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The Finnish employers have offered their employees a pay increase of 1.8% for next year
and 1.3% for the following year. This is wide of the figure which SAK had set as a target.
SAK is demanding, for the coming year, an increase of 3.8%.The industrial and service sector employers announced their pay offer on
Wednesday, November 1st. This offer consists, for next year, of a general pay rise of
1.2%, of a trade union related allowance of 0.3%, and an additional 0.3% which will be
reserved for increases which are to be decided upon at the discretion of the individual
companies. For the following year, the employers are offering 1% as a general pay rise and
0.3% as a company based increase. The employers would prefer an agreement which would be
valid for three years. They suggest that pay rises for the third year would be agreed upon
during the autumn of the year 2002.
The employers would be prepared to provide information on
the implementation of performance related pay, but they would not be willing to enter into
negotiations on this issue on a sectoral basis. No other issues to be included in the
incomes policy agreement, and which relate to the quality of working conditions, were
proposed by the employers
An unbelievable offer
Lauri Ihalainen, the President of SAK, immediately remarked
that the figures which were presented by the employers would not produce any incomes
policy agreement at all.
—'They do not seem to value their staff very highly',
Mr Ihalainen said of the employers, adding that in the present economic situation the
offer was unbelievable.
Finland is currently enjoying a more competitive edge than
at any other time since the second world war. In many sectors labour costs have remained
below the average of the industrialised countries, whilst the increase in productivity has
been second to none.
SAK is of the opinion that the wages model, as presented by
the employers, favours the higher earner and is thus unfair. This model would give the SAK
member, with average earning power, an increase of 85 Finnish marks per month. SAK has
called for a rise of 330 Finnish marks per month, which would be augmented with a sectoral
pay rise of 0.7% and with an equality pay award of 0.4%.
Leena Seretin |
