Collective bargaining negotiations between the Industrial Union, representing workers in light and heavy industries in Finland, and the Technology Industry Employers of Finland failed to produce an agreement on Wednesday, with talks set to resume next Tuesday.
Both Industrial Union chair Riku Aalto and the employers' group CEO Jarkko Ruohoniemi said after the meeting that the sides are closer to a consensus on a number of issues, but a final agreement has not yet been reached.
The terms of collective bargaining agreements reached between unions and employers in the Finnish technology industry often set the benchmark for other sectors.
This year the talks are taking place in a challenging context, with inflation pushing up consumer prices and economic forecasters predicting that the Finnish economy will go into recession this year.
Employee unions are targeting a 5 percent pay rise this year, based on an agreement in the German industrial sector which will see workers' pay rise by 5.2 percent in 2023 and 3.3 percent in 2024, as well as receiving a tax-free 3,000 inflation payment in two installments.
In December, the trade union confederation SAK said unions were willing to coordinate industrial action in order to achieve that goal of a 5 percent pay rise.
The tech sector's previous collective agreement expired at the end of November, and since then talks have been taking place in a so-called 'no-agreement' situation. This means that the unions can legally take industrial action if they wish to do so.
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