The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK has echoed the call of Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen to find ways to combine economic and wage policies together with both sides of industry and the government. On Monday 15 August, Urpilainen called for a return to a national agreement on wages and conditions promising that the government will participate in the process. For its part, the SAK says co-operation in the current climate is the best way to secure the purchasing power of employees and to strengthen employment and competitiveness. So far, the employers’ association, the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), opposes a return to national agreements preferring deals in individual sector and businesses. Earlier the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK already made a plea for coordinated wage policies. More recently, Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen pushed for negotiations on confederation level by promising lower income taxation if social partners agree on a solution that safeguards the competitiveness of the country’s economy.
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2011/o32
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2011/08/unions_back_ministers_call_for_collective ...
http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2011/08/katainen_talks_cooperation_with_labour ...
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.