The Finnish Aviation Union IAU is continuing collective bargaining with a view to renegotiating the air transport services agreement that expired in March. Photo: alexsl / iStock.
Collective bargaining overview: New terms and conditions for about 1.3 million employees in SAK-affiliated industries
Most of the current collective bargaining round has ended, with only a few smaller sectors still awaiting a settlement. SAK trade unions negotiated some 250 collective agreements and pay settlements in autumn 2024 and spring 2025, affecting about 1.3 million employees in Finland.
Negotiations between the Industrial Union and Technology Industry Employers of Finland brought the key breakthrough of the bargaining round. After negotiating for over five months, these organisations eventually approved a new collective agreement for technology industry employees at the end of February. Several subsequent settlements then applied a formula corresponding to the technology industries agreement, with pay rises totalling 7.8 per cent over a three-year period and a facility to terminate the agreement prematurely in the final year.
After prolonged negotiations, the Finnish Air Line Pilots Association SLL reached an agreement on terms and conditions of employment for Finnair pilots. While due to expire on 30 April 2028, this three-year agreement may be terminated in its final year. SLL reports that the new collective agreement includes some favourable amendments for both employees and the employer.
Settlements were also achieved in June for employees in travel agencies, pharmacies, bingo halls, cinemas, picture production businesses, household appliance and home technology maintenance, and moving services. All of these agreements were concluded for three years with a facility for premature termination in the final year.
The Finnish Aviation Union IAU is continuing collective bargaining with a view to renegotiating the air transport services agreement that expired in March, having turned down a second settlement proposal from the National Conciliator at the end of May. IAU found that this proposal failed to address the growing disparity caused in recent years by substantially inequitable pay rises in air transport services and elsewhere in the Finnair Group. Air transport service staff enjoyed no pay rise at all in 2021 and 2022, with subsequent increases failing to keep pace with the general trend.
IAU has already called eight work stoppages in air transport services during the current bargaining round. The union has also announced two new work stoppages to be called before the Midsummer public holiday, on the 17th and 19th of June.