Industry employers reject negotiations
on a stabilising labour market solution

Helsinki (30.03.2009 - TU:n verkkouutiset / Jaana Pohja) The salaried employees of the technology industry will be the first salaried employees to start bargaining on a new collective agreement

Industry employers are not willing to negotiate on a stabilising solution to the labour market. That became evident on Friday in a meeting between representatives of industry's employer organisations and the Council of Industrial Unions TP.

The employers' rejection of the proposal to negotiate on a three-year stabilising solution was so patently clear that now unions are ready to begin preparations for an industry-specific bargaining round, says Antti Rinne, the President of the TP.

- TP is disappointed about the employers' adamant rejection, on ideological grounds, of the stabilising solution.

- Expectations on opening up negotiations with regard to a stabilising solution were not strong in the first place, but still we were surprised at the bewildering short-sightedness of the employers, given the current grim economic situation.

Having an industry-specific bargaining round means that the industry will be in an unstable situation for one and a half years, Rinne says.

The threat of industrial action is real. Various sectors of the industry depend on one another, and thus, for example, a strike or strike threat in the chemical industry will rapidly have an impact on the paper industry.

- In this situation, member unions of the TP emphasise their responsibility in respect of the labour market. However, one has to remember that pressure is mounting at workplaces around the country and that it is the task of the unions to satisfy the needs and desires of their rank file members and to secure for them just and fair treatment at work.

TP offered the employers negotiations on a framework agreement that would have covered all employer organisations and trade unions throughout the industry and that would have secured industrial peace for three years. The proposal excluded the option whereby any of the parties could cancel the agreement prior to the end of the three-year period.

Now, after the employers' rejection of the framework agreement, member unions of the TP will try to reach, in the industry-specific negotiations, pay rises that will raise the purchasing power of wage and salaried employees.

Now, too, bargaining on ‘so called’ qualitative goals will be transferred to the industry-specific negotiations. The major qualitative goals of the TP unions are more equality, stronger status for personnel representatives and better security for employees, in rapidly changing situations.

As to the salaried employees, those working in the technology industry will kick-off the new bargaining round.