On 29 February, union and employers agreed on a competitiveness pact (c.f. article No.9526) in a bid to boost Finland’s competitiveness. This government approved agreement served to calm tensions in the country. It included raising annual working time by twenty-four hours and a commitment to more decentralized negotiation. It is now up to the social partners to include these changes into the new collective agreements that are due for negotiation across all sectors.
Almost all of the unions (representing 90% of Finland’s employees from both the public and private sectors) accepted the agreement struck on 29 February, despite threats by some unions, especially the services unions, fearing negative fallout for their members who are often on part-time work. Some 300 collective agreements have to be negotiated before the end of May and this will be particularly difficult given that how the measures in the competitiveness pact are to be applied can vary and be interpreted differently.
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