Collective agreement negotiations for universities stalled – strike notice for Tampere University

The collective agreement negotiations of 35,000 university employees have not produced a solution. The parties have negotiated intensively since early February, and the agreement period ended at the end of March.

To expedite the negotiations, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL, the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO and Trade Union Pro issued a strike notice for Tampere University on 22 April.

The 24-hour strike will begin on 7 May at 12.01 am and end on 7 May at 11:59 pm if no agreement is reached on the terms and conditions of employment and salary increases for employees of Finland’s thirteen universities before that.

The strike will cover all work tasks under the general collective agreement for universities at Tampere University.

Excluded from the strike are essential IT support and core IT services, essential care for samples and animals, and tasks whose omission would pose a danger to human life or health or significant danger to property.

No agreement on salary increases or on teaching hour caps to secure the well-being of teaching and research staff

– Salary increases for university staff are still unresolved, as the employer’s offer for across-the-board increases is significantly below the general level, the organisations state.

In addition to salary increases, there is dispute on the teaching hour caps stated in the collective agreement, which protect those engaged in teaching and research work at universities from excessive workloads.

The organisations representing employees want to maintain the caps to ensure the quality of teaching and research in Finnish universities in the future.

A strike threat in the university sector is rare. The last time university staff went on strike was seven years ago at the University of Helsinki.

Further information and requests for comments

President of JHL Håkan Ekström, 040 828 2865