Pace picking up in university collective agreement negotiations

The negotiations on the collective agreement for approximately 34,000 university employees continued on Thursday 25 March. “The negotiations are now proceeding to an intense phase in which we begin to thrash out an overall solution,” says Katja Aho, JUKO’s head of collective bargaining for the university sector.

Next week, the parties are meeting for negotiations on every day from Monday to Thursday. Notice has been served to terminate the universities’ current collective agreement, effective 31 March.

If a negotiation result is not reached before that date, university employees will be without a valid collective agreement as of 1 April. In such circumstances, the universities will continue to apply the terms of the old collective agreement until a new one enters into force. This is known as the after-effect.

During a state of no valid collective agreement, there is no obligation to maintain industrial peace, meaning industrial action is possible if the employees and employer do not reach agreement on terms of employment. The university sector collective agreement negotiations began on 11 February.

Negotiations in focus across all our channels! We will be publishing updates about the collective agreement negotiations on our website, www.juko.fi. Follow us and the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @JUKOry, using the hashtags #neuvotellen2022 #yliopisto #meolemmeyliopisto. We have content about the negotiations aimed at young adults on our Instagram account, @juko_ry. The Collective Agreement Campaign website, from JUKO and the relevant unions representing university staff, explains the significance and content of the collective agreement to university staff: www.tyoehtosoppa.fi.  

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