The new directive obliges to change both legislation and collective agreements. There is already a rush to prepare the changes.
in Finland The gender wage gap is a significant, persistent phenomenon. According to the equal pay principle, women and men must be paid the same not only for the same work but also for work of equal value. However, the equality of different jobs is not always recognized. Correcting the issue requires salary knowledge and the availability of salary information.
During the previous governments, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health prepared legal changes to increase salary transparency. The proposal that an employee who suspects wage discrimination would be given the right to receive information about the salary and job duties of an employee of the opposite sex was met with opposition from employers' and business organizations.
At the same time, the effectiveness of the equal pay program of labor market organizations has weakened. Low-wage batches have been abandoned with centralized contracts. Wage formation is fragmented.
Petteri Orpon (kok) the government has not kept equal pay on display. The Government's communication on the promotion of equality, equality and non-discrimination does not even mention the issue. However, the principle of equal pay, which prohibits wage discrimination, is a key requirement of the International Labor Organization's ILO conventions, the UN CEDAW convention on the status of women, and EU law.
The government has to implement the EU wage transparency directive that came into force in June 2023. There is little public discussion of the matter, even though the directive requires many changes. The government program acknowledges the matter in one sentence.
Directive requires more than the Equality Act. According to EU law, very different work tasks can be of equal value. The strong division of the Finnish labor market into women's and men's occupations may hide the visible equality of work performed in different occupations. According to the directive, the equality of jobs must be evaluated objectively according to qualifications, workload, amount of responsibility and working conditions, and if necessary other criteria. Salary structures must enable equality comparison.
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The government program acknowledges the matter in one sentence.
Based on research, we know that a large part of the payroll systems in use in Finland do not meet these requirements. For example, a system based on job titles alone does not allow comparing the equality of jobs.
Equality Act employers employing at least 30 people must make a salary survey of the salary differences of employees doing the same or equivalent work. In the directive, salary reporting is defined more precisely, and the salary report must be published.
The directive requires the strengthening of legal protection and sanctions related to wage discrimination. Among other things, equality and employee organizations must have the power to file a lawsuit on behalf of a victim of wage discrimination, unlike today. Compensation must put the victim in the position he would have been in had the discrimination not occurred, and fines must be introduced.
If the victim has been discriminated against on several grounds, i.e. it is intersectional discrimination, the sanction can be increased. If the obligations regarding pay transparency have not been complied with, the employer must prove that no discrimination has occurred.
Directive can even be considered a historical turning point: the lack of implementation of the equal pay principle is being seriously addressed.
The directive requires changes at least to Finland's equality and procedural law. Collective agreements should be amended to meet the directive's requirements. Actions should be taken quickly, even though the deadline for implementing the directive is only in 2026. According to the directive, labor market organizations should participate in the preparation.
The new legislation should enter into force in the spring of 2025, so that there would be enough time for labor market organizations to negotiate on the matter. In Sweden, a surveyor was appointed for the preparation of the law as early as the beginning of autumn 2023.
Niklas Bruun is professor emeritus at the Hanken School of Economics. Kevät Nousiainen is an emeritus professor at the University of Turku.
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