Second strike threatens the state sector
The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO, and Trade Union Pro issued their second strike warning for selected state sector workplaces on Monday.
The currently looming strikes are exceptional because about forty years have passed since the previous strike of state sector public servants.
The new strike is going to be three days and nights long. It is going to start on 22 April at 12.01 am and end on 24 April at 11.59 pm, if agreement is not found on pay rises for the 76,000 state sector employees before that.
The strike would concern all work shifts that start during this period in these workplaces:
Police administration
- work in all units of the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department and in all units of the Southeastern Finland Police Department
Customs
- work at customs for mail at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport
Government ICT Centre Valtori
- Work at all locations in the city of Rovaniemi, excluding tasks that are connected to the county and municipal elections
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (only JHL and JUKO)
- work duties at the Weather, Sea and Climate Service Centre
Work tasks that must be performed in order to protect people’s life or health or to prevent significant danger to property are excluded from the strike.
A week ago, the employee organisations issued their first strike warning for 15 and 16 April. That potential strike concerns work at the specified units of the police administration, Prison and Probation Service of Finland, State Treasury, the Finnish Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR (Palkeet), and Government ICT Centre Valtori.
Before that, the employee organisations had already announced bans on overtime and shift swaps and a ban to accrue flex hours for all state-sector employees who are in a contractual employment relationship. These bans have applied since 19 March.
The state sector needs steady pay development
The key conflict in the state sector collective agreement negotiations concerns the level of pay rises.
The Office for the Government as Employer has offered total pay rises of 6.3%. That is significantly less than the general level, which has settled at 7.8%. The low pay offer has been justified with the state of public finances.
The organisations that represent the employees in the collective agreement negotiations remind that the state sector employees should get the same pay rises as the others.
–The act on the so-called export-driven labour market model will in future prevent pay rises that exceed the pay rises of industrial export sectors, which are negotiated first. This means that if this low pay rise was accepted, the state sector employees would fall permanently behind, all organisations state together.
– Almost every sector has agreed on a pay settlement that follows the export-driven model. The employees know that the overall state of public finances is not fixed by taking money from the employee’s pay, comments the President of JUKO’s state sector negotiating committee Jonne Rinne.
– The state must secure its employees a steady pay development if it wants to take care of its reputation as an employer. Finland’s security is not built by community work, and the administration is not run with empty phrases, points out JUKO’s Head of Collective Bargaining Minna Salminen.
– It appears that the employer wants to steer the state sector employees to a path of weaker pay development than that of other sectors. This is not the way to create a lasting foundation for attraction and retention of skilled employees in this labour market field. The state sector employees do important work for the citizens and for this country. They deserve the respect of their employer, demands the President of JHL Håkan Ekström.
– The security policy situation in Europe and in the world is very uncertain. At the same time the leaders of this country want to establish a lower pay level for the national defence forces, police officers, border guards, and employees responsible for the government’s ICT systems and for securing the state administration. This is difficult to understand and impossible to accept, says the President of Trade Union Pro Niko Simola.
The National Conciliator Anu Sajavaara began mediating the collective agreement dispute of the state sector last Tuesday.
Additional information about strikes and other industrial actions.
More information and requests for comments
JHL
- President Håkan Ekström, 040 828 2865
JUKO
- President of JUKO’s state sector negotiating committee and the Finnish Police Union SPJL Jonne Rinne, 050 399 8795
- Head of Collective Bargaining Minna Salminen, 050 445 5350
Trade Union Pro
- President Niko Simola, 040 566 8517
Your trade union JHL negotiates on a number of collective agreements in 2025. Follow the negotiations on our website.