Column: Hopefully Outdated Column: Difficult Negotiations

At the time of writing this (April 3), the collective agreement negotiations affecting Loimu members remain significantly unresolved. The situation is exceptional. Over the course of my career, I have never before seen a scenario in which negotiations for all the key sectors and industries relevant to Loimu members – namely, the technology industry (as the trailblazer in industrial bargaining), the vitally important chemical industry, the university sector, and the state, municipalities, and wellbeing services counties – are simultaneously at a complete standstill.

In the technology industry, members of Akava unions have already been forced to strike. In the chemical industry and on the state sector, strike warnings have been issued, and the university sector appears to be sliding toward industrial action unless a swift resolution is found.

The reasons behind the situation vary by sector. The Technology Industry Employers of Finland has refused to offer upper-level employees and professionals the same general pay increases as to other employee groups, such as clerical staff and production workers. Meanwhile, the Chemical Industry Federation is clinging tightly to employer-side coordination and refusing to even discuss pay increases before a deal is reached in the technology sector.

The state sector situation may be the most striking of all. The Office for the Government as Employer, which represents the Finnish government as an employer, has proposed a total of 6.3% pay increases over the next three years. In comparison, negotiated settlements reached so far in the technology industry include wage increases totalling 7.8% for the same period. For state employees, the offer is seen as downright insulting – accepting it would mean even further erosion of the competitiveness of state-sector wages compared to industry.

Readiness for industrial action usually stems from a sense among employees that they are not being treated fairly. That is certainly the case now. In industry, employers are seeking to impose weaker general increases on upper-level employees than on other groups. On the state side, the employer – ultimately the Finnish government – is blatantly offering significantly lower wage increases than what has been agreed in the private sector, even after pushing through the so-called ”export-led pay model” legislation, which mandates that export sectors set the ceiling for collective wage increases. According to the state employer’s logic, export industries define the ceiling – and the government sets the floor.

There are always a few days between writing a column like this and the magazine reaching members’ mailboxes. As I write this, I don’t think I’ve ever wished quite so strongly that this column would be outdated by the time it is read – that we would have achieved acceptable terms in collective agreements for Loimu members in key sectors and industries. That is exactly what we are working tirelessly to achieve right now.