Finland - Unions succeed in defending purchasing power - June 22, 2010

Late May 2010, when the Food Workers' Union SEL signed the new collective agreement for food workers, an unusually long round of bargaining came to an end. At the backdrop of the difficult economic conditions the trade unions have fared well. In autumn 2009 the agreements raised wages by between 0.5 and 0.6%, whereas the agreements signed in spring 2010 saw a rise of about 1%. The agreements did not bring major changes in working conditions. Already in the previous bargaining round a number of unions secured a six-day paid paternity leave period for their members, and now many more have managed to do the same. Shop stewards' rights were improved. Also parents' rights to stay at home to take care of a sick child were expanded (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 April and May 2010).

English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2010/n17

via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Finland

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.