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The framework agreement will
regulate working conditions of 94 per cent of wage and salaries earners for next two years Helsinki (28.11.2011 - Juhani Artto) Early on Monday morning the last obstacle on the road to the acceptance of a new labour market framework agreement was overcome. Then the trade union of transport drivers and port workers AKT and its employer counterpart agreed on details on how to apply the framework agreement, approved in October by the labour market confederations. And so, the same morning these various confederations concluded that support for the agreement is broad enough to take effect. At noon the government announced that it had come to the same conclusion. This means that all public sector employees and 91 per cent of the private sector employees are now covered for the next two years (or 25 months) by the regulations agreed upon in the framework agreement. Both union leaders and government representatives have characterized the comprehensive settlement’s overwhelming reach as a historic achievement. Trade union leaders emphasize that the agreement significantly increases the predictability of the economy and effectively defends the purchasing power of workers and salaried employees. The agreement also brings qualitative improvements to several hundred collective agreements, updated on the basis of the framework agreement.
Employee groups that are not covered by agreements applying the framework
agreement include the construction and food workers and a third of
senior salaried employees. The Construction Trade Union let it be known on
October 17 that it is not prepared to negotiate on the basis of the framework
agreement. In
the food industry, employers were not willing to negotiate on how to apply
the framework agreement as the agreements, signed in May 2010, are still in
force
until March 2014.
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