Trade Union JHL starts collective agreement negotiations for the municipal and welfare sector, goals include securing purchasing power and improving wellbeing at work

Trade Union JHL starts on Tuesday 11 March collective agreement negotiations on terms and conditions of employment for the municipal and welfare sector and the enterprises in KT’s enterprise division.

These negotiations need to produce a solution that fixes recent years’ erosion of purchasing power, stresses the President of the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, Håkan Ekström.

– It is important for us that most of the pay rises are paid as so-called general raises, which means that all employees covered by the collective agreement get them. We pursue a mixed approach where some employees get their pay rises as percentage-increases, and some get a specified sum in euros.

The level of pay rises is agreed between trade unions and employers, and the Government of Finland cannot dictate it, Ekström reminds.

Trade Union JHL sticks to the pay regime for the municipal sector, which continues until 2027. Pay rises that were agreed in the pay regime must be kept separate from the new pay rises that are agreed in these negotiations. The outcomes of for example the technology industry serve as guidelines for the expected level of pay rises.

In addition to pay rises, also job security and wellbeing at work need attention in this negotiation round, says JHL’s Bargaining Director Kristian Karrasch, who leads public sector bargaining at JHL.

– Especially the working hour provisions need developing. The details vary depending on the form of working time and on the collective agreement. Improvements to working times improve wellbeing at work and productivity, Karrasch reminds.

The Government of Finland has eroded labour legislation in the last couple of years. Unemployment security has already become significantly weaker, and now protection against dismissal is threatened as well. These things can come up also in the negotiations.

Kristian Karrasch reminds that employees need the support of shop stewards and occupational safety and health representatives now even more than before.

– We have plenty of ideas for strengthening the position of personnel representatives. They have a central role in supporting the employees when the duties of municipalities and wellbeing services counties change.

The agreement periods of the collective agreements for the municipal and welfare sector end on 30 April 2025. By far the largest agreement for the municipal sector is the general collective agreement for the municipal sector KVTES, and other agreements include the collective agreement for technical personnel in the municipal sector TS, and the collective agreement for hourly paid personnel in the municipal sector TTES.

In the welfare sector, JHL negotiates on HYVTES and the SOTE agreement. HYVTES is the collective agreement for the welfare sector. The SOTE agreement is the collective agreement for health and social services personnel.

This time the negotiations also deal with the terms and conditions of employment for KT’s enterprise division. The enterprise division will have four different collective agreements. KT’s enterprise division includes hundreds of enterprises. Its members are business enterprises that are controlled by municipalities or wellbeing services counties. These enterprises used to belong to Avaintyönantajat Avainta, which ended its work in the beginning of the year 2025.

More information:
Håkan Ekström, President of JHL, 040 828 2865
Kristian Karrasch, Bargaining Director at JHL, 040 728 9046