HELSINKI: The federation of hotel, restaurant and leisure service business owners, the Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa, and the Service Union United PAM that represents 230,000 employees in Finland’s service sector finally reached a labour agreement on Sunday, ending nearly a month of non-agreement after previous collective agreements in the sector expired on January 31.
The agreement reached will be backdated to come into effect as of February 1. The agreement still requires the approval of both groups’ administrative boards before it becomes official, however. The specifics of the collective agreement, which will be valid for the next two years, will only be available after this.
MaRa CEO Timo Lappi said the talks were drawn out and difficult this year, as both parties to the negotiations had collected a long list of demands and objectives over the last few years, when Finland’s on-going recession prevented things like wage increases.
