JHL’s Union Council approved the budget and operational plan for 2026

Next year Trade Union JHL will make preparations for elections, boost member recruiting and reform the members’ e-service channels.

Trade Union JHL’s Union Council has just approved the operational plan and budget for the year 2026 and decided on the next year’s membership fees.

Member recruiting and member retention are essential for the union’s budget

The total membership fee of Trade Union JHL and the unemployment fund next year is going to be the same as this year. The Union Council has decided that the total membership fee of the trade union and the unemployment fund will remain 1.1% of the member’s gross income.

Other membership fees will also remain at the same level as this year.

JHL is going to use both membership fees revenue and investment income for financing its operations next year. The budget for the year 2026 shows a deficit, but that deficit is significantly smaller than in the budget for the year 2025.

“JHL aims to balance it budget even better in the next few years. We have clear, long-term plans on how we are going to achieve this,” says JHL’s Director of Finance Anne Karjalainen.

It is important that the trade union is successful in attracting new members and retains its current members. Another significant factor for the union’s finances are the members’ earnings, because they will also reflect directly on the membership fees revenue.

Representation of interests connected to collective agreements and recruiting of new members will have a key role in Trade Union JHL’s operations also next year.

Initiatives inspired much discussion

The Union Council processed 15 initiatives with lively discussion.

Initiative number 15 proposed additional money for the trade union’s marketing. This initiative was put forward by the regional group of Inner Finland and signed by Union Council Members Joni Leppänen, Kirsi Valta, Tiina Altti, Katri Asp-Dalfidan and Päivi Lehmusvirta.

The original initiative was modified based on proposition by Union Council Member Jarno Strengell.

In the end the Union Council voted on the matter and decided that marketing resources will be increased.

JHL will boost member recruiting and improve its services for members

JHL will reform the e-services for its members in 2026 and for example revamp myJHL completely. As a result, contacting the trade union will become even easier for the members.

The new system will also bring improvements for trade union actives, who will benefit for example from new shop stewards’ tools that are easier to use.

At the union, the new system is going to make managing membership matters and member information easier, and this will enable JHL to serve its members even better.

In future JHL wants to do more member recruiting directly at workplaces. Target groups are going to be carefully selected. Member recruiting is a shared effort of union branches, local actives and the union’s personnel.

JHL will also pay additional attention to its immigrant members next year. The number of union members whose language is other than Finnish or Swedish has increased markedly in the recent years, and JHL wants this positive development to continue. One way to achieve this is to focus on visiting workplaces that have many immigrant employees. In 2026, JHL plans visits especially to private social and health care workplaces.

JHL is going to strengthen member retention and member recruiting by boosting its regional immigrant activities and by offering for example working-life oriented language courses.

JHL will create next year an all-new network for union members who identify as LGBTQ+. The purpose of this network is to increase awareness of gender diversity and promote equality and safety in working life.

Preparations for two elections

The end of JHL’s Union Council term is getting closer, and the new Union Council will be elected in 2027. JHL will prepare the election materials and other election arrangements already in 2026.

The trade union will also actively advertise the upcoming elections in order to attract as many candidates as possible from all JHL’s occupational sectors and all over Finland. The union wants that election campaigning is visible in the union branches and at workplaces.

The next Parliament of Finland will also be elected in 2027.   Trade Union JHL will prepare and process its objectives for the parliamentary elections next year. The union wants that after these elections Finland will have a government that offers workers something more than constant misery and belt-tightening.

The starting point for JHL’s objectives is that working life in Finland should be developed based the Nordic model. This means maintaining good public services and having an organised labour market in the future as well.

Collective bargaining year will be less busy than 2025

In 2025 Trade Union JHL completed numerous collective agreements that cover the majority of the trade union’s members. Year 2026 will be less busy in terms of collective agreement negotiations, but new agreements will nevertheless be negotiated in several private agreement sectors.

The private sector division also begins to prepare for the collective agreement negotiations of the year 2027. The church and state sector collective agreements will be negotiated again in 2027 as well, and JHL will get ready for those negotiations well in advance.

The collective agreements of municipalities and wellbeing services counties will not expire until 2028, but for example reforming the pay system will be negotiated earlier.

JHL’s Union Council meets in Helsinki on 29 and 30 October. Follow the Union Council meeting news on our website and in social media.