The main wave of collective agreements for 2007-2008, which concern 95% of employees, ended with an agreement in the paper sector on April 1. It is now possible to learn a few lessons from it and observe a few trends. The main novelty is the fact that all the agreements signed were industry-wide agreements, which puts an end to almost 40 years of central agreements at the confederal level, with a few exceptions. (Ref. 080399)
Level of the wage increases. Most of the new agreements will be effective for 2 years and a half, in average. The average wage increase for employees revolves around 4.4%, which is much higher than what they got during the former negotiations. Thus in the private sector, according to Finnish employers, the average wage increase would be 5.5% in 2008 as opposed to 3.3% in 2007, not including overtime. This phenomenon can be explained by a high real growth, in average 4% a year since 2005, as wel
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