Guide to sala ry discussions for managers and employees published in F inland Over the past two decades the equality of salary issues in Finland has become better. Prerequisites are good for the salary system that is considered fair but also encouraging for employees (in Finnish, toimihenkilö). Less attention, however, is paid to the issues like how the desired salary system can be maintained, and how the whole salary system could work better for both employees’ and managers’ needs. The Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK, together with Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, has published a new book “ Salary Discussions in Finland - experiences and tips”. This guide is designed to offer information for salary discussions between managers, employees and employee representatives alike. Along with the experts from STTK and EK, the book includes results and point of views from Aalto University researchers, who have been studying the subject. The salary discussion is a systematic and logical way to go through with the job performance and salary equivalence with every employee. Good salary discussions are held with agreed-upon rules of the game, and discussions should follow the same principles with every employee (in Finnish also, palkansaaja). In this book the idea of salary discussions and their practical implementation takes place through examples, research results and experience gathered from Finland. Today many Finnish employees have good knowledge about different employee / employer discussions, for example about development talks or evaluation discussions. This guide can help clarify the relationship between these discussions and practical tips how to behave in these different discussions. “The salary is a compensation for work done, source of income and appreciation measurement. From the organizational point of view, the wage is a key part of the reward package offered for the employee, a major cost factor, and great management tool. A well-designed reward package with a well-functioning salary and reward systems will have the impact to skilled personnel, namely to their retention and enthusiasm. Results from the successful salary system are shown as employees’ competence, good performance and the development of operations, “ summarizes Aarnio, one of the writers of the book. Although the salary discussion is not suitable for all work sectors, this book will benefit anyone interested of salary issues, successful salary discussion and salary systems.
Eu ropean T rade Union Confederation demands work , equality and fai rness
European trade unions met in May 2001 in Athens for the European Trade Union Confederation Congress. This meeting is held every four years; this year, the most important issues that were discussed in the congress were economical and employment crisis management. The main demand from ETUC was to develop European labor (in Finnish, työmar k k ina) to the direction which takes into account the employees and the social justice. Even the Europe is in the middle of economical crises, ETUC would like to see the ways of surviving that would combine both the employees (in Finnish, palkansaaja) well being and economical competitiveness. The ETUC has not welcomed the cutting policy that has been managed by European Commission and practised by European governments. These trade unions believe that the current movement will endanger the wages, public services and workers' rights. The debate has been especially heated related to the fresh initiative that would impose wage and collective bargaining under the watchful eye of European Commission. Additional to the big discussion related to the economy, employment, and the regulation of markets, the topics included following: labor mobility, sustainable development and social dialogue between employees and employers. The new secretary general, the secretariat and the government for ETUC were elected in the congress also. ETUC is the highest decision-making body of European trade union movement, which determines the strategy for the employee parties and action plan for the coming years. Founded in 1973, the ETUC consists of 83 European confederations of workers from 36 countries and 12 sector-specific European Union. The ETUC member organizations are representing around 60 million workers in Europe.
F ixed te rm work slows down the equal salary development of women Fixed term employee contracts have many negative ramifications. They, for example, slow the development of equal wages for women, lead to the uncertainty of a livelihood, and in the worst case scenario affect an employee’s (in Finnish, palkansaaja) physical health. Problems coming from fixed term employment contracts have the biggest impact on female and young personnel. The threat of unemployment in fixed term contracts is up to seven times higher than in a permanent job, which causes uncertainty. Fixed term employees might not belong to an occupational health system provided by an employer: the trade unions in Finland have proposed that occupational health services for the temporary workers should be protected by law. The base for the long career is created at young age. If in the early stages of employee’s career she or he is illtreated and is not entitled to health care, it does not bode well for the well-being at work and career. Fixed term employment contracts are a huge injustice in the public sector that is mainly occupied by women. In the last reform of the Employment Contracts Act there was an aim to improve the position of women in the labor market (in Finnish, työmar k k ina). In the law-drafting of the attention was drawn to the criteria of so-called atypical forms of employment relations. Still, in
practice, it is relatively easy to use short term contracts against the law. The use of fixed term employment contract is legally permitted only if certain criteria are met. Between permitted and prohibited situations there remains a gray area, where no actual reasons for the use of fixed term contract exist. Studies have proven that the temporary fixed term contracts are used more in Finland than European average. Trade unions (in Finnish, ay-liike) believe that the employee protection referred in the law is often not realized because of the employee does not dare or does not want to jeopardize the potential work relation with the employer. Periodicity is thus described as a kind of continuous trial period, during which the following precedence is redeemed. Anything that would equalize the fixed term and permanent work career should be supported in order to provide more healthy and certain situation.
The sala ry increase agreed for social welfare and health employees in F inland do not occur TEHY, the Finnish trade union (in Finnish, ay-liike) representing qualified health care professionals, social workers and students of these professions in both the private and the public sectors in Finland, signed an agreement with the employers’ representative on 2007. This contract is to last until the end of the year 2011 and regulates the labor (in Finnish, työelämä) of social and health care areas. In the agreement, TEHY and employers agreed about the increases to the social and health care staffing salaries, if the amount of employees in the field will decrease. These increases are not to happen, as the amount of social and health care workers has been raising. According to the Statistics Center of Finland, during the years 2006 to 2010 a bit less than 7000 new employment contracts have been signed in social and health care sector. This amount was stated also by the negotiation partners both from employees and employers side. In the last trade union negotiations, the salary increases of social and health care professionals were analyzed thoroughly and included in the four-year agreement. If the number of employees would have been reduced, salary increases would have occurred for TEHY trade union members of the extra work done with less resources. The increase of employees in social and health care sectors means that more workforce has been received in units where there has been a need for personnel. According to TEHY, this increase of workforce has a positive effect on their members' working conditions and work well-being. The trade union members of municipal area also received an extra increase for their salary from the other agreements. TEHY is one of the largest unions in Finland. Established in 1982, it has currently over 150,000 members. TEHY campaigns for improvements and development in the Finnish health and social care and wants to influence in the education and labor force policies. It negotiates and bargains the
collective agreements of terms and conditions of work. Representing the interests of its members is the most important task of TEHY.
Contact http://www.sttk.fi/