JHL in 2025: collective agreement pay increases, strikes for members’ terms and conditions of employment and lots of new student members
Trade Union JHL’s year 2025 was made of collective agreement negotiations, member recruitment and preparations of two elections.
The Finnish Government kept hammering working life in 2025 with legislative proposals that favoured employers. At the same time a turmoil in the world of work continued. Amid all this, JHL remained firmly committed to its goal to improve its members’ position in the world of work.
JHL was seen more often in workplaces
JHL reformed its member recruitment in workplaces in autumn 2025. The annual member recruitment weeks in November were replaced with more frequent workplace visits, and now JHL actives visit different workplaces on a monthly basis.
Almost 200 visits were made before the end of the year, and most visits produced new union members.
Collective agreements brought pay increases, some negotiations were boosted with strikes
JHL was heavily occupied with its core work in 2025 because nearly all its collective agreements were renegotiated during the year.
As usual, new terms and conditions of employment and pay increases did not come easily. JHL worked persistently at negotiations and boosted them with several strikes and other industrial action.
- In January JHL started a handling blockade to boost the collective agreement negotiations of the Industrial Union.
- JHL organised strikes and other industrial action in the state sector in spring 2025.
- In the university sector, there was a strike at Tampere University in May.
Hundreds of JHL members elected in county and municipal elections
In spring 2025 voters elected new decisions-makers for municipalities and well-being services counties.
Ahead of the elections JHL raised to discussion topics from the world of work and campaigned to activate union members to stand for election and to vote in the elections.
JHL can be satisfied with the election result. More than 1000 members were nominated as candidates, and JHL members won over 400 seats in municipal councils and about 100 seats in county councils.
Work to balance the budget continues
The Union Council also approved the union’s financial statements for 2025.
JHL funded its operations with both membership fees revenue and investment income. The trade union’s financial statements showed a deficit, but it was smaller than what had been estimated in the budget for the year 2025.
Membership fees are critical for the union’s budget. Therefore, JHL works hard to attract new members as effectively as possible and to take a good care of current members.
The members’ pay level also reflects directly on the union’s membership fees revenue.
“The union has started the measures for balancing operations and finances in 2026–2030, as required by the Union Council. The goal is to balance the operations and finances better and thereby secure the union’s operations far into the future”, says JHL’s Director of Finance Anne Karjalainen.
Young people and immigrants have found JHL
Trade Union JHL has been very successful in attracting new student members in the recent years. In 2025, the number of joining student members rose higher than for a long time. As a result, the number of student members was at the end of 2025 the highest in many years.
JHL recruited student members for example by visiting educational institutions and organising events.
JHL also made in 2025 a concerted effort to keep students as union members. Lots of phone calls were made to members who were close to graduation and transitioning to work. Many calls resulted into continuing JHL membership.
The number of JHL members with an immigrant background keeps growing. JHL has several regional immigrant networks that have been founded to improve access to information on working life and employees’ rights.
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!
