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Home BUSINESSMunicipalities sign competitiveness deal
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Tue, 06 Sep, 2016 12:00:51 AM
FTimes – STT Report, Sep 6
 
Photo – Lehtikuva.
The municipality sector on Monday signed the competitiveness agreement at the House of Municipalities where glasses of sparkling wine clinked as the union representatives put pen to paper.
 
The signatories included the Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer) whose chair Silja Paavola was still uncertain about the union’s position over the weekend. 
 
According to Paavola, the decisive factor was the government’s fresh promise for a competitive cost neutrality agreement.
 
“The government has promised to support municipal economies. That means we are not signing an unemployment agreement,” Paavola said.
 
The competitiveness agreement is a particularly bitter pill for workers in the public sector, with holiday pays being cut for the next few years.
 
The downsides of the agreement have been accepted on the pretext that jobs would not be cut. The attention of municipal unions has been focused on the fear of new cuts affecting municipalities.
 
According to Paavola, they were still not in agreement with the government over the weekend. The Ministry of Finance, however, sent a message to the people on Friday and last Monday that the government is committed to balancing municipal finances.
 
The government has promised to make fresh efforts, if for some reasons municipal governments don’t pull their own weight. The next assessment should be done in spring.
 
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