The strike warning is for a two-day strike at 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 have been imposed on all sites covered by the strike, starting on 5 November 2024 at 9:00 and ending on 21 November 2024 at 23:59.
“In addition to the employers’ drastic proposals, the situation has been made more difficult by the fact that the National Conciliator is firmly backing the employers’ objectives. This fruitless process, which has lasted for more than six months, has now left us no choice but to take industrial action,” says Tehy President Millariikka Rytkönen.
The private emergency medical services sector agreed on a long-term rescue programme in 2022, with the aim of bringing wages and salaries in the sector up to the same level as the job-specific pay of paramedics in wellbeing services counties by 2029.
“At the time, the parties shared common concerns about the future of the private emergency medical services sector and jointly agreed to raise wages and salaries to the level of the public sector through a dedicated programme. Only two years later, the employer side is offering zero pay rises and wants to forget the whole rescue programme,” says Rytkönen.
According to Rytkönen, this is an opportune time for the employers’ bluster, given the Government’s anti-employee policies and the backing of the National Conciliator. “I do not believe that the employers’ chosen strategy will serve the interests of the emergency medical services sector in the long term.”
Tehy points out that emergency medical services are provided with public funds, regardless of whether they are delivered by the private or public sector. The pay gap between private and public sector paramedics is hundreds of euros and will grow if the rescue programme is not continued.
The current labour dispute concerns the private emergency medical services sector, but the entire emergency medical services sector in our country is at stake, meaning that public emergency medical services may also be at risk.
“There is a clear risk that the wellbeing services counties will seek savings in the future by outsourcing more of their emergency medical services. Tehy does not condone the cheapening of employment conditions, whereby pay and employment conditions would be weakened in the future by transferring paramedics to a cheaper collective agreement.”
Enquiries:
Negotiations Manager Vappu Okkeri, tel. +358 9 5422 7121