Collective agreement negotiations
The collective agreement negotiations of the year 2025 encompass nearly all members of Trade Union JHL. On this page you will find everything that you should know about the collective agreement negotiations.
What do collective agreement negotiations mean?
In collective agreement negotiations (also known as collective bargaining) trade unions and employer organisations negotiate with each other about the employees’ terms and conditions of employment. The end result of these negotiations is a new collective agreement for the negotiating sector. The collective agreement determines such things as your pay, working times and working conditions. In other words, the negotiations deal with very important aspects of your work and your everyday life!
During the year 2025 we negotiate new collective agreements for nearly all of our members. JHL’s role as a trade union is to represent you in the negotiations. We are on your side and advocate your rights. Negotiating collective agreements is our most important responsibility.
JHL’s collective agreements
JHL is the most diverse trade union in Finland. Our members work in about one thousand different occupations.
JHL’s goals in collective agreement negotiations 2025
Our members have been involved in the preparation work of our negotiation goals also this time. We conducted a survey on the negotiation goals in summer 2024 and got responses from more than 6,600 members. In November 2024, JHL’s leadership did a tour where they visited several places around Finland to hear the members’ thoughts on the negotiation goals that the union should pursue.
JHL’s general negotiation goals are categorised into five key themes:
- Increasing purchasing power with proper pay rises
- Securing terms and conditions of employment with agreements when legislation deteriorates
- Goals regarding quality of working life: Better everyday work
- Goals regarding personnel representatives: Employees need representatives who protect their interests
- Goals regarding the environment: Taking climate change into consideration in work
Increasing purchasing power with proper pay rises
Most of the pay rises need to come as across-the-board increases that are paid to all employees covered by the collective agreement.
The fair solution for pay rises is the so called mixed approach.
Mixed approach means that the pay rises are percentage-increases for some, and flat rate increases (a specified sum in euros) for some. The flat-rate increase is paid to those whose percentage increase would be less than the specified minimum sum in euros. This model ensures proportionally higher pay rises for those who have a lower pay to start with.
Also, the significance of work experience for an employee’s professional skills needs to be considered more in their pay.
Securing terms and conditions of employment with agreements when legislation deteriorates
Many legislative projects of the Finnish Government crush employees’ security in working life. When terms and conditions secured by law deteriorate, the significance of collective agreements becomes even bigger.
Some of JHL’s goals regarding terms and conditions of employment:
- Termination on grounds related to the employee’s person must have a proper and weighty reason also in the future.
- Employees need to be able to terminate fixed-term employment contracts before the end of the term.
- Dismissed employees’ transition security has to be improved by making notice periods longer or by agreeing on a compensation in the collective agreement.
Goals regarding quality of working life: Better everyday work
Quality of working life consists of many things. They all affect employees’ wellbeing.
JHL pursues improvements to working times, occupational safety and health, and the right to training. Besides these, JHL also pursues five days of paid carer’s leave.
Goals regarding working time
- Both employees under contract and public servants need to be able to influence their working time more than now.
- Travelling between home and varying workplaces should be considered working time if it happens during the working day.
- Compensation for unexpected work shift changes should be better than now.
Occupational safety and health benefits both the employee and the employer. When working conditions are good, there are fewer costly absences from work.
JHL pursues improvements to occupational safety and health, including these and more:
- The employer should procure and pay for clothes that are needed at work and footwear that the working conditions require. This applies to work where clothes become dirty and worn.
- The employer should reimburse the treatment expenses of infectious diseases and extermination expenses of vermin, if the diseases or bugs came from the workplace.
- Work placement periods should be paid.
- All employees under contract and public servants need to have the right to get training on artificial intelligence.
- Employers must offer training of Finnish or Swedish for those who need language skills in their work.
- Workplace instructors of students must have an opportunity to get training, and they must receive a compensation for their instruction task.
Goals regarding personnel representatives: Employees need representatives who protect their interests
The Finnish Government wants to expand local bargaining (workplace-level agreements), and legislative changes to that end became effective in the beginning of 2025.
Local bargaining will probably increase in private sector workplaces. JHL’s stand is that bargaining is done with the shop steward.
Shop stewards and other personnel representatives have a key role in ensuring that terms and conditions of employment are agreed in a fair manner also in the future.
- Shop stewards must be enabled to perform their task, and their position must be secured.
- Shop stewards’ right to training must be expanded.
- Detailed agreements must be made on the union level.
- Occupational safety and health representatives need to have enough time that is reserved for performing their task.
- Compensations to occupational safety and health representatives and shop stewards must be raised.
Goals regarding the environment: taking climate change into consideration in work
Climate change changes also working life. The employer must pay for sufficient protective clothing for the employees so that they can protect themselves from extreme weather. The employer must also ensure that employees have enough breaks.
Furthermore, JHL proposes environmental representatives to workplaces. The personnel would select the representative, who would act as a link between the management and the personnel and between different departments. The duty of this representative would be to ensure that environmental goals are included in everything that the employer does.
When is my collective agreement negotiated?
The goal is to finalise the new collective agreement by the expiration date of the previous agreement. The collective agreement negotiations usually begin a month or two before the current agreement ends.
When new collective agreement negotiations begin, we tell about that in our news on this website.
Collective agreement expiration dates
Expiration date 31 January 2025
- The framework agreement for the advisory sector
- The collective agreement for Finnish labour heritage institutes (Työväenperinnelaitokset)
Expiration date 28 February 2025
- The collective agreement for the church
- The collective agreement for salaried employees in the energy industries
- Palta collective agreement for special sectors (EPA)
- The collective agreement for Finavia Corporation
- The collective agreement for Arctia Meritaito Ltd, manual workers and salaried employees
- The collective agreement for Metsähallitus
- The collective agreement for ferry transport
- The collective agreement for sports organisations
- Accession protocol concerning sports clubs
- The collective agreement for Cleanosol Oy
- The collective agreement for Senate Group
- The collective agreement for the Finnish Seamen’s Service
- The general collective agreement for government (state civil servants and employees under contract)
- The collective agreement for the pilotage sector
- Finnvera plc (moves to another collective agreement)
Expiration date 31 March 2025
- The collective agreement for HY247 University of Helsinki facility services
- The collective agreement for universities
- The collective agreement for the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
- The collective agreement for the ports sector
- The collective agreement for the railway sector
- Collective agreements for the energy sector: energy, ICT and network
- The collective agreement for Campusta Oy
- The collective agreement for Airpro Oy
- NRC Group Finland Oy (moves to another collective agreement)
Expiration date 30 April 2025
- The general collective agreement for the municipal sector (KVTES)
- The collective agreement for municipal technical staff (TS)
- The collective agreement for hourly paid municipal staff (TTES)
- The general collective agreement for wellbeing services counties (HYVTES)
- The social welfare and health care sector agreement (SOTE)
- Avainta/the company division of Local Government and County Employers KT
- The collective agreement for Seure personnel services
- The collective agreement for personal assistants (Heta)
Expiration date 31 December 2025
- The collective agreement for the private social services sector
Expiration date 31 March 2026
- The collective agreement for the Finnish National Gallery
- The collective agreement for the private teaching sector
- The collective agreement for vocational adult education centres
Expiration date 30 April 2026
- The collective agreement for the health services sector
- The collective agreement for Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS)
Expiration date 29 February 2028
- The collective agreement for Raskone
JHL’s objectives in the collective agreement negotiations in 2025
JHL’s overall negotiation goals for the year 2025 focus on pay and on improving working conditions.
We want to secure our members’ position in the upheaval of the labour market and get employees better chances to have a say in their working times and working rhythm.
Furthermore, we stress the impact of climate change on working conditions: the employers must involve the employees in discussion on climate action in their workplaces.
We will tell more about the negotiation goals later. In addition to the overall themes, each sector has its own goals.
Join JHL!
JHL is the most diverse trade union in Finland. Our members work in about one thousand different occupations in welfare and public services. You can be for example a social welfare or health care professional, a youth worker or an early childhood education and care expert, a cleaner, a cook, a secretary, a security guard or a train conductor, and we are your trade union!
Collective agreement negotiation news
What happens after the collective agreement negotiations?
After the actual collective agreement negotiations, JHL and the other bargaining parties will maintain dialogue throughout the agreement period according to the so-called principle of continuous negotiation. We always defend our members’ interests in these negotiation tables as well.
Continuous negotiations
The principle of continuous negotiation means that JHL and the other parties will continue their discussion and dialogue after the collective agreement negotiations throughout the entire agreement period. One reason for entering the negotiation table is if a disagreement arises between the employer and employees on how the collective agreement should be interpreted. Another reason is if the employer party is planning reform projects that will impact current agreements.
Continuous negotiations are important for instance because they
- give the parties the chance to react to situations that are changing fast
- provide a forum for resolving disputes about collective agreement interpretations without taking legal action
- promote a dialogue between employees and employers.
Working groups during the agreement period
In addition to the principle of continuous negotiation, JHL is involved throughout the agreement period in working groups that have been agreed on in collective agreement negotiations. Each collective agreement has its own working groups, and many agreements have several groups.
The working groups have often been tasked with finding a solution to a problem or with developing something.
The work may have a set date by which results are expected.
Often the working groups work throughout the whole agreement period, because the costs of the resulting changes are normally agreed on in the next collective agreement negotiations.
Some working groups are long-term and continue their work from one agreement period to the next. Some working groups only work for one agreement period.
Nearly all collective agreements concluded by JHL include working groups. To see all the agreements, go to jhl.fi/tyoehtosopimukset (in Finnish).