| x Tripartite negotiations for centralised incomes policy bargaining began on Wednesday, 4th
    of October, in Helsinki. Each of the trade union central organisations, along with all the
    central organisations of the employers' federations, participated in the opening meeting
    as did Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen. The participants stated that a wide-ranging incomes
    policy solution for a minimum duration of two years was the prime aim for everyone
    involved.
 The next meeting of this large tripartite
    negotiating body is due to take place in late October, and prior to this, proposals for
    the terms of the centralised agreement will be deliberated by the leaders of the central
    organisations. It is hoped that a centralised incomes policy solution will be reached by
    early November, as this would leave both the trade unions and the employers' federations
    some time to adapt the centralised agreement to each separate sector of industry. The
    signing of the incomes policy agreement has been scheduled for early December. The employee side has not, to date, specified the pay
    increases which they will be seeking. The employers have already emphasised the need for
    an agreement on moderate pay increases, and at the present moment they appear to be
    looking for rises of some 1%. The employers are eager to remind the employee side that,
    next year, there will still be some rollover pay rises to come, which will be awarded on
    the basis of earlier agreements, and that these alone will amount to 2 or 3%. The
    employers however want to reserve some part of any pay increases to be agreed upon at a
    company level. The employers have also further defined their demands. The
    Employers' Confederation of Service Industries, PT, is seeking an agreement which would
    stay in force until the autumn of 2003. However, it is unlikely that they will succeed in
    this as the largest trade union central organisation in Finland, SAK, has set a period of
    two years for this agreement. SAK may encounter difficulties in its attempts to have the
    centralised agreement accepted by all of the unions, due to the fact that some sectors of
    industry already have in place their own collective agreements on terms of employment and
    these will remain in force for several years to come. The Paperworkers' Union, for
    example, intends to negotiate on future pay rises on the basis of its existing agreement,
    which will remain in force until the end of January 2003. The employers of the manufacturing and service sectors are
    opposed to any reductions in working time. SAK has demanded that the annual working time
    will be reduced by one working day, so that the Saturday immediately following Ascension
    Day will become a non-working day. Leena Seretin |