State sector employees work in numerous fields that you may not even have thought of
State sector employees have many responsibilities. For example, they take care of Finland’s road network and railways, provide expertise in environmental matters, monitor food security, and guard the country’s borders and prisons.
Trade Union JHL has four organisational member unions in the state sector. They are the Border Security Union, the Finnish Prison Officers’ Association, the Finnish Customs Officers’ Union and the Finnish Non-Commissioned Officers Union.
Members of JHL and its organisational member unions ensure for example that everything is in order at Finland’s borders. In the past couple of years, traffic at Finland’s Eastern border has changed dramatically. At the same time, the situation at the borders has been monitored more closely than in a long time.
Work ranges from the Market Court to the Finnish National Agency for Education, and from natural resources to prison and probation services
State sector employees work in either public-service employment relationships or contractual employment relationships. The state sector is responsible for maintaining the fundamental structures of Finnish society. The professionals who work in the state sector take care that the citizens get justice in courts and that legislative work is done in ministries. Their expertise is needed in the daily work of authorities like Natural Resources Institute Finland and the Finnish National Agency for Education. The professionals of the Prison and Probation Service of Finland are responsible for the operation of prisons.
The state sector takes industrial action for the first time in decades
The work of state sector employees affects everyone who lives in Finland. The collective agreement negotiations of the state sector are currently stopped.
The employer side halted the negotiations on 7 March. The Office for the Government as Employer has offered the employees total pay rises of 6.3%. That is significantly less than the general level, which has settled at 7.8%.
The organisations that represent state sector employees – Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, Trade Union Pro, and the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO – have declared a ban on additional and overtime work, a ban to accrue flex hours, and a ban on shift swaps for the state sector. The announced bans started on Wednesday 19 March and apply until further notice.
The state sector collective agreement (collective agreement for government) covers 76,000 civil servants and employees under contract.
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!
