For many TEK members, salary negotiations are not progressing right now because the so-called export-driven labour market model is not taking off. The export-driven salary model (vientivetoinen palkkamalli in Finnish) is about employers wanting the export sectors to open up the round of collective bargaining and set the level of salary increases in a way that does not jeopardise the competitiveness of export companies.
In practice, the export-driven labour market model means that the employers' association Technology Industry Employers of Finland, which also represents export companies, and the Industrial Union, which represents the employees, first agree on the level of salary increases and other working conditions. The other sectors are then free to set their own salaries and working conditions as they wish, but in such a way that the other sectors are not allowed to exceed the cost impact of the agreement between the Technology Industry Employers of Finland and the Industrial Union. This is because employers fear losing their international cost competitiveness if other sectors get better conditions.
By the time TEK-lehti went to press at the end of January, the situation was that the Industrial Union wants a 10% pay rise for employees over the next two years, while the Technology Industry Employers of Finland is offering much smaller increases linked to estimated inflation.
The parties have been negotiating for months, but the talks have made little progress, despite attempts to speed them up by strikes. As a result, the YTN, which is the main negotiator for TEK members' salaries, has also been unable to make much progress on agreements in its own sectors, such as the chemical, energy and service industries, because their employers are waiting for an agreement from the export sector, the so-called opening deal (päänavaus in Finnish).
Textual issues have already been discussed, but it is impossible to reach a final negotiating result without a salary settlement.
"It would be good to have a opening deal so that the collective agreement negotiations for TEK members can also move forward. More agreements are coming to an end in various sectors and the pressure will probably increase little by little. However, we are now holding regular negotiations and have agreed to do so in the coming weeks. The situation can change very quickly," says Teemu Hankamäki, Labour Market Director of TEK.