Teemu Hankamäki, TEK’s Labor Market Director, cannot yet say whether the autumn will be hot, cold or lukewarm.
He hopes that the autumn will go without too much trouble, and that the new collective agreements can be concluded before the old ones expire. He dislikes protracted and combative negotiations, like the ones we had last year.
“It now seems that employers and workers both want a smooth and quick solution. On the other hand, we heard some heated speeches in the spring that contradict these desires," Hankamäki says.
The union that has been the most vocal and detailed about their intentions regarding the negotiations is the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland, which has already announced that it will seek to increase its members’ purchasing power in the autumn round of negotiations. In practice, this means a salary increase of around 5%.
What are TEK’s goals for the autumn’s collective agreement round?
“Our goals are very much the same as before – we want to increase the purchasing power of our members. With inflation forecast just below 2% next year, we should agree on much bigger increases. I do not want to give an exact percentage, but we will find one in time and bring it to the negotiating table,” says Teemu Hankamäki.
“If we look at the relevant competing countries, we can see that there is room for an increase. In the Netherlands, for example, a nearly two-year deal was recently struck in the technology sector, which will result in a 7% increase in the first year.”
Teemu Hankamäki points out that according to statistics from the Bank of Finland, Finland’s competitiveness has been guaranteed by moderate salary settlements in recent years.
“Unfortunately, our competitiveness seems to be based on salary competitiveness alone. The development of productivity, on the other hand, is lagging behind badly. Companies need to do things smarter to increase productivity. I do not know how we could increase it, but we should focus on it as well, not just on salary. I am sure that a lack of growth in productivity is not a law of nature.”
Future collective agreement negotiations are also likely to cover wellbeing and coping at work.
With the collective agreement negotiations in mind, TEK asked a random sample of 10,000 full members what would be an appropriate form and level of salary increase. They were also asked what other issues they consider important in the forthcoming collective bargaining round.
“I want to thank everyone who responded to the survey. Your views are valuable and will be used in the negotiations.”
How can members influence the collective bargaining negotiations?
“As a member, you have already done the most important thing – paid your membership fee. The more members a trade union has, the more credibility it has in the bargaining process, and the better the salary increases. The next step could be to get a friend or colleague to join. Technology Industries of Finland, the employers’ association for the largest collective agreements for TEK, has stated in its strategy that it wants to do away with general salary increases. Strong trade unions are the only way to maintain general salary increases also in the future.”
Tuula Aaltola, Collective Agreement Expert