The principal negotiating organisations for public sector employees JUKO and JAU (JHL and Jyty) have given a notice of strike concerning the cities of Jyväskylä and Rovaniemi to Local Government and County Employers KT and National Conciliator Vuokko Piekkala.
With the strike notice, the organisations are aiming to expedite the collective bargaining concerning the municipal sector that has been put on hold. KT discontinued the negotiations on Monday 28 February.
The two-day strike is intended to begin on 23 March, if the parties fail to reach an agreement in the negotiations before this. The strike would end on 24 March.
The scope of the strike notice is exceptionally extensive, as it applies to all collective agreements for the municipal sector: the municipal collective agreement, the SOTE agreement, the agreements concerning teachers, doctors, and technical employees, as well as those included in the scope of AVAINTES.
Work assignments whose non-performance could constitute a hazard to the life or health of humans or to property are excluded from the scope of the strike.
JUKO, JHL, and Jyty have already previously issued a notice of a seven-day overtime and shift change ban 7 – 11 March.
– The main dispute concerns the need to address the underdevelopment of wages. In the employee's opinion the time is never right, but the time has come. The situation should be remedied with a multi-annual wage program, demands Olli Luukkainen (OAJ), the Chair of the Board of JUKO.
– The employees have expressed on multiple occasions that that there is an urgent shortage of proficient employees. There is an easy solution: fix the wages and working conditions and finding good workers becomes much easier, says Päivi Niemi-Laine, the President of JHL.
– Each municipal employee contributes to the provision of services that are important to the local residents, and the entire service chain must also be taken into account in the negotiated solution, says Jonna Voima, the President of Trade Union Jyty.