No solution has been reached for the collective agreement of 35,000 university employees. Negotiations have been ongoing since early February, and the contract period ended at the end of March.
To expedite the negotiations, the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL and the Trade Union Pro issued a strike notice for Tampere University on April 22nd.
The 24-hour strike will begin on May 7th at 00:01 and end on May 7 at 23:59 if no agreement is reached on the employment conditions and salary increases for employees of Finland's thirteen universities before then.
At Tampere University, the strike will cover all work tasks under the general collective agreement for universities.
Excluded from the strike are essential IT support and core IT services, essential care for samples and animals, and tasks whose omission would pose a danger to human life or health or significant danger to property.
No agreement on salary increases or teaching hour caps to ensure the well-being of teaching and research staff
“Salary increases for university staff are still unresolved, as the employer's offer for general increases is significantly below the general trend,” the organisations state.
In addition to salary increases, the dispute concerns the teaching hour caps stated in the collective agreement, which protects those engaged in teaching and research work at universities from excessive workloads.
The organisations representing employees want to maintain the caps to ensure the quality of teaching and research in Finnish universities in the future.
A strike threat in the university sector is rare. The last time university staff went on strike was seven years ago at the University of Helsinki.
Further information and requests for comments
JUKO
Chair of JUKO's university sector negotiation committee and executive director of the Finnish Union for University Professionals Tarja Niemelä, 050 340 2725
JUKO's chief negotiator Katja Aho, 050 592 1646
Pro
Chair Niko Simola, 040 566 8517
JHL
Chair Håkan Ekström, 040 828 2865
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