No agreement has been reached on the collective agreement for some 35,000 employees of universities. The negotiating parties last met on Monday, April 14th.
Negotiations have been ongoing intensively since early February, and the contract period ended at the end of March.
JUKO’s negotiators state that despite the intensive negotiations, no solutions have been found at the negotiating table to address the increased workload of the university staff. Instead, Finnish Education Employers, representing university employers, is pushing for the removal of teaching hour caps.
Teaching hour caps are an essential and important protective mechanism written into the collective agreement, which protects teaching and research staff from being overburdened at work. They are important to all university sector unions’ teaching and research staff that JUKO represents in these negotiations.
Salary increases still unresolved
Negotiations have now literally hit and stalled on the teaching hour cap, and no new negotiation times have been agreed upon. Other issues, including salary increases, are also unresolved.
JUKO’s negotiators emphasise that JUKO still has the will to resolve the issue through negotiations.
However, the additional time has not produced the desired result for the employees, and therefore the negotiating employee organisations must also be prepared for other means to reach an agreement.
Despite the end of the contract period, Finland’s thirteen universities and their staff will continue to follow the provisions of the previous collective agreement as usual until the old university collective agreement is terminated or a new agreement, accepted by all negotiating parties, is reached.
Check out a series of blog posts on the views of the employees.
University facts 2025
- Collective agreements | Universities’ general collective agreement and the provisions on teacher training schools
- Agreement period | 1st April, 2023 – 31st March, 2025
- Main contractual parties | JUKO, Trade Union Pro, Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, and Finnish Education Employers
- JUKO’s negotiators | Head of Collective Bargaining Katja Aho (JUKO), University Advisory Board Chair and Executive Director Tarja Niemelä (Finnish Union of University Professors), Special Adviser Hanna Tanskanen (Trade Union of Education, OAJ), Negotiations Manager Petri Toiviainen (Social Science Professionals), and Negotiations Manager Reetta Kuosmanen (The Union of Research Professionals)
What is JUKO?
- JUKO, the Negotiation Organization for Public Sector Professionals, negotiates collective agreements on behalf of, and thus represents, 200,000 members of 35 Akava member unions.
- JUKO bargains collectively on behalf of employees and officials of the municipalities, well-being services counties, the state, universities and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, as well as in Yritysjaosto, the National Gallery and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
- At the workplaces, 3,500 JUKO shop stewards negotiate locally and represent members of all JUKO unions.
- Public sector professionals, supervisors or managerial positions: find your union www.jaseneksi.fi/en
- www.juko.fi
