The proposal was made by a national mediator. “Congratulations on the negotiations; it was an arduous task, but the fourth attempt finally produced a deal,” the mediator commented on Twitter.
Locomotive drivers will return to work in their turn on Friday.
The state railway company VR repeated on Thursday that the normalization of railway traffic will take about 24 hours after the agreement. The first long-distance trains will return to traffic early on Friday.
Tero PalomäkiRAU’s chairman, described the agreement as a “meager compromise” in terms of working well-being. YLE interview on Thursday. The labor market organizations agreed on the establishment of several working groups to find out the structure of work shifts, the balance of work and free time, and to consider measures to improve well-being at work in cooperation with an external expert.
“This is kind of a meager compromise. We felt that bringing these provisions into the collective agreement would have required a week-long strike,” he said.
“We have confidence that we can achieve a lot with the help of working groups.”
Weekly rest periods for locomotive drivers, the main point of contention in the protracted collective bargaining negotiations, will increase from 56 hours to 58-60 hours for all drivers, based on the results of local talks.
“Therefore, we have more confidence that things will really improve. This naturally requires local negotiations if necessary. The weekly rest period can be 58-60 hours,” he told the public broadcasting company.
The agreement also offers locomotive drivers salary increases that correspond to the so-called general line, which are increased in the most important export industries. Drivers will receive a roughly four percent wage increase later this spring and another two percent increase in June 2024. The labor market organizations agreed to waive one-time bonuses and implement the increases earlier than in other sectors. .
Tuomas AartoPalta’s CEO yesterday expressed his joy that the long-running labor dispute has been resolved, and said that the agreement is not only in line with the general line, but also invests in local negotiation and work well-being.
– As part of the occupational health project, we can agree on the length of weekly rest periods locally in some circumstances in the future. This was the most difficult point of contention in these negotiations, he told YLE.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page