Union Membership as a Means to Enter the Finnish Academic Working Life

About 80 percent of Finnish wage earners belong to trade unions of their own profession. In the Finnish society, both employees and employers are well organised and equally recognised negotiating partners of collective agreements. Therefore, joining the union does not carry strong political connotations but has become a normal procedure when beginning in a new job. The employer has an obligation to ensure equal working conditions regardless of the employee’s sex, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion or political background. It is also in the best interest of unions that the same rules and obligations in work apply for both foreign and Finnish academics alike.

Becoming a Member

In Finland, employees generally apply for union membership through a local association which usually belongs to the national union (sometimes you apply directly to the union as in the case of the Finnish Union of University Professors). Unions, then, are member associations of a central organization. So when you are considering joining a university sector union, please find more information and an application form from the website of the local association (or the union) working in your Finnish home university. All the unions and most of the local associations have information in English on their websites.

Help from Local Shop Steward

The academic workers of Finnish universities get paid according to the university salary system (YPJ) where particular job demand levels and personal work performance are regularly assessed. The collective agreements secure for example such things as annual leave, sick leave, family leaves, and occupational health care. As a union member, you are entitled to more information, personal work related counselling, and even negotiation help from the local shop steward (luottamusmies) of your union.

Possibility to Participate into the Decision-Making of Your University

The local associations usually represent the employees in several managerial and decision-making bodies of the university. Participation in the activities of the local association provides you with possibilities to affect on the decisions concerning your work and the general outlines of your university. The local associations also organise a variety of interesting recreational activities for their members.

Unemployment Security

As a paid-up union member (for at least 10 months), you are insured in an unemployment insurance fund which pays earnings-related daily unemployment allowance in the event of your unemployment. The union fees as well as the unemployment insurance fund fees are tax-deductible. You can find more information about the unemployment security in English from the website of The Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland (TYJ): http://www.tyj.fi/, or from your own union.

Anne Koski