However, the negotiations continued on Monday 30 January and the parties next meet on 6 February.
The negotiations now being conducted are part of the two-year collective agreement signed in April last year, in which it was agreed that the pay rises for 2023 would be negotiated by the end of January.
The negotiations for the pay rises of 34,000 university employees began on 17 January.
JUKO, the Negotiation Organization for Public Sector Professionals, has repeatedly stressed that the goal of the employee side is pay rises which boost purchasing power.
If negotiations do not achieve a result concerning salaries by 17 February, the two-year collective agreement may be terminated to expire at the end of March.
In that case, university employees would be without a valid collective agreement as of 1 April. Without a valid collective agreement, the provisions of the old collective agreement are observed, but various forms of industrial action are also possible.
The members of Akava trade unions on behalf of whom JUKO negotiates work in roles such as research, teaching, administration and management.
The parties negotiating for a general collective agreement for universities and teacher training schools are: JUKO, the Negotiation Organization for Public Sector Professionals; the Pro Trade Union; JHL, the Trade Union for Public and Welfare Sectors, and Finnish Education Employers.
University facts
Main contractual parties | JUKO; Pro Trade Union; JHL, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors; and Finnish Education Employers
Collective agreements | Universities’ general collective agreement and the teacher training school collective agreement
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 in Finland, OAJ), Negotiations Manager Petri Toiviainen (Social Science Professionals)
The universities’ general collective agreement covers an approximate 34,000 employees. The members of Akava unions represented by JUKO work at universities in such areas as research, teaching, administration and management.
We will provide weekly information about the negotiations in our Negotiations News email and on our website at www.juko.fi. Follow us and the conversation on Facebook and Twitter: @JUKOry. Our hashtags are #MeOlemmeYliopisto and #neuvotellen2023.
It’s also worth visiting the Yliopistotes.fi website regularly. This online information bank from JUKO and its member unions has all the essential information about the universities’ collective agreement.
Further information
Katja Aho | head of collective bargaining | university sector | +358 50 592 1646 | katja.aho@juko.fi | Twitter @aho_katja @JUKOry
JUKO, the Negotiation Organization for Public Sector Professionals, negotiates collective agreements on behalf of, and thus represents, 200,000 members of Akava member unions. We bargain 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 Avainta sectors*, the National Gallery and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. (*Private companies and foundations operating under the aegis of municipalities, as well as private service providers for the municipalities.)
We are an association of associations: JUKO consists of 11 member associations, which have 35 member unions.
