The Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI)
AVI is responsible for regional supervision and direction of occupational safety and health.
Trade association (trade union)
employees’ interest and service organisation in the labour market.
Salaries and wages
informs how much salary with different kinds of bonuses has been earned during a certain period of time
Wage development guarantee
a clause in a wage agreement by which an equal wage development is tried to be secured in non-flexible branches.
Earnings-related security
an allowance proportioned to the wage, for example, during periods of unemployment. Only to unemployment fund members.
Gross salary
basic salary with bonuses before taxes.
Euro or cent line
euro or cent-based increases agreed to all salaried persons instead of percentage increases.
EWC (European Works Council)
enables the employees participation in decisions concerning their work. At European level, over one thousand companies are within EWC operations, and they have altogether 15 million employees. There are more than 20,000 EWC representatives. Over 210 companies operating in Finland are within the scope of EWC operation, and 60 of them have their head office in Finland. There are more than 600 EWC representatives in Finland.
Index
a ration that expresses the change in some variables, for example wages, from time to time.
Arrangement margin
the salary increase item agreed in a centralised solution, which was agreed on either union or company-specifically.
JUKO
the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals, which negotiates the collective agreeements of Akava’s members working in the public sector (municipality, state, church, universities).
Centralised solution
an agreement on wages and other employment terms made by trade union confederations (e.g. Akava and EK), based on which member unions negotiate their own collective labour agreements. The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) announced in 2016 that it will end the negotiations of centralised solutions due to its change of rules.
Central organisation agreement
an agreement between two or several employee and employer federations on a subject in the labour market, such as the protection against employment termination or the occupational safety and health.
Non-competition agreement
an agreement by which an employee’s right to conclude a new employment contract with someone who is engaged in certain kind of competing activities with the employer.
Union round
a wage settlement negotiated and agreed by a trade union and an employer union. YTN negotiates the agreements of senior salaried employees in the private sector.
Bonuses
bonuses agreed in the collective labour agreements of the field or personally, which result from experience, the demanding nature of the work, conditions or such other.
Shop steward (liaison, contact person)
employees’ primary representative who is elected by employees based on the provisions of collective labour agreements.
Elected representative
is corresponding to a shop steward in those fields, which do not have a valid collective labour agreement.
Low wage item
a wage increase item defined in a centralised solution, which is determined based on the low-level wages of the field and the purpose of which is to increase the wages in low-paid field relatively more than in other fields.
Change security
the right of an employee losing employment to access employment programme on certain conditions
Women’s salary item
a wage increase item agreed in centralised solutions, which is determined based on the female domination in a field and by which the wage differences between men and women are tried to be reduced.
Net salary
the salary after taxes, employment pension fee and employee’s unemployment insurance premium.
Head start agreement
the collective labour agreement concluded first in the negotiation round.
Salary
remuneration for work and time spent for work.
Wage drift
the difference between the increase in wages and agreed increases during a contract period.
Wage legacy
a theoretical quantity, which tells how much a wage increase taken place during the year increases the salary of the following year.
Wage tables
tell the minimum wages of each sector.
Hiring system
hiring principles and regulations in a contract branch or in a company.
Unpaid leave in exchange for working longer hours (Pekkas-vapaat)
a general unpaid leave programme, which was started in 1984 and where the shortening of working hours by a hundred hours in several years was included in. The models of shortening working hours are agreed on in collective labour agreements sector-specifically.
Tailgate
A binding entry on the implementation of wage increases determined in a collective labour agreement if no agreement is reached locally.
Percentage line
proportionally equal increases are agreed to all employees.
Real wage
the purchasing power of the salary.
Non-disclosure agreement
According to law, employees may not disclose the employer’s trade or business secrets during the employment relationship. The aim of a non-disclosure agreement or a single non-disclosure clause is generally to either extend the number of confidential matters or continue the validity of confidentiality.
Mixed line
a wage increase is agreed in the form of x cent, however, at least y percentage.
Solidary wage policy
the aim is to increase low wages more than others.
Social package
reforms of social or labour legislation agreed jointly in connection with an incomes policy or centralised solution.
Adjustment negotiation
a negotiation during the contract period whether changed circumstances lead to changes in the agreement.
Equality plan
The Equality Act obligates all employers who employ over 30 persons to prepare an equality plan with the representatives of the personnel.
Background group
A group consisting of the members in the field must be appointed for each contract sector of YTN. The background groups, among other things, prepare for the collective labour agreements in their field.
Right to information
Shop stewards have the right to receive information on an individual employee’s salary and employment provisions on the said employee’s consent or on an employee group when there is a reason to suspect of wage discrimination based on gender.
Contractor’s obligation and liability
the contractor’s responsibility to make sure that the subcontractors comply with laws and agreements.
Income policy agreement (tupo agreement)
an agreement by the government and labour market associations on financial, income division and social measures. Income policy agreements were valid during 1969–2007. Many now self-evident benefits were for the first time agreed in income policy agreements (e.g. bonus holiday pay in 1972 and winter holiday in 1977).
Incomes policy
cooperation between different interest groups and the government with the aim of adjusting total income growth of the national economy and its division to other economic policy realities, for example, the growth in real income to the development of productivity and gain low inflation.
Efficiency wages
the wage tied with the efficiency of a person, a person group or a company
Financial and/or production-related grounds for termination
According to the Employment Contracts Act, the termination on these grounds is only possible if the work to be offered has diminished substantially and permanenty for financial or production-related reasons or for reasons arising from reorganisation of the employer’s operations. The employment contract cannot be terminated if the employee can be placed in or trained for other duties.
Collective labour agreement
a field-specific agreement where the employment terms and conditions in a field are agreed. YTN has approximately 30 national and company-specific collective labour agreements in the industry as well as business and service sectors.
Occupational safety manager
the employer’s representative in the cooperation of occupational safety.
Occupational safety representative
the representative of the personnel in the cooperation of occupational safety.
Occupational safety authority
is divided into five responsibility areas in occupational safety by Regional State Administrative Agencies. In the areas of responsibility within occupational safety regionally monitors the compliance with rules and regulations concerning occupational safety. In addition to supervision, we give instructions and guidelines in issues relating to occupational safety and health and the employment terms and conditions.
Labour Court
hears and tries the disputes and work peace breaches resulting from the the application and interpretation of collective labour agreements. In addition, the Labour Court settles, as the appellate court, the appeals made on the decisions by the validation board of the universal applicability of a collective labour agreement and the appeals made on certain decisions concerning exceptions by the Labour Council. The Labour Court is in the above-mentioned matters the only court with jurisdiction. Its judgments cannot be appealed, they are final and immediately enforceable. However, the Supreme Court may cancel the Labour Court’s judgment on the same preconditions as other courts’ judgments. The Labour Court does not hear all labour law related disputes. Disputes arising out of an employment contract between an employer and an employee are heard in an appropriate District Court. Corresponding disputes of civil servants are heard in an Administrative Court.
Collective civil-servant agreement
a collective agreement in public sectors where the employment terms and conditions are agreed. The contracting party for Akava’s public sector members is the Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals (JUKO).
Liaison
the representative of the personnel and the trade union at workplaces.
Co-operation negotiations
are based on the Act on Co-operations within Undertakings. The Act on Co-operations within Undertakings is applied to those companies which regularly employ at least 20 persons. The objective of the Act on Co-operations within Undertakings is to promote the cooperation between the personnel and the employer so that the employees would have better possibilities to affect matters concernign their work and the working conditions.
Contact person
the representative of the personnel and the trade union at workplaces.
General increase
the wage increase in the form of cent, euro or percentage agreed in the agreement, which is paid to all belonging to the scope of the agreement.
Senior salaried employee
works in expert, superior, manager or management level assignments. The work tasks of senior salaried employees are characterised by their relatively large independency and responsibility. The work tasks of senior salaried employees require high education or knowledge and skills brought by work experience. A high education refers to education gained at universities or universities of applied sciences or such corresponding/parallel education (e.g. engineer degrees, secretary degrees (HSO). Senior salaried employees do not work in the upper management of the company. Working as senior salaried employees’ superior does not exclude the person from the concept of senior salaried employees.
Overtime work
work exceeding the agreed working hours on the superior’s request, which must be compensated to the employee.
Staff association
YTN’s staff associations are a part of the senior salaried employees’ lobbying. A staff association may operate at unit, company or group level. The goal of the staff associations is to boost the local lobbying of senior salaried employees. Staff associations are independent organisations, the operation of which is decided by their members.
YTN
Akava’s Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN is a negotiation organisation, which is responsible for the contractual work of senior salaried employees in the industry as well as in business and service sectors. YTN has 19 Akava unions, through which it represents 170,000 experts and superiors in different sectors.
Illegal strike
In Finland, strikes and lockouts implemented by the employer are considered illegal if they violate the industrial peace obligation of the current collective agreement.
Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes
The labour dispute mediation system, the powers of the National Conciliator and the procedures to be followed in the conciliation are based on the Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes.
Strike (industrial action)
The employees’ right to industrial action is one of the fundamental rights of Western democracy. Finland has ratified the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a specialised UN organisation, which define the fundamental rights of employees. No strike bound tasks will be performed during the strike. The strike can be targeted at a specific industry, individual companies, personnel groups or specific tasks. The employer cannot require that supervisors, for example, should be informed in advance about participating in a strike. The strike requires an industrial action warning to be submitted to the National Conciliator two weeks before the work stoppage.
Strike allowance
Strike allowance is a compensation paid by the union to members who are not receiving earned income because of a strike.
Strike limits
The industrial action notice, or strike warning, must specify the strike limits, i.e. the industry, companies or tasks affected by the strike.
Strike committee
Strike committees can be regional, local and workplace-specific. The strike committee leads the strike in its own area and handles tasks related to the strike.
Picketer
The picketer monitors the implementation of the strike and urges anyone attempting to carry out work covered by the strike to leave the workplace. The picketer shares information in front of the workplace and monitors the actions of employers. The picketer is the organisation’s representative and a striker themselves.
Strike warning
If no mutual understanding is reached in the negotiations and no result is achieved, the employee side may interrupt the negotiations and initiate industrial action. In order to take such action, an industrial action notice, or strike warning, must be submitted to the National Conciliator two weeks before the start of the pressure measures. The Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes requires a precise form of the strike warning. The strike warning must specify the exact start time, extent and limits of the strike.
Additional work
Additional work means regular work that exceeds 7.5 hours but does not count as overtime.
Shop steward
A shop steward usually refers to an employee representative elected by the employees from amongst themselves on the basis of the collective agreement (CLA).
Employee representative
An employee representative can be elected if the personnel group does not have a shop steward elected under the collective agreement.
Change negotiations
See Cooperation.
Negotiation result
The negotiation result requires the approval of the agreeing parties’ administrations before it enters into force.
Political demonstration
A political demonstration is a measure protected by the Constitution aimed at influencing social decision-making. A demonstration may be directed against the decisions of the Government or Parliament, for example. It is not directed against valid collective agreements or the terms of the employment relationship.
Resolution board (also arbitration board)
YTN’s two collective agreements (technology industry and consulting industry) include an entry on the resolution board. YTN and the employers’ union each appoint one member to the resolution board for two years. The members also elect a chairperson, who must be an impartial person familiar with the labour market. A contracting party that wishes to refer a matter to the arbitration board must notify the other party in writing of this and submit a copy of the notification to the chairperson of the arbitration board within 30 days of it becoming apparent that the organisations cannot reach an agreement on the matter.
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who performs work subject to a labour dispute without a work permit. A strikebreaker can be dismissed from membership of the union.
Period of no agreement
If a solution cannot be reached in the negotiations before the expiry of the collective agreement, a period of no agreement will begin. This also ends the industrial peace obligation.
Settlement proposal
A settlement proposal is a proposal made by the labour dispute conciliator to the parties to the labour dispute to settle the labour dispute.
Arbitration board
See resolution board
After-effect of a collective agreement
During a period without an agreement, the employment terms of the collective agreement remain in effect with retroactive impact. The provisions of the old collective agreement will be complied with until the new collective agreement has been agreed.
Work permit
During a labour dispute, a separate work permit may be granted to a specific workplace in an exceptional case upon the employer’s justified written application, even if the labour dispute otherwise concerned the workplace. The person who has received a work permit is not a strikebreaker.
Industrial peace obligation
When a collective agreement is complied with under the Collective Agreements Act, it is associated with a binding industrial peace obligation. When a collective agreement is valid, all industrial actions targeted at any of its provisions are prohibited.
Lockout
A lockout is an industrial action by employers. A lockout means that the employers’ union prohibits work in some of its member companies. A lockout implemented by the employer is an industrial action in the same way as a strike by the employees is. The other party and the National Conciliator must be notified of the lockout two weeks before the lockout is implemented.
Industrial action
A industrial action is a right that is guaranteed to employees under the legislation to defend and safeguard their interests. The forms of industrial action include an overtime ban, a ban on travelling for work-related purposes outside of regular working hours, a walkout and a strike.
Prohibition on travelling for work-related purposes outside of regular working hours
During the ban, employees may not travel for work-related purposes outside of regular working hours, but travel must take place during regular working hours. The prohibition does not apply to travel between home and the main workplace.
Universal binding force
The universal binding force of a collective agreement is affected by both the number of organised employers (i.e. those belonging to a union) and the number of organised employees. Collective agreements that are considered representative are confirmed as universally binding. An important assessment criterion in that context is the proportion of employees in the industry who are employed by employers belonging to an employers’ union. The universal binding nature of the collective agreement is confirmed by the Board for Ratification of the Validity of Collective Agreements of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. When a collective agreement is universally binding, all employers in the contract branch must comply with the provisions of the collective agreement. The provisions of collective agreements are minimum provisions.
Overtime ban
An overtime ban is a pressure measure that can be declared to a specific industry, company or personnel group. During the ban, only regular working time is worked, no overtime, and flexitime is not increased during the ban. The ban is legal, because employees also have the right to refuse overtime outside regular working time.