Finland: after several months of tough negotiations, sectoral agreements are reached on the basis of the framework agreement the social partners signed in October at national level

Employers accepted to negotiate in the end and, after a few bumps when the talks were suspended, a deal was stricken on October 13.  In addition to political and union pressure, another element impacted the debate: it isn’t proven that decentralized bargaining works.  As Mikko Mäenpää, general secretary of the STTK union confederation, pointed out, decentralized bargaining, which has grown over the past 18 months, has rarely led to significant agreements, and the number of illegal strikes has soared, which doesn’t speak in favor of a method which might cause conflicts to spread in the absence of a general framework.  There have already been conflicts in sectors where the collective agreements were about to expire – services, banking, public sector employees (all their contracts are regulated by collective agreements), and technological employees.