Finland - Main public sector negotiations to start - January 24, 2011

The JHL union is preparing for negotiations in the state and municipal sectors and is concerned to secure pay increases for its members, arguing that workers’ salaries should be increased in line with general labour market developments and not be used as the way of tackling the public sector deficit. The union will also be looking to continue moves to reduce the gender pay gap and to ensure equal treatment for temporary workers. Concerning negotiations in the state sector JHL's President Tuire Santamäki-Vuori wishes to make it clear that employees must not be forced to foot the bill for the “sustainability deficit” in state finances, and that pay rises must match rises in other sectors. Concerning the municipal sector, JHL insists that the parties must come to an agreement, at the very minimum, on pay rises for the first half of 2011.

English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/398;

http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en/news/archive/?bid=672 

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 at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.