Strike warning for railway sector – Employer coordination has prevented reaching an agreement

The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL has filed a strike warning for the railway sector. The strike is set to begin on Monday 6 March in all functions covered by the scope of the railway sector’s collective agreement.

Bargaining Manager Teppo Järnstedt of Trade Union JHL is disappointed in the fruitless negotiations.

– For the past three months now, we’ve negotiated on the level and structure of pay raise, and on textual changes. The negotiations haven’t yielded a result. Based on the way the employer operates, it appears that sector-specific negotiations on the terms and conditions of employment are not at all possible. It seems like EK (Confederation of Finnish Industries) is leading the negotiations, which everyone is supposed to succumb to, Järnstedt says.

– It feels incomprehensible that everyone should simply accept the cost level agreed by two negotiation parties, and it’s completely impossible to negotiate before that. This model, created unilaterally by the employers, only constrains labour market functionality and the culture of collective bargaining.

Hopefully, a solution that satisfies both parties is found in the negotiations.

– We must safeguard employees’ purchasing power with sufficient pay raises because inflation has increased prices drastically. The trade union makes sure that employees get a proper living wage for their work. It has become obvious that we’re in a situation where we must file a strike warning, JHL President Päivi Niemi-Laine states.

The industrial action concerns all functions and companies covered by the scope of the railway sector’s collective agreement in Finland. The industrial action will start on Monday 6 March 2023 at 12.01 am. It will end on Friday 10 March 2023 at 11.59 pm.

The industrial action will apply to all work shifts that start during this period of time. Work tasks that must be performed in order to protect people’s life, health or property are ruled out of the industrial action.