Tehy and SuPer members stood side by side to agree on an excellent pay solution for nurses in 2022. The aim of the pay programmes was to narrow the pay gap between male- and female-dominated sectors and relieve the shortage of nurses over a period of five years. The pay programmes introduced a pay increase of at least 20.9 per cent to the social and healthcare sector and an increase of at least 14.1 per cent to the municipal sector.
The wages and terms of employment of Tehy members in the municipal sector and wellbeing services counties are currently being negotiated. In this round of negotiations, we do not only aim at improving the working conditions but also seek to secure pay increases to safeguard purchasing power and guarantees that the pay increases for 2026 and 2027 will be implemented as agreed in the pay programme in 2022.
Markku Jalonen, the recently retired Managing Director of the Local and County Government Employers KT, said in an interview with YLE on 3 March 2025 that the pay programmes have increased the pay equity between men and women and improved the availability of workforce.
According to the calculations of KT, the pay programmes will narrow the pay gap between women and men by 1.77 percentage points over the course of five years. In its blog post published on 13 January 2025, KT says that the effect of the agreement in 2022 on narrowing the pay gap between women and men in the municipal and welfare sectors is significant.
The pay programmes are concrete actions called for by Tehy that have a powerful positive effect on the working conditions in the care sector and the only guarantee that the level of pay in the social, healthcare and education sector can be improved. Improving the level of pay and working conditions ensures that everyone can continue to receive good care in Finland in 2025 as specified in the Constitution.
County and municipal council representatives can also affect whether the rise of nurses from the pay gap that has started so well continues, or if the journey ends here. The representatives hold the power to affect the pay of more than 100,000 Tehy members and have the opportunity to promote pay equity in Finland. A very great responsibility indeed.
Tackling the nurse shortage and promoting pay equity require long-term actions and financing. Thanking and encouraging nurses in election speeches or merely understanding the issues in the care sector are not enough. Concrete actions are needed, such as pay programmes.
Remember to ask your candidate what concrete actions they would take to improve the working conditions of nurses, and whether they are ready to put themselves on the line to continue the implementation of pay programmes.
Nurses need brave representatives who demand concrete actions in the council.