A week of intense negotiations
In Turku a large group of PAM members let bystanders know about PAM and who their workers are when we talk about the service sector employees.
Intense discussions with various employers’ federations on improving the working conditions of PAM members will continue for the entire week ahead. There was a long marathon session in the retail negotiations yesterday Sunday. It isn’t mission accomplished yet, however. On Saturday PAM’s Executive Committee was concerned about the situation in the facilities services sector.
Negotiators from PAM and the Finnish Commerce Federation met all day Sunday seeking solutions to working conditions for workers in the retail sector. Late in the evening President Ann Selin concluded that progress had been made in the negotiations during the day, but more work was needed to find a definitive solution since a number of issues remain unresolved.
Negotiations in the retail sector will continue on Thursday 15 February.
PAM’s Executive Committee met on Saturday 10 February to review progress in the various sectors. They were especially concerned about the situation in the facilities services sector and said they were prepared to make swift decisions if no clear change is forthcoming in the negotiating positions. The negotiations have been on hold since Thursday of the week before last. The overtime ban announced in the sector then is still in place. As of Monday morning no follow-up meeting had been arranged.
Workers at Citymarket Nokia stopped work for a couple of minutes at midday on Saturday to speed up the negotiations and to let their customers know what it is all about. PAM activists in Turku and Helsinki were also out and about in public. You can watch a video of the events in Nokia here.
Negotiations in the second-largest PAM agreement sector, hospitality services, will continue on Wednesday. Working conditions for pharmacy workers will be negotiated on Monday. Early in the week negotiations will be held on working conditions for workers in PAM’s negotiating sectors in call centres and the Finnish National Theatre. At the end of the week there be will negotiations for Avecra and amusement parks.
PAM’s Executive Committee will meet on Friday to assess the situation. The Agreement Sector Commissions have also been convened. They consist mainly of shop stewards in the sector. The Agreement Sector Commissions support PAM’s negotiators and consider the outcome of negotiations with the employers’ federation before PAM’s Executive Committee, which makes the final decision on whether to approve agreements.
The collective agreements expired on 31 January. There has been a state of non-agreement for almost two weeks now. The collective agreements negotiated by other trade unions in major agreement sectors will soon be complete. For example, a negotiating result was achieved at the very end of last week in the municipal sector.