Collective agreement negotiations in the hotel, restaurant and leisure industry start today
Annika Rönni-Sällinen, President of Service Union United PAM, hopes that solutions can be found for a sector suffering from labour shortages that will improve employees’ incomes and the attractiveness of the sector.
Employment terms for employees and supervisors in the hotel, restaurant and leisure industry are being negotiated by PAM and the employers’ federation, the Finnish Hospitality Association. Around 85,000 professionals in the sector work in jobs covered by the collective agreement, and the current collective agreement period ends at the end of March.
The last time employment terms were negotiated was during the exceptional circumstances caused by the Covid pandemic.
“The previous agreement was approved in difficult circumstances in autumn 2020. This time the starting point is totally different. The restrictions have ended and the sector is recovering, says PAM’s President Annika Rönni-Sällinen.
The last two years have been an especially difficult period for employees in the sector. The restaurant restrictions have had a significant impact on jobs and incomes for those in the sector. PAM’s member survey indicates that almost 80% of those working in the sector have been unemployed or laid off during the last two years. 40% of employees in the sector have changed jobs and a full 72% have planned to do so.
“There are significant labour shortages. This is shown by the high numbers leaving the sector and the fact that applications to education and training in the sector have halved in the last six years. We are at the point where people even see working in the sector as a risk to their livelihoods. It can’t go on like this, says Rönni-Sällinen and continues
“That’s why we’re trying to find ways to ensure the future of the sector and employees by improving earnings levels, for example with a specific earnings development programme”, Rönni-Sällinen says.
Rönni-Sällinen says that low wages and not enough working hours to live on were a problem for hospitality workers already before Covid.
“The facts of the matter haven’t changed at all over the past couple of years – things have just got worse.”
Average pay in the sector is just 2073 euros. In full-time work it is 2308 euros, and in part-time work, which there is more of, it is 1834 euros.
“People working part-time against their will is a familiar situation in the hospitality sector and we have to do something about it. It’s not in anyone’s interest that their working hours aren’t enough to live on and they can’t plan their everyday lives at all. Constantly having to hunt for working shifts brings more uncertainty, whereas a predictable regular income increases employees’ wellbeing.”
“We now have a great opportunity in the negotiations with employers to point the way forward with fair employment terms that help both employees and employers to succeed, Rönni-Sällinen says.