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Government's proposal
threatens to cut already low wages by hundreds of euros at Defence Forces' catering services JHL (12.10.2011 - Juhani Artto) Wages for the Defence Forces' catering services will shrink by anything between EUR200 to EUR400 per month, if the government's proposal is approved by Parliament. This is totally unacceptable and contradicts the government's own programme, says the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Services JHL. Parliament is due to make the final decision on the matter in December. According to the proposal, responsibility for catering services are to be transferred to a company that will be specially set up for this purpose. The Ministry of Defence has decided that this new company will join the hotel and catering employers' association Mara. JHL insists that the new company should join the service sector employer association Palta and sign a company-specific collective agreement with the JHL. Right now the Defence Forces' catering employees earn from EUR1,800 to EUR2,000 per month. Mara's collective agreement would see a cut in theses wages of EUR200 or more, in the worst case of EUR400. The catering services at the Defence Forces number 580 employees, most of them women. JHL is eager to refocus attention on the fact that the government has committed itself to narrowing the gender pay gap. Cuts in low-pay women's wages would lead in the opposite direction.
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