Collective bargaining will continue to be worthwhile
Technology Industries of Finland announced on 25.3.2021 that it will be splitting its collective agreement operations in two. As the current terms expire, a new association called Employers of the Technology Industry (Teknologiateollisuuden työnantajat) will negotiate all new national collective agreements. For the companies not joining the new association, Technology Industries of Finland will provide support for making local agreements.
It is currently unclear what this will mean in practice.
However, collective bargaining will remain beneficial. YTN seeks to negotiate on the employment terms and conditions of senior salaried employees also in the future, be the agreements national or local. We strongly prefer national agreements because they guarantee certain shared minimum terms of employment, thus preventing competition by ignoring these terms.
All companies should have an in-house discussion to ensure that the company will join the new association and thus to ensure the continuation of its national collective bargaining participation.
If local, company-specific agreements are reached, these should be made in the name of the national employee organisation as well.
Unionisation has never been more important than it is now. If people wish to participate in the protection of their future terms of employment, they should belong to a trade union. This is a message to relay forward. The terms of employment have been reached by joint effort, and by joint effort these terms may also be guaranteed.
In any event, the current collective agreement for the sector will remain in effect until the end of November. We will have to see what comes after that, and we can have a say in the matter. Let’s keep ensuring the employment terms of our members long into the future.
Collective bargaining is worth it.