Finland (FI)

Employment
Wages
Working Time
Leave
Social Insurance
Health and Safety
Trade Union Influence
Minimum Standards
Trade Union Participation

Employment

Agriculture employs 5,000 all-season workers with welfare insurance. 10,000 workers are employed for less than 8 months (thereof 1,000 migrant workers and 1,200 from third countries). 78 % of migrant workers are from Russia and from the Baltic Republics.

table International Comparison of Employment

Wages and Labour Costs

Collective agreements for individual industries are concluded at the national level. There are five collective agreements applying to agriculture.

Wages are between € 1,200 and € 1,600 per month, the average in agriculture is € 1,260. Workers pay 6 %, and employers pay 35 % of the wage as welfare insurance contributions. Depending on the wage level the tax rate varies between 15 and 30 %.

A number of collective agreements include provisions for seasonal workers.

Companies mainly abide by the existing collective agreements (85 %). Any worker employed in the industry is entitled to the collectively agreed wage, so 100 % of the workers are covered by the collective agreements.

table International Comparison of Wages and Labour Costs

Working Time

Under the Working Time Act a week in Finland has 40 working hours, the annual working time is 1,880 h (40 x 47 hours). Collective agreements may lay down more flexible times of 8 - 11 hours per day, or 40 - 55 hours per week, with an obligation to balance out the time in a 52-week period. Overtime may be agreed by individual rules between employers and employees. Overtime bonus: 1st - 3rd hour of overtime per day each 50 %, from the 3rd hour on 100 %. Weekly: 40th - 48th hour 50 %, from 49th hour on 100 %.

table International Comparison of Working Time

Leave and Paid Holidays

Holidays are governed by the law. Workers' holidays are between 24 and 30 working days, depending on the duration of their employment. A week has 6 working days. The payment that the worker receives is the personal average weekly wage divided by 6 without bonuses. If the worker returns to work on the 1st day after the holiday he or she receives a bonus amounting to 50 % of the holiday payment. The unions managed to negotiate an additional holiday week in winter for the agricultural sector.

table International Comparison of Leave and Paid Holidays

Social Insurance

In Finland welfare insurance is a public system (pension, health insurance and unemployment insurance). In the event of sickness the employer continues to pay the worker for 9 days, then the public system comes in. A full-time employee continues to receive full payment for 45 days. There is a political discussion about whether employees should receive full payment thereafter.

Employers have to take out private insurance for their workers covering accidents at work and on the way to and from work.

Occupational Health and Safety

Statistics do not cover accidents in detail. There is no distinction between farmers and employees. Serious accidents frequently involve older workers. there is a good public health monitoring system. However, these measures are geared to food monitoring rather than to health and safety at work for employees.

In companies employing more than 10 workers the works council elects safety experts, companies with fewer than 10 workers elect assistants.

Anyone handling toxic materials needs to have an adequate qualification certificate.

table International Comparison of Occupational Health and Safety

Trade Union Influence

The degree of unionisation amongst full-time employees is 50 %, with 2,500 workers being union members. All companies are covered by collective agreements, which are universally binding under the law. The trade union has a network of contacts that reaches beyond the works councillors (shop stewards). Thus the unions cover 100 % of the employees, i. e., a total of 8,200 workers, one third of them being seasonal workers.

table International Comparison of Trade Union Influence

Minimum Standards

In Finland there is no statutory minimum wage. In the agricultural sector students and interns are paid 10-30 % less than the minimum wage for agriculture.

table International Comparison of Minimum Standards

Trade Union Participation

The Finnish union is strongly involved in the political decision-taking process. A point to be specially highlighted is that the unions can provide their expert knowledge in expert groups for social policy.

table International Comparison of Trade Union Participation

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