Trade Union JHL is demanding general pay raises and a pay regime to ease the shortage of labour

Päivi Niemi-Laine, President of Trade Union JHL, emphasises that the union is aiming for a sustainable pay regime for its occupational sectors. The union is also aiming for general pay raises which would secure purchasing power.

During next winter’s round of negotiations, JHL will be aiming for significant pay raises. The union will not wait and observe what other sectors will do.

– Publicly funded low-pay occupational sectors must get fair pay raises that will lift the sectors out of the pay gap. A sustainable pay regime is the requirement of a sufficient income, President Niemi-Laine states.

The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL is aiming to improve its members’ income.

– Most of the raises must be paid as general raises to all employees within the agreement’s coverage. The starting point is a mixed approach, where some raises can be paid in percentages, some in euros, Niemi-Laine clarifies.

Trade Union JHL has determined separate thematic entities for increased local agreement. These are protective clothes, remote work, climate change, and occupational safety and health.

–Collective agreements determine the basic stipulations of these thematic entities. However, Trade Union JHL wants to agree locally on their details. This is the first step towards well-functioning local agreement that is based on communication, Niemi-Laine sums up.

JHL’s collective agreement negotiation goals are based on a member survey, Union Council initiatives, communication with personnel representatives, feedback from branches, and the shortcomings or interpretation issues detected in the collective agreements.

– In the entire time of the coronavirus, the star professionals of our union have been working in demanding conditions and, at the same time, compromising on their well-being. They have obviously deserved their pay raises, President Päivi Niemi-Laine remarks.

Employers must reward their multi-skilled employees

During the exceptional circumstances, as services were shut down, some professionals working in JHL’s collective agreement sectors transferred to other duties. Employees have thus also been flexible when it comes to accepting work duties that differ from the basic task stated in one’s employment contract. First and foremost, this has meant that employees have had to be multi skilled.

Being multi skilled is based on, say, previous work experience acquired in various positions, or a completed degree. It gives employers a greater opportunity to combine duties and widely make use of the competence of professionals. In situations where employees that regularly perform the duties are absent, or where it is challenging to recruit new people for the duties, multi-skilled employees can cover gaps in the service chain.

– It is common for JHL members to be multi skilled. Already now, JHL members have enough skills to take up each other’s work duties. It is absolutely central to consider how multi-skilled employees will in the future be taken into account in pay systems and collective agreements. We are still looking into this, Niemi-Laine emphasises.

Additional information:

President Päivi Niemi-Laine, 040 702 4772

Bargaining director Kristian Karrasch, public sectors 040 728 9046

Bargaining director Mari Keturi, private agreement sectors and quality of working life, 050 461 9315