TEK found 10 flaws in the bill on local collective bargaining – read the full list of proposed amendments

The government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has declared its aim (in Finnish) to make local collective bargaining equally possible in all companies regardless of whether the company is a member of an employer association or what kind of employee representation system is in place at the company.

The Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK points out in its comment on the government bill that it appears that this aim will not be achieved: “The bill states that, with the revisions, organised and non-organised employers will be placed on an equal footing in terms of local collective bargaining. This is not the case, because non-organised employers are now being given more rights without any obligations.”

TEK’s Labour Market Director Teemu Hankamäki considers it likely that the rights to local collective bargaining will be extended in one way or another.

“We should see changes as opportunities. For example, TEK members can gain a better understanding of the field of small business as the employees of small enterprises start to get organised and become interested in the terms of their employment and matters that concern businesses,” says Hankamäki.

But first, it is important to ensure that the law treats both organised and non-organised companies equally.

TEK proposes ten direct amendments to the government’s bill.

1. Non-organised companies should be legally obligated to submit their local agreements to the authorities and to the collective bargaining parties of the applicable collective agreement for their information.
   This will improve the opportunities and likelihood of monitoring and enhance the contracting parties’ aim to respect the boundaries of collective agreements. It is in the interests of the contracting parties to monitor local agreements to make sure that they comply with the boundary conditions and the interpretation of the collective agreement. 
2. The ability of the occupational safety and health authorities to monitor bargaining should be guaranteed. This will probably require additional resources.
3. A compensatory payment for breaches of collective agreements should also be imposed on non-organised companies. Organised companies also have this, so this is a question of equality and the prevention of misconduct.
4. The law should state that the shop steward acts as the primary employee representative whenever a workplace has an elected shop steward. The right to elect a shop steward in all workplaces should be guaranteed by law, in accordance with international treaties. The shop steward should also be able to represent non-organised employees in cases where all the employees can participate in their election.
5. The termination of local collective agreements should be made faster and the term of notice should be set to one month, for example. In the government’s bill, the proposed term of notice is three months. The duration of the term of notice is important, because, especially in the beginning, agreements may be made under inappropriate conditions.
6. When settling disputes, it is imperative that the expertise of the Labour Court is used in disputes over the application of collective agreements. The interpretation of the agreements of non-organised companies should be taken to the Labour Court, as is also stated in the Government Programme.
7. Employees should be guaranteed sufficient rights of access to information, the possibility to conduct internal negotiations and the right to use expert assistance in local bargaining.
8. In terms of legal costs, the employees should be obligated to bear only their own legal costs. The employee is the weaker party of an employment relationship and they have less resources to protect them, especially if they are not a member of a union. The costs of law firms used by the employer can be substantial.
9. In this context, the law should provide that the board representation of employees is increased. In Sweden, employees are represented on the boards of all companies with more than 25 employees.
10. The state should be excluded from the scope of the amendments.

The government should start making amendments as soon as possible, because it aims to submit the bill to Parliament already in June 2024. According to the government’s plan, most of the legislative changes would enter into force on 1 January 2025. 

Read TEK’s full comment (in Finnish) at lausuntopalvelu.fi