Details of HS | Wage negotiations broke down in an important export sector: employers offered two percent increases and a lump sum

Negotiations on the working conditions of senior employees in the technology industry broke off on Monday due to a disagreement between the parties over salary increases.

Helsingin Sanomat has received information from its sources about the content of the negotiations. They are not usually made public.

The latest offer from employers in the technology industry to YTN, which represents senior employees, is two percent salary increases for next year.

The increases would be distributed so that the general increase for all salaries would be 0.7 percent. Employers would distribute the remaining 1.3 percent increases locally to those they want.

In addition to permanent increases, the employer side has offered senior employees a one-off payment of 0.7 percent for next year. Like a general increase, it would apply to everyone.

The technology industry is one of Finland’s most important export sectors. Among the largest companies in Finland, the members of employers in the technology industry include network equipment company Nokia, elevator company Kone, steel company Outokumpu and engineering company Wärtsilä.

Read more: The tes negotiations of senior employees of YTN and Technology Industry Employers broke off

The two of you percent increases and especially a general increase of less than one percent is not enough for YTN. The employee side would clearly like higher wage increases due to the strong rise in prices.

For example, YTN’s vice-chairman, head of the Engineers’ Union Samu Salo said at the end of November for Kauppalehtithat senior officials want general raises of five percent.

The search for an agreement will continue for two weeks by a three-member reconciliation committee.

The Association of Technology Industry Employers is also conducting negotiations on national collective agreements with Pro, which represents white-collar workers, and with Teollisuusliitto, which represents “Dunoirs”.

Negotiations with Pro and Teollisuusliitto have also progressed slowly. The Employers’ Association and Teollisuusliitto meet next time only in a week and a half.

CEO of employers in the technology industry Jarkko Ruohoniemi does not want to comment on Helsingin Sanomat’s information about the content of the negotiations in any way. Ruohoniemi says that negotiations will not take place in public.

Technology industry wage negotiations are also significant from the point of view of other sectors. The technology industry has often determined the so-called general line of salary increases, which other sectors have followed.

In this round of negotiations, the importance of export sectors will be emphasized even more due to the agreement signed by the municipal sector in the summer. It automatically guarantees workers in municipalities and welfare regions contract increases that are about a percentage point higher than what workers in export industries receive.