HS analysis|The government is trying to curb wage increases in the public sector with legal projects. Labor disputes may rage next year, writes politics reporter Teemu Muhonen.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
The government is trying to curb wage increases in the public sector with several legal projects.
The government wants to prevent increases like the 2022 salary program for nurses and teachers, for example.
Next spring, the employer can terminate the salary program.
If the government’s legal projects move forward and the employer terminates the wage program, there may be extensive industrial disputes ahead.
Petteri Orpon The (kok) government is now trying to curb salary increases for nurses, teachers and other public sector employees with several legal projects.
The purpose is to prevent the situation in 2022. At that time, the municipal sector was able to fight for a wage program led by administrators from the conciliation board, which guaranteed for years higher contract wage increases than for export sectors. The nurses also got additional raises, the background of which is partly the so-called salary harmonization.
Salary increases are one of the biggest explanatory factors for, for example, the strong growth of spending in welfare areas.
“The current public sector salary solution is costing the public economy far too much,” says one government source.
The salaries of nurses in particular have grown too much from the government’s point of view, and that is why it intervenes.
September at the end, the government is supposed to present a proposal to the parliament on the promotion of the so-called export model. The purpose of the proposal is to curb the possibilities of the national conciliator and conciliation boards to propose higher salary increases for public sector employees than for employees in the export sectors.
Although the wording of the draft proposal is circular, the employer and employee side have a concurring interpretation: passing the proposal would prevent a repeat of the events of 2022.
At the same time, a working group appointed by the government is investigating permanent legislation on so-called protection work in the event of a labor dispute. The working group was supposed to finish its work on Friday, but it will continue at least until the end of the month.
Protective work means that, for example, nurses are at work during a strike to protect people’s lives and health. In 2022 Sanna Marini (sd) the government pushed through a separate patient safety law to ensure protection work. The nurses’ unions had threatened mass layoffs.
The strong and visible opposition to the patient safety law, dubbed the “forced labor law” by the nursing unions, gave more impetus to their labor struggle.
With its legal projects, the government wants to ensure that there are no more sleazy mediation boards or the need to regulate the patient safety law.
Law changes will probably come into force by next spring. They can affect public sector salary negotiations right away.
The multi-year contract and the labor peace obligation concluded in 2022 expire at the end of April. Then for the employer side, the Municipal and welfare area employers KT will also have the opportunity for the first time to terminate the public sector salary program, which will basically continue until 2027.
Termination of the salary program would be a tough solution, despite the changes in the law that make it easier for the employer. It would likely lead to widespread industrial action in the public sector. Still, a solution is considered possible in labor market circles.
KT’s long-term CEO approved the salary program Markku Jalonen will retire in February, to the surprise of many. Jalos, who is considered to be lax in the Kokoumus and the Confederation of Business and Industry in EK, has been scorned because of the wage program. We want a harder bone to replace him.
April’s municipal and regional elections bring their own spice to the explosive situation. Although the coalition wants to use the available means to limit salary increases in the public sector, it does not want to appear publicly as an opponent of nurses and teachers. Angering important groups of voters is a risk.
Public sector unions are aware of the situation. For example, the chairman of the OAJ, a trade union in the education sector close to the convention Katarina Murto has threatened that due to the government’s legal projects, the spring elections will become “salary elections”.
#Analysis #government #considers #nurses #salary #increases #excessive #intervenes
