SY: Local bargaining Bill historic

On 5 September, the Government published a Bill on local bargaining.

“This is a historic reform which has been attempted over several parliamentary terms. It’s excellent that this Government is finally taking it forward. However, Parliament still needs to make changes to regulation to ensure that companies can collectively bargain with the entire staff,” says Janne Makkula, a Vice President at Suomen Yrittäjät, the Finnish SME association.

We’re happy that the bargaining prohibitions concerning non-confederated companies are finally being scrapped. The new regulations will not give shop stewards a monopoly either, even if in future a shop steward can also be elected in a non-confederated company,” Makkula says.

Under the Government’s Bill, a company could not agree on flexibility provided by the collective agreement, apart from regular working time arrangements, with the employees. Instead, bargaining would always have to be with an employee representative.

“The vast majority of employer companies are small, with just a few employees. In firms like that, agreeing collectively without a representative is the most natural way. We propose that Parliament amends the regulation to allow for bargaining with employees,” Makkula says.

Working Condition Barometer must be used

Local bargaining requires trust, open information flow, and equal treatment. These are particularly strong in small workplaces, the Working Condition Barometer published by the Ministry of Employment and Economic Affairs shows. 

“The Working Condition Barometer information ought to be used when Parliament is thinking about the final content of local bargaining legislation. The barometer’s findings show that there are no barriers to enabling bargaining with employees,” Makkula says.

Suomen Yrittäjät compiles a report on the Ministry’s Working Condition Barometer annually, comparing private-sector workers’ answers in accordance with company size. The Working Condition Barometer is a precise depiction of how workers perceive their work.

“Year in, year out, trust, open information flow, and equal treatment are at their strongest in small companies,” says Albert Mäkelä, an expert and author of the report at Suomen Yrittäjät.

“Unfortunately, the barometer data are not sufficiently exploited when considering regulatory options,” Mäkelä says.

Unionization decreasing

In its Business owner: a good employer report published on 5 September, Suomen Yrittäjät discusses the employer–employee relationship, working conditions, work capacity and well-being. In the questions about the employer–employee relationship, in particular, small companies receive the highest marks.

The barometer also shows that fewer workers are trade union members. Small companies have the fewest unionized employees. Compared to the previous year’s survey, the level of unionization has decreased the most in medium-sized and large companies.

Employees’ answers also show that conflicts are solved particularly well in very small workplaces. Small companies are typically non-confederated and their employees non-unionized.

Entire Gov’t programme must be delivered

In spite of the week economy, employees have high trust in retaining their jobs. Indeed, this indicator has improved since last year’s survey. Employees are also very confident of being able to find a new job if necessary.

“Even though many companies have hard times behind them, and there are no guarantees about the future, they want to hold onto their employees,” Mäkelä says.

Many industries are struggling with a shortage of skilled labour. The Government’s planned restrictions to labour-based migration could worsen this shortage.

“Now is not the time to create obstacles for barriers to growth. Rigid labour market structures must be dismantled and the threshold for hiring must be lowered to allow businesses to create new jobs. The Government must rigorously pursue all the labour market reforms contained in its Programme,” he says.

Read more about the barometer here.

How the survey was conducted

• Every year, the Ministry of Employment and Economic Affairs uses the Working Condition Barometer to track the quality of and trends in Finnish work. The barometer is based on responses from employees.
• The results of the most recent barometer are based on a survey conducted in autumn 2023, which received 1,391 responses from the private sector.
• The survey respondents were interviewed when Statistics Finland conducted its workforce study. The target cohort of the barometer is all 18–64-year-old employees who work for at least 10 hours a week.
• The results can be generalized to cover all employees.

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