Trade Union JHL issues a third strike warning for the private social services sector

The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL has issued another strike warning to boost the collective agreement negotiations of the private social services sector. The strike will take place on 10–12 March 2026, and it applies to work in the private social services sector at all member companies of the Finnish Association of Private Care Providers (HALI). This is JHL’s third strike warning for this sector.

Mediation of the private social services sector continued last Friday for the first time after JHL, as the only employee organisation to do so, rejected the National Conciliator’s settlement proposal. Mediation will also continue this week.

The negotiations remain deadlocked because the parties disagree on developing the terms and conditions of employment in the sector and on the level of pay increases. The employer party has offered pay increases that JHL finds insufficient.

Moreover, the agreement text improvements that have been proposed so far do not in reality take the sector forward nor compensate for the shortcomings of the pay increase proposal.

“Employees of the private social services sector do demanding work with significant responsibility, working for those who are in the most vulnerable position. We do not accept diminishing the value of this work in their pay and terms and conditions of employment. The strike is the last resort, but it is necessary for securing the rights of the employees in the private social services sector and the quality of the services”, stresses the President of JHL Håkan Ekström.

The new strike

This industrial action applies to work in the private social services sector at all member companies of HALI.

The strike applies to work shifts that start between 10 March 2026 00:01 (one minute past midnight) and 12 March 2026 23:59 (one minute before midnight). All work shifts that start during this time interval are subject to this industrial action.

JHL has furthermore issued earlier a ban on temporary transfers that is effective until further notice and concerns all JHL members who work at member companies of HALI. This ban will end when the other industrial actions end or when its ending is communicated separately.

Until further notice, JHL members change their work shifts only as overtime work.

The strike and the other industrial actions will be cancelled if a negotiation result is reached in the collective agreement negotiations of the private social services sector before it.

The second strike wave, which JHL has announced earlier, is going to take place next week on 3–5 March 2026. The first strike in the private social services sector was last week.

View JHL’s strike page for more details.

Get the latest news on this topic on JHL’s website and on our social media channels, including Facebook in English and Instagram and X in Finnish.

You can also follow the progress of the negotiations on the Instagram account of our negotiator Siru Heromaa-Karjalainen (in Finnish).

The collective agreement for the private social services sector has been negotiated since November last year. The National Conciliator began mediating the dispute at the end of January. This collective agreement is applied for example in private assisted living facilities for the elderly and for people with disabilities, nursing homes, mother-and-child homes, shelters, private child welfare institutions, personal assistance, and home help services.

More information for media:

President of Trade Union JHL Håkan Ekström, 040 828 2865