The new collective agreement for the port sector brings 7.8% pay rises
The new port sector collective agreement applies until March 2028. Pay rises during the new agreement period amount to 7.8%.
Port sector employees have a new collective agreement. The executive bodies of the negotiating parties approved the collective agreement negotiation result in March, and the agreement period started on 1 April 2025.
– The atmosphere in the port sector collective agreement negotiations was good, even though we could not make much progress with text updates. Besides Palta, the employers' negotiator team also included people from several ports. They brought fresh and constructive ideas to the negotiation table, tells JHL’s Bargaining Specialist Jussi Päiviö, who was one of the negotiators.
Satamien ja vesiväylien Unioni (the ports and waterways union), formed by Trade Union JHL and Finnish Seafarers’ Union, represents the employees in the port sector collective agreement negotiations, and Service Sector Employers Palta represents the employer party.
A three-year long collective agreement for the port sector became effective on 1 April 2025
The new collective agreement period for the port sector is three years long, from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028.
It is a 2+1 type of agreement, where the last year can be cancelled with a notice of termination by the end of the year 2026. Termination is possible if the parties want to renegotiate the pay rises for the last year, for example because the overall economic outlook has improved.
Port sector pays rise by 7.8%
The total port sector pay rises in the course of three years are going to be 7.8%. That follows the general level of this collective agreement round.
Most of the pay rises are paid as across-the-board increases, but a part is distributed as company-specific allowances. 0.2% is allocated to family leaves.
– It was important that we finally got equal family leaves also into the port sector collective agreement. The pay rise of the first year does not have a company-specific component at all. Considering this, putting 0.2% to equal family leaves is a reasonable settlement, Päiviö comments.
It is also possible to make local pay settlements in the port sector. Matters to be agreed in the local pay settlement include the way pay adjustments are made, as well as their timing and amount. Workplaces make a local agreement with the shop steward.
If local pay settlement is not achieved, the pay rises will be as specified below.
Port sector pay rises on 1 August 2025
- 2.3% across-the-board increase
- 0.2% to family leaves
Family leaves will be reformed by spending 0.2% from the pay rise allowance to implementing a 32 workdays long parental leave.
Port sector pay rises on 1 July 2026
- 2.3% across-the-board increase
- 0.6% company-specific allowance
Port sector pay rises on 1 July 2027
- 2% across-the-board increase
- 0.4% company-specific allowance
Across-the-board increase means a pay rise that is the same for everyone covered by the collective agreement. Pay increments that are comparable to basic pay will also rise with the same across-the-board percentages.
Company-specific allowance means a local allowance on which the employer decides. Its purpose is to help make the pays motivating and appropriate and to fix possible biases. The company-specific allowance can also be used for rewarding an employee’s performance.
Small updates in the collective agreement texts
In addition to pay rises, the new port sector collective agreement brings some updates in the agreement texts, but only minor changes could be made this time.
– Nevertheless, we got in a reference to a possibility for a better text concerning paying a compensation for an instructor.
– There is also a new entry on stand-by duty of white-collar workers. However, this does not change the current practice very much. It only clarifies local agreements on stand-by, Päiviö continues.
The working group for future will process working times and local agreements
The port sector collective agreement negotiations also resulted into forming of one new working group, called the working group for future.
This working group will deal broadly with working time questions, provisions for local agreements and more – and of course with the future of this sector in general.
– At first, we considered several working groups. In the end we decided to form only one, because the working group negotiators would have been the same in all working groups, Päiviö explains.
More information:
JHL’s Bargaining Specialist Jussi Päiviö, 040 578 5916
Your trade union JHL negotiates on a number of collective agreements in 2025. Follow the negotiations on our website.
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