Labor Minister Satonen comments on the law: “Freedom of contract is not restricted” – 2024-10-03 12:34:28

Labor Minister Arto Satonen told about the new mediation model. TIINA SOMERPURO

Minister of Labour Arto Satonen (kok) comments on the government’s proposal to be sent to parliament on Thursday, which will change the collective bargaining agreement.

– Freedom of contract is not restricted in any way, Satonen assured.

It is about the fact that the general line of wage inspections cannot be exceeded by a settlement proposal issued by the national conciliator’s office or by the conciliation board.

The goal of the changes is to promote the functionality of wage formation and the labor market.

In accordance with the government program, the government’s goal is to strengthen the export-led labor market model in order to increase Finland’s long-term competitiveness.

The national economy must not be endangered

It will be written into the law that the conciliator must take into account the safeguarding of the overall interest of the national economy and the functioning of wage formation, and ensure that the operation of the labor market is not jeopardized.

At the press conference, Minister Satose and the Cabinet Advisor of the Ministry of Labor and Economy presented the government’s proposal Nico Steinerilta was asked who correctly makes the assessment of the disruption of the market and the overall benefit of the national economy.

Steiner said the national mediator and the mediation board will assess the effects. According to Steiner, mediators have the best knowledge of the effects of wage settlements.

Steiner also commented on whether the public sector can ever get higher wage increases than the export sector. According to Stainer, the legal package does not go into details.

– When a settlement proposal is given, you have to do a thought test: can it cause a wage spiral or disrupt the operation of the labor market, Steiner estimates.

Satonen highlighted the distribution of wages within the public sector. He said that in Sweden the emphasis has been placed specifically on female-dominated industries suffering from labor shortages.

Criticism of freedom of contract

Satonen repeated many times that the limitation of exceeding the general line only applies to the activities of the national mediator.

When negotiating collective agreements, only a part ends up on the table of the national mediator. In mutual negotiations between labor market organizations, the parties’ freedom of contract would remain unchanged.

This raised doubts in the labor market field.

Already during the press conference, objections started to appear in the employee organizations. OAJ’s chairperson Katarina Murto considered that the model interferes with freedom of contract in a significant way.

The automotive and construction workers’ union AKT considered that “the bill has completely failed”.

STTK also demanded that the government withdraw from the export-led model. Similarly, the nursing organization Super criticized the model for being “very harmful” for female-dominated fields.

You can find the text follow-up of the event below.