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Home » A new collective agreement for the senior salaried employees in the technology industry has been reached – the strike has receded

A new collective agreement for the senior salaried employees in the technology industry has been reached – the strike has receded

A new two-year collective agreement has been signed for the senior salaried employees in the technology industry, as the Technology Industry Employers of Finland and the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff (YTN) approved the second settlement proposal made by National Conciliator Anu Sajavaara.

The strike of senior salaried employees announced to start next night will be canceled and the overtime ban will end. 

Sajavaara continued conciliating the strike threat on Tuesday and gave the parties a new settlement proposal. Last week, YTN rejected the Conciliator’s first settlement proposal. 

The cost level of the resulting solution is the same as in the National Conciliator’s first, rejected settlement proposal, as well as in the collective agreements previously signed in the technology industry. However, the structure of the salary settlement is different in all contracts. 

In the new collective agreement for senior salaried employees in the technology industry the general increase for the first year was slightly increased and the company- or workplace-specific element was correspondingly reduced compared to the first settlement proposal. 

In addition to the salary settlement, the new collective agreement also contains significant changes to the text, which the parties agreed on earlier. A small change was also made to this text package at the end of the negotiations. 

The resulting collective agreement covers a total of approximately 54,000 senior slaried employees. 

Local Salary Settlement Preferred

The salary settlement shall be negotiated locally, while taking into account the situation of the company. If a local salary settlement is not reached, salary adjustments will be carried out as the collective agreement provides. Unless otherwise locally agreed, the salaries will be increased as follows: 

The salary increases are a total of 6.0 percent over the two years, and in addition, in the first year of the contract, senior salaried employees will be paid a lump sum payment of 1.0 percent cost impact. 

The lump sum will be paid on the regular payday of March 2023. In addition to the lump sum payment, the employer implements, in accordance with the company’s pay policy, a salary adjustment having a cost impact of 3.5 %. When allocating salary increases, the employer must ensure that each senior salaried employee’s salary, including fringe benefits, is increased by at least 3.0 %. 

In the second contract year, no later than February 1, 2024 or the beginning of the salary payment period that starts after that, the employer implements a salary adjustment with a cost impact of 2.5 %. When allocating salary increases, the employer must ensure that each senior salaried employee’s salary, including fringe benefits, is increased by at least 1.3 %. 

The Negotiation Periods Were Shortened in Change Negotiations and Lay-Off Notices

The new collective agreement includes several text changes that do not increase labor costs as a whole. 

The negotiation periods regarding lay-offs and other change situations will be shortened. The previous 14 days negotiation period will from now on be 7 days and the previous 6 week negotiation period will be 28 days. All lay-offs will be subject to the short negotiation period (7 days). In addiotion the lay-off notice period will be 7 days (previous 14 days). All these periods can be agreed otherwise locally. 

The settlement also increases working hours flexibilities by extending the reference period for flexible working hours and the averaging period for the maximum working time from 6 months to 12 months, unless otherwise locally agreed. A shorter averaging period for the maximum working time may be agreed upon locally. The employer is also able to affect more on using the working time bank leave. 

As part of the whole set of text issues, it was also agreed that the parents’ total paid family leave will increase by about three weeks. In the future, the parent who gives birth will receive paid pregnancy leave. In addition, both the parent who gives birth and the non-birthing parent will receive a salary for 32 weekdays from parental leave. 

− The negotiations concerning the agreement have been long and difficult road. The salary increase level is high. On the other hand, the whole includes important text changes for the employer, which are of course good thing, says Johanna Laine, the manager responsible for the negotiations on the employer’s side. 

Laine encourages all companies to negotiate local salary settlements. They are always the best option for both parties.

K

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