Collective agreement negotiations for the municipal and welfare sector started
The agenda for the first negotiation day included talk about negotiation goals and agreeing on practicalities. The current agreements come to end on 30 April.
Trade Union JHL started on Tuesday 11 March collective agreement negotiations on new collective agreements for the municipal and welfare sector and the companyies in KT’s company division. JHL sits in the principal negotiation team that coordinates the negotiations. The President of JHL Håkan Ekström and Bargaining Director Kristian Karrasch represent JHL. Karrasch describes the mood on the first day of the negotiations as good.
– The parties were keen to finally get started. Both sides of course have goals that the other one does not like, but that is the nature of the negotiations.
At first the parties presented their overall goals. These include views on pay rises and on what should be emphasised regarding other terms and conditions of emplyment. JHL’s key goals include fixing eroded purchasing power and improving wellbeing a work.
The current collective agreements for the municipal and welfare sector come to end on 30 April 2025. These agreements cover about half a million employees.
Each agreement has its own negotiation table
The principal negotiation team agreed on Tuesday on the organisation and schedules of the negotiations and on other practicalities for the negotiation round. The negotiation table of each collective agreement operates under the control of the principal negotiation team, explains Bargaining Director Kristian Karrasch.
– They can now start discussing the goals for their agreements.
The biggest agreement in the municipal sector is the general collective agreement for the municipal sector KVTES. Other agreements include the collective agreement for technical personnel in the municipal sector TS, and the collective agreement for hourly paid personnel in the municipal sector TTES.
HYVTES is the collective agreement for the welfare sector. The SOTE agreement is the collective agreement for health and social services personnel.
KT’s company division is going to get four collective agreements. The members of KT’s company division include hundreds of companies that are controlled by municipalities or wellbeing services counties. These companies used to belong to Avaintyönantajat Avainta, which ended its work in the beginning of the year 2025.
More information:
Håkan Ekström, the President of JHL, 040 828 2865
Kristian Karrasch, Bargaining Director at JHL, 040 728 9046
Your trade union JHL negotiates on a number of collective agreements in 2025. Follow the negotiations on our website.
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 professional, a cleaner, a cook, a secretary, a security guard or a train conductor, and we are your trade union!
