonstration on 18 November while the AKAVA confederation is focused on getting the government around the negotiating table.

JHL, JYTY and other trade unions have negotiated an agreement on pay with the Avainta employers’ organisation that covers both municipal companies and private companies providing services to municipalities. The changes to pay reflect what was negotiated last year when it was agreed that pay rises in 2023 would be linked to developments in the technology and chemical industry sectors. The outcome is that there will be a general increase of 2.2% on 1 June and a further 0.4% distributed on a local basis. There will also be a one-off payment of €500 by the end of August 2023 for full-time staff

The JHL, JYTY, SuPer and TEHY have negotiated new two-year agreements on pay covering workers in municipalities and health and welfare services. The agreements include both general and local elements to the pay increases. For municipal workers the combined increases will mean rises of 4.1% in 2023 (plus a €467 lump sum) and 4.0% in 2024. There will be higher increases for health workers who are set to benefit from various elements that go towards a 6.7% increase in 2023 (plus a €467 lump sum) and 6.5% in 2024. Meanwhile, negotiations involving JHL and JYTY will mean that church employees will

The collective agreement covering the municipal sector has now been finalised and runs from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2025. EPSU affiliates JHL and Jyty report that salaries will increase this month by €46 per month for those on less than €2300 a month and by 2% for salaries above this amount. Allowances will also increase by 2%. A pot of 0.5% will be distributed in October depending on negotiations in September. If the negotiations don’t produce a result the 0.5% will be a general increase for all. Next year and in 2024 wages will increase by at least 1.5% in June with a further 0.4%, allocated

The Super and Tehy health unions are maintaining their ban on overtime and shift changes following their rejection of the proposed deal for health and local government. They continue to press for higher pay increases as essential to help tackle the urgent staff shortages in health and social care. Meanwhile, municipal unions JHL and Jyty are also keeping up their industrial action despite their provisional approval of the agreement. They are pushing for the agreement to be finalised and for the expected payments to be made by the summer, arguing that workers could lose out by over €300 if pay

The Super and Tehy health unions have firmly rejected the settlement proposed by the conciliation committee in the current dispute in local government and health. Meanwhile, the JHL and Jyty municipal services union have endorsed the proposal. The health unions argue that the pay increases on offer are inadequate and simply don’t address the urgent staffing problems in health and social care. The unions are now considering a mass resignation to put pressure on health employers to negotiate a better deal. For local government workers, the three-year pay deal should deliver pay increases of 1.9%

Mediation continues to try to resolve the dispute in the municipal sector where unions JHL and Jyty have planned for more strike action from 3 May if mediation fails to deliver a positive result. As of 28 April, the chair of the conciliation committee said that the two side were still far apart on pay and pay development. Meanwhile the SuPer and Tehy health unions cancelled planned strike action that was due to take place from 20 April, although they are continuing their work-to-rule. The two unions say that they were left with no alternative when the government threatened to introduce

Around 25,000 members of the TEHY and SuPer nurses’ unions were due to start strike action on 1 April following rejection of a pay offer delivered by mediation. The action is initially targeted at six hospital districts and workers not on strike will join a ban on overtime and shift changes. Further strike action may follow later in April if a better offer is not on the table. The two unions join local government unions, JHL and Jyty, which have already taken two-day strike action in two different municipalities with further action planned in another six – two from 6 April and four from 19

With municipal employers failing to come up with a decent pay offer, local government unions have planned a series of targeted actions in addition to the ban on overtime and shift changes that ran from 7 to 13 March and will be repeated from 21 to 27 March. Six municipalities have been designated for the two-day stoppages beginning with Jyväskylä and Rovaniemi from 23 to 24 March, then Tampere and Kuopio from 29 to 30 March, followed by Oulu and Turku on 6-7 April. In total the actions cover around 50,000 workers and the unions want to underline the importance of protecting workers’ purchasing

The JHL public services union has successfully defended the pay and conditions of workers employed by the Arkea municipal company that provides catering and other services to the Turku local authority. The company had sought to change collective agreements that would have meant significant changes to pay rates with some workers potentially losing out by as much as 30% of their earnings. The strike action led to negotiations with the company which will now stick with the current agreement which is due to be re-negotiated next spring.

The JHL public services has organised strike action at the Arkea Oy municipal company, owned by the City of Turku. The union is challenging the company’s plans to switch employers' organisation and transfer around 1000 employees to a different collective agreement with poorer pay and conditions. Lower-paid workers could see their pay cut by 15%-30%. The city's group management has given the plan its blessing and discussions between the trade union JHL and Arkea have not yielded any results. The action began on 17 November with measures taken to ensure no risks to safety. The strike will affect

Five firefighters are set to receive a total of almost half a million euros in compensation following a victory in a legal case on working time supported by their union, JHL. The city of Jyväskylä will have to pay the unpaid wages and the costs incurred by the union. The Labour Court ruled unanimously that the firefighters should have been paid in full for working time for periods on standby. In a system in force between January 2004 and the end of March 2016, the firefighters were required to arrive at the fire station within five minutes of the alarm being sounded. The court ruled that five

The main municipal unions in the Nordic region - Fagforbundet (Norway), Kommunal (Sweden), JHL (Finland) and FOA (Denmark) - have called on government and municipal employers to work together with unions to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. They argue that local and regional authorities need the finance to maintain jobs as well as the pay and condition of the municipal workforce and that these will be crucial to the economic recovery. The unions stress above all that austerity cannot be the answer and that the contribution of municipal workers should be recognised with funding for wage