TU warns of strike in the technology industry

TU (17.11.2009) The Union of Salaried Employees TU announced on Monday a strike warning in the technology industry. The strike would cover nine units of ABB, Nokia, STX Finland and Rautaruukki. Almost 2 000 salaried employees will take part in the industrial action that will last from December 1 to December 8.

The collective agreement between TU and the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries expires on 30 November. The agreement determines the pay and working conditions for 30 000 salaried employees in the technology and metal industries. These two labour market organisations have negotiated a new collective agreement since April 2009 but no new agreement has emerged thus far. And, now things have reached a critical stage.

TU's President Antti Rinne has come to the conclusion that, during this bargaining round, the employers are trying to wreck the whole collective agreement system. He is especially worried over decisions taken by employers within companies, to change the status of salaried employees so that they are no longer covered by TU's collective agreement. Numerous salaried employees have been "promoted" to senior salaried employees positions, which, in practise, has meant the employee being granted a new title but at the expense of their earnings. As a result of these decisions they have lost the security provided by TU's collective agreement, Rinne sums up.

According to TU, a salaried employee, earning EUR3,400 per month, may lose up to EUR400 per month as a result of such a "promotion". The loss is due to the weak regulations concerning overtime work, travel time and seniority compensation in senior salaried employees' agreements.

"Companies have saved themselves tens of millions of euros annually by changing the status of salaried employees in such a way that they are not covered by the collective agreement between TU and the employer federation", Rinne says.

In 2007, during the previous round of collective bargaining, TU and the employer federation agreed to come up with a mutually agreed upon set of criteria which clearly delineates or sets out where the line is to be drawn between salaried employees and senior salaried employees. However, in the last few months of negotiations the employers have sought to deny the very existence of such an understanding, Rinne claims. TU is insisting that a clear set of criteria and conditions, which will determine an employee’s positional status, must be included in the new collective agreement.

If negotiations concerning the new collective agreement fail to make positive headway TU is prepared to initiate wider industrial action in the beginning of January 2010.