The new collective agreement for the technology industry will raise pay by 2 per cent in 2022. On January 7, The Executive Committee of the Industrial Union adopted the agreement by 20 votes to 8.
When approving the agreement, the union cancelled all planned industrial action in the technology industry. It had given a strike warning just a few days before the deal was struck.
The general pay rise for all will be 1.5 per cent and a locally agreed component of 0.5 per cent. The deal is valid until 30 of November 2023, but it can be terminated by 30 November 2022 if the parties do not reach agreement on a pay for 2023 before that.
This is the Industrial Union’s first collective agreement with the new employers’ association Technology Industry Employers of Finland. The companies belonging to the employers’ association have about 54,700 employees, but it is now so representative in the technology sector that the new collective agreement will most probably reach a status as to be considered a generally binding agreement. Then it will cover 90,000 employees.
“The settlement is historic in two ways. Firstly, employees got bigger pay increases than senior salaried employees. Secondly, the settlement has been made with the new employers’ association, Technology Industry Employers of Finland”, the Industrial Union President Riku Aalto says.
He refers to the collective agreement between the new employers’ association and the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN. YTN is a private sector negotiation organisation of the trade union confederation Akava.
In the beginning of January, the parties agreed upon a new collective agreement for senior salaried workers in the technology industry, consulting services and IT service sector. The two-year deal covers some 100,000 employees and gives a 1.8 per cent pay rise for the first year. Half of that is a general pay rise for all and half is agreed locally. The pay rise for the second year is to be negotiated later.
Trade Union Pro is still negotiating on a collective agreement for the salaried employees in the technology industry. It has given a strike warning for the period between 14 January and 23 January.
The Industrial Union also approved collective agreements for ore mines as well as the car and engineering sectors. In terms of coverage, the car sector agreement is the Industrial Union’s second largest agreement with some 20,000 employees.
Heikki Jokinen