Massive co-operation negotiations at Compass Group Finland concluded – “A huge blow for employees”
Photo: Compass Group, Selina Martola
The result of the negotiations is hundreds of job losses, jobs being made part-time and thousands of lay-offs. PAM President Annika Rönni-Sällinen and the regional head shop steward Timo Tiikkaja are calling for global companies to show responsibility for their employees.
The co-operation negotiations at Compass Group, which started in December, have now been concluded. The negotiations affected employees and supervisors in service units as well as operational planners and gastro chefs and covered a total of 2,700 persons.
As a result of the negotiations the company plans to make a maximum of 365 persons redundant, make a maximum of 550 persons part-time and lay off 2300 persons during 2021. Co-operation negotiations are continuing for operational planners and gastro chefs.
According to the company, the co-operation negotiations have taken place against the background of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their staff canteens business.
Timo Tiikkaja, regional head shop steward at Compass Group, describes the final outcome of the negotiations as devastating because this is already the second large series of co-operation negotiations affecting catering staff within 8 months.
“This makes me really sad. I would have liked Compass Group, which is a big company, to take social responsibility by looking after its employees. The more employees are made part-time, the more they will have to apply for various subsidies from society to support their income. This is inevitable”, he says.
Tiikkaja is worried both about those employees who have been laid off and are struggling with performance targets and those whose future in the sector now hangs in the balance.
“Since we don’t yet know what is the “new normal”, I would have preferred lay-offs to be used instead of redundancies. Losing your job is always a personal tragedy. Especially at the moment, when the outlook is not good in other companies in the sector”.
He says it is important that nobody is left alone to cope with a difficult situation, and encourages them to seek help.
“You can get support from shop stewards, the union and many other places. The most important things is that you are not on your own.”
PAM’s President Annika Rönni-Sällinen also thinks that the outcome of the negotiations is a really heavy blow for employees and calls for companies to show responsibility for their workers.
“A huge global listed company is far better resourced to cope with uncertainty than workers are. I hope that not all these redundancies are made and that each redundancy is reconsidered right to the end.” she says.
Rönni-Sällinen says that Compass Group’s decision will impact the entire sector and the type of employment that is available. Staff canteens have provided most full-time jobs in the restaurant sector. Will this continue to be the case – the actions of the biggest company in the sector in Finland will have a big impact on this.
“There is a risk that the amount of full-time work will decrease and that employment will come with more uncertainty.”
An application round is currently ongoing for business cost support, and the next application round is being prepared in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Rönni-Sällinen thinks it is extremely important that support is paid and that the total support ceiling in Finland is raised to the same level as in the rest of the EU.
“Support can help to ensure that employees in the sector do not suffer any more. Companies are being supported so that they don’t go under and can continue to provide jobs in future. This of course also imposes a moral requirement on companies to hold on to their employees to the very end.”