Finland: SAK supports local bargaining

In late January 2007, the president of the blue-collar Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), Lauri Ihalainen, reopened debate on a perennial source of controversy in Finnish industrial relations - the role of local, company-level agreements in the largely centralised bargaining system, which is based on national incomes policy agreements implemented by sectoral collective agreements. SAK has largely been sceptical about a greater role for local bargaining, although it is in favour of greater flexibility in bargaining structures without jeopardising basic guarantees for employees, while the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) has been promoting more scope for local agreements.