Finnish government presses on with local bargaining

The Finnish government, which earlier this year introduced substantial curbs on the right to strike despite bitter union opposition (see Labour Research, June 2024, page 8), has continued with further measures likely to weaken union influence.

These are contained in legislation introduced to the Finnish parliament last month. This aims to increase bargaining at local level, so weakening the industry-level bargaining that is a key feature of the Finnish industrial relations system. The legislation will allow companies that are not members of the employers’ association to reach their own local deals, rather than being directly bound by the industry-level agreement for that industry. Currently, only companies that are members of the employers’ association are able to negotiate locally.

The planned measures will also change who can bargain for the employees.

In future, in workplaces where there is no local union representative, it will be possible for non-union elected representatives to conduct negotiations.

Finally, the role of monitoring agreements in non-organised companies is being given to the health and safety authorities with only limited fines, of between €1,000 and €10,000 (£860 to £8,600) for non-compliance.

Finnish unions see these as very damaging developments. They will mean, in the words of the largest union confederation, SAK, that “the foundations of the labour market, built by the cooperation of the … parties over decades, based on agreement and negotiation, will crumble.”