Where’s the deal?
What to do if client staff is on strike?
There’s industrial actions going on in the technology and planning industries. Do these affect me, working in the IT service sector?
Not directly. If you work as an IT consultant for a company in these two industrial sectors under industrial actions, you should respect the actions of our fellow workers in the neighbor industrial sectors and perform only tasks already assigned to you. Also, do not take new tasks which would be left undone because of the industrial actions and which you would not do in a normal situation. If possible, do not work in the customer company premises but use your own employers facilities or work remotely.
What is the situation of our own CA negotiations?
Currently, our negotiations have been on hold for a while. The negotiations started already in September, and have so far been going on nicely. We have been able to find solutions for the most of the issues, but the ”kiky” working time extension and the salary rises haven’t been dealt yet.
Why have our negotiations been on hold?
The longer pause is due to the fact that the employer union wants first to have an agreement with Teollisuusliitto (the Industrial union) before agreeing salary increases on any other industrial areas. Teollisuusliitto’s salary increases have traditionally set the reference for salary increases in other industrial areas as well.
These negotiations are currently going on. But, unfortunately, Teollisuusliitto and the Technology Industries of Finland have not been able to get to an agreement yet. This is more or less because it’s not just about the salaries, but also about the so called ”kiky” working time extension.
The employees side sees the whole ”kiky” as a temporary solution which was made in a special situation. On the contrary, the employers side says ”kiky” was meant to be a permanent thing and wants now to combine the ”kiky” working time extension to be a part of the salary negotiations.
This has been a pretty tight knot to open, and this is why also we are still on hold.
Is there a need for industrial actions also in the IT service sector?
At this point, no. Our negotiations have been going on smoothly. Industrial actions are a weapon which should be used only when really needed. This could happen for example if something really important and urgent for the workers under the collective agreement would be removed or unreachable in the negotiations. So far we have not been running in this kind of situations, and all our issues have been possible to handle by negotiating.
What’s happening next?
Waiting for the employers union to make an agreement with Teollisuusliitto. Until Teollisuusliitto has an agreement we won’t have a need for a negotiating session with the employers union. We will inform about any changes to the current situation.
