Social partners disagree on conditions for sabbatical leave
Published: 9 June 2002
In May 2002, a Finnish tripartite working group failed to agree on the conditions to apply to a permanent sabbatical leave scheme, to succeed the current experimental system. Trade unions would have accepted a proposal from the Ministry of Labour, but this fell because of employer resistance. The main issue of contention was the length of prior employment required for employees to be entitled to a sabbatical.
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In May 2002, a Finnish tripartite working group failed to agree on the conditions to apply to a permanent sabbatical leave scheme, to succeed the current experimental system. Trade unions would have accepted a proposal from the Ministry of Labour, but this fell because of employer resistance. The main issue of contention was the length of prior employment required for employees to be entitled to a sabbatical.
In 1996, Finland launched an experimental sabbatical leave system, aimed at cutting unemployment and helping employees 'cope' at work (FI9704110F). The present scheme provides for a period of leave of between 90 and 359 days agreed voluntarily between the employer and employee, with an unemployed person obligatorily hired as a substitute worker during the absence of the permanent employee. During this period, sabbatical leave compensation is paid to the employee on leave, amounting to 70% of unemployment benefit, with no upper limit.
The central incomes policy agreement for 2001-2 (FI0012170F) continued the experimental sabbatical scheme for a further two years and established a tripartite working group to examine the conditions for making it a permanent arrangement. The Ministry of Labour issued a proposal on these conditions, but in May 2002 the proposal fell because of employer resistance. The tripartite working group could not agree on the length of previous employment that would entitle an employee to take a sabbatical .
All the trade unions organisations - the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö, SAK), the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (Toimihenkilökeskusjärjestö, STTK) and the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals (AKAVA) - would have approved a compromise proposal, which required employees to have a working history of at least 10 years for entitlement to a sabbatical. However, the employers' organisations - the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (Teollisuuden ja Työnantajain Keskusliitto, TT), the Employers' Confederation of Service Industries (Palvelutyönantajat, PT), the Commission for Local Authority Employers and the State Employer's Office (Valtion Työmarkkinalaitos, VTML) - submitted a differing opinion. They demanded a longer working history and a requirement that the substitute worker recruited should have been unemployed for several months (no limit on the length of unemployment had been proposed). These differing views led to the fall of the proposal.
The present scheme will continue until the end of 2002. The dispute which scuppered the proposal in the working group will possibly now be negotiated in the forthcoming incomes policy round in late 2002.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), Social partners disagree on conditions for sabbatical leave, article.
