After several months of negotiations, the new collective agreement for the technology industry was accepted on Saturday 4 January 2020. It will give a 3.3 % pay increase and the agreement is valid for 25 months. The agreement covers some 100,000 workers in the technology sector: metal, mining, automotive, shipyards etc. Industrial action was necessary to reach the agreement. 

The agreement brings an end to a measure that was implemented in 2016 as part of the national Competiveness Pact, namely 24 hours of unpaid work per year. Riku Aalto, President of the Industrial Union TEO, considers the disappearance of the 24 unpaid extra working hours to be the most important element in the new agreement. The Competitiveness Pack was agreed in 2016 under heavy pressure from the previous right-wing Government. Getting rid of it has been a priority issue for the trade unions. 

“The pay rise agreed is a reasonable compromise. It will guarantee a better purchasing power for union members but does not endanger the competitiveness of Finnish industry” says Riku Aalto.

IndustriAll Europe has previously reported on the extremely tense collective bargaining round in Finland that has seen a marked change in employers’ attitudes. In an emergency statement issued end of November 2019, industriAll Europe's Executive Committee strongly criticised attempts to weaken trade unions in Finland and threats to previously cooperative and consensus-driven labour relations. 

Luc Triangle, General Secretary of industriAll Europe stressed the importance of the new collective agreement and expressed hope that other sectors in Finland will follow suit. He confirmed industriAll Europe’s resolve to keep on fighting for stronger unions and strengthened collective bargaining everywhere in Europe - which are the aims of our ‘Together at work’ campaign.

For more information and further comment please contact Erlend Hansen.