"Rules of the game" are needed for the increasingly popular practice of concluding collective agreements at local level, according to the vice-chair of the SAK trade union confederation, speaking at a seminar in September 1998.
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"Rules of the game" are needed for the increasingly popular practice of concluding collective agreements at local level, according to the vice-chair of the SAK trade union confederation, speaking at a seminar in September 1998.
In Finland, the possibility of concluding collective agreements at local level has been extended during the 1990s (FI9708127N), and enterprises have been given more freedom to decide on collective bargaining matters with reference to company-specific needs (FI9803153F). Now it seems that local-level agreements have started to lead a life of their own, and the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö, SAK) would appear to have woken up to what is really happening at the local level.
Agreements at local level and centralised national incomes policy agreements are generally experienced as contradictory mechanisms. However, Pekka Ahmavaara, vice-chair of SAK, claims the opposite. "Local-level agreements and incomes policy agreements do not exclude each other - rather, on the contrary, they are necessary parts complementing each other within the same whole," he said at a seminar on local agreements held in September 1998 in Helsinki.
In Mr Ahmavaara's view, globalisation in general and Finnish membership of the EU - and of Economic and Monetary Union in particular - call for enterprises to be able to adapt to changes in the environment that happen independently of Finland. Therefore, good cooperation and the flexibility of the entire personnel - through a local agreement - is needed.
"However, agreement at local level requires equality of the parties, and the kind of agreement policy where the needs of the different parties are taken into equal consideration. This goal often requires that the position of the employees' representative be strengthened relative to the present situation," stresses Mr Ahmavaara.
According to Mr Ahmavaara, the present model, in which it is possible to agree locally on any matter, is not sufficient. Sectoral collective agreements are being applied only if nothing else has been agreed within the enterprise, and then the minimum conditions of the collective agreements are fulfilled. This kind of practice is not adequate, and leaves too much opportunity for pressure and ignorance (eg when the shop steward does not have a thorough knowledge of the sector's collective agreement). Local agreements should occur on the basis of the minimum conditions and within the framework of agreed models, and their appropriateness should be controlled, the SAK official states.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1998), Local-level agreements require rules of the game, article.
