New general collective agreement for KT’s company sector

A photo collage of JHL members in various occupations and slogan "1001 occupations".

The company sector of Local Government and County Employers KT got several collective agreements this spring. One of them is the general collective agreement for the company sector of KT, called YTES, which is much like the old AVAINTES collective agreement. Its pay increases follow the general level.

In this collective bargaining round several new collective agreements were created for the municipal and welfare sector. These agreements can be applied in companies that are controlled by municipalities or wellbeing services counties.

In the negotiations on the collective agreements for companies, Public Sector Union JAU, the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO and Sote ry represented the employees. Trade Union JHL is part of Public Sector Union JAU. The employers were represented by Local Government and County Employers KT.

The outcome of the negotiations was four new collective agreements for KT’s company sector (“yrityssektori”), which was formerly known as company division (“yritysjaosto”). The company sector consists of companies that are controlled by municipalities or wellbeing services counties. Earlier, these companies used to belong to Avaintyönantajat Avainta.

One of the new agreements is YTES, the general collective agreement for KT’s company sector, which is very similar to Avainta’s old collective agreement Avaintes.

The YTES collective agreement concerns companies that operate for example with facility, catering and cleaning services and ICT and financial administration services. However, hourly paid employees are for the time being under the collective agreement for hourly paid personnel in the municipal sector.

Pay increases are on the general level

The new agreement period is a little less than three years and ends at the end of February 2028.

Pay increases of the YTES agreement in 2025–2028

  • 1 October 2025: a €53 across-the-board increase, at least 2.50%
  • 1 August 2026: a 2.27% across-the-board increase
  • 1 October 2026: two increases: a 0.2% allowance for locally negotiated increases (“paikallinen järjestelyerä” in Finnish), and a 0.3% development allowance for locally negotiated pay programme pay increases (“paikallinen kehittämiserä”)
  • 1 April 2027: three increases: a 2.0% across-the-board increase, a 0.37% allowance for locally negotiated pay increases, and a 0.3% development allowance for locally negotiated pay programme pay increases

The agreement period is two months shorter than for example that of the technology industry, and therefore the total sum of pay increases looks slightly smaller. However, when the duration of the agreement period is considered in the calculation, the pay increase per month is at the same level as in the industrial sectors. In other words, the pay increases follow the general level.

The collective agreement pay increases of the year 2027 are tied to the agreements of the technology industry. If the collective agreement of the technology industry employees is terminated before the third year and the collective agreement pay increases of these employees change, the pay increases of this agreement will change as well. This would not affect those pay increases that are part of the pay programme.

Work continues in future negotiation rounds

Bargaining Specialist Karita Alanko says that some of JHL’s key goals were achieved in this agreement, but further work still remains for future negotiation rounds.

– For example the pay system working group was important for us. Its assignment is to investigate how well the pay system works as a whole. This also includes reviewing for instance combination duties, working conditions and compensations for filling in for another employee, Alanko explains.

Alanko also points out that the collective agreement for hourly paid employees is applied in the new agreement period as well.

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 expert, a cleaner, a cook, a secretary, a security guard or a train conductor, and we are your trade union!

Sinistä taivasta vasten suuri oranssi ammattiliitto JHL:n logolla varustettu ilmapallo.