The parties remain very divided on pay increases, with the employer side still offering zero increases for 2024. The zero pay increase approach proposed by the employer widens the pay gap between private and public emergency medical services. The mediation process has also been hampered by the strong coordination of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) in the background, which cements the pay gap and virtually rules out any genuine negotiations at the sectoral level.
National Conciliator Anu Sajavaara has firmly adopted the zero increase approach advocated by the employers and EK. It seems that the pay gap act, which is currently being discussed by the Government, is already being interpreted at the National Conciliator’s Office by watering down the pay programme that was deemed necessary during the last negotiation round.
– Backed by the National Conciliator, the employers are declaring that you got enough in the last round, you’re not getting anything this time. And this law that is driving down the wages in the care sector is not even in force yet, says Millariikka Rytkönen, President of Tehy.
According to Rytkönen, it is unheard of that, in the name of an utterly vague “general level,” the employer and conciliator have joined forces in a brazen push for absolutely zero pay increases for paramedics. In the hands of the National Conciliator, this general level seems to follow the Government’s line of not increasing care workers’ wages and not advancing equal pay.
– We have now reached the limits of care workers’ tolerance, and a strike will start on Wednesday 20 November 2024. This will be a long and winding road for employers in the private emergency medical services sector, Rytkönen sums up.
The strike affects Med Group Ensihoitopalvelu Oy’s locations in Pirkanmaa and EMA Finland Oy’s locations in Uusimaa.
The strike will start on Wednesday 20 November 2024 at 00:01 and end on Thursday 21 November 2024 at 23:59. Furthermore, a ban on gig work, a job search embargo and a ban on temporary transfers affecting all Tehy members has been imposed on all sites covered by the strike, starting on Tuesday 5 November 2024 at 9:00 and ending on Thursday 21 November 2024 at 23:59.
Further information about the negotiation round in Finnish.
Enquiries:
Negotiations Manager Vappu Okkeri, tel. +358 9 5422 7121, [email protected]