Helsinki (14.10.2020 - Heikki Jokinen) The Union of Insurance Employees in Finland VvL and Trade Union pro are set to merge from the beginning of 2021. The VvL Council agreed to the amalgamation during a meeting in October. The Board of Pro has already approved the decision and it will be endorsed at the Pro representative body meeting in November.
The forest industry announced on 1 October that it will no longer participate in collective bargaining. The decision was prepared secretly and left both unions and the nation flabbergasted. The existing seven collective agreements are valid until they expire either at the beginning or during the year 2022. After that, every company or factory must make their own agreements.
The new collective agreement for employees and supervisors within tourism, restaurant and leisure services was born under very special circumstances. The agreement was approved on 1 October and covers some 75 000 employees.
A crucial discussion on the role of the National Conciliator has been ongoing for some time in Finland. Now, the think tank Akava Works has published a comparative report on the machinery for conciliating collective bargaining in several countries.
The Finnish system for temporary lay-offs turned out to be flexible in comparison to many other European systems during the coronavirus pandemic. But financially it is less generous than many others.
Three big unemployment funds have undertaken preparations to merge. If things go as planned, the new fund should start operating by the beginning of 2022.
JHL has renewed its incentive system for member recruitment. Starting on the 1st of September, the JHL Awards will be more accessible to all members of the union.
Some 250 people sought advice from the Summer Job Helpline, run by the three Finnish trade union federations Akava, SAK and STTK.
The Delegate Council meeting of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK unanimously elected Jarkko Eloranta to continue as the President of the federation on August 25.
Finland will intensify its battle to prevent the exploitation of foreign labour. A working group from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment published its proposal for new measures in this endeavour on 20 August. This received immediate support from the trade union movement.
In June, a debate on earnings-related unemployment security got underway in Finland. Some right-wing politicians and the employers' federation EK proposed closing down the existing unemployment funds and starting up a new state institution to distribute benefits to everyone under uniform rules.
The Confederation of Finnish Industries EK suddenly reversed its position on the issue of earnings-related unemployment benefits. Up until now it has supported the existing system whereby the benefits are paid through the unemployment funds. Since the year 1895, these funds have been mainly administered by the trade unions.
Restrictions and recommendations due to the coronavirus and the summer affects the opening hours at the JHL Central Office and the Regional Offices. The Employment Advice, the Membership Services and the Education services is at service even though the Central Office is closed. The Unemployment Fund will be open the whole summer.
The Finnish Government is planning to extend the obligatory use of personal taxation numbers to those working in the shipyards. On commencement of work, those employed there should have their own personal taxation numbers.
All parties to the local government collective agreement accepted the deal on Thursday 28 May. The long and difficult negotiation marathon has finally reached an outcome with a new agreement in place.
The latest attempt to reach a deal in the local government collective agreement failed. Just before 1 May, two unions turned down the proposal put forward by the National Conciliator, whereas other unions involved would have accepted it.
The Finnish state owned alcoholic beverages retail monopoly Alko has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Service Union United PAM and the global union IUF to promote respect for worker rights in the company's international supply chain.
The long time court case between the Finnish Electrical Workers' Union and Polish company Elektrobudowa SA ended in March with an out-of-court settlement.
Conciliation did not help bring about a local government collective agreement. The existing agreement expired at the end of March, but there has been no major progress in the negotiations so far.
A new collective agreement for the state sector came into effect at the beginning of April.
Redundancies and temporary lay-offs due to the coronavirus pandemic are rising at an alarming pace.
The process involving temporarily lay-offs should be provisionally conducted swiftly in private companies, the Finnish labour market organisations are proposing.
The Coronavirus pandemic is having an effect on the ongoing collective bargaining round, too. Agreements in industry and private services are more or less ready or approaching a decision, but very much open in the public services.
There is clear evidence that the income gap between employees and publicly listed company chief executives has widened significantly in the past year. Now, a private sector employee must work for 47 days to earn what a major listed company CEO earns in a day. A year before, it took 34 days' work.