The Finnish collective bargaining system has traditionally been characterized by centralised incomes policy agreements complemented by collective bargaining at sectoral level. The third level of collective bargaining has been local agreements at workplaces for the past 60 years. The number of issues negotiable at local and workplace level has increased all the time since early 1990’s.

During the past decade, the Finnish social partners have been active in collecting experience on local bargaining practices and attitudes towards local bargaining. At the instigation of the Finnish labour market organisations, the University of Turku has studied the progress of local bargaining on several occasions.

In November 2008 a booklet of local bargaining was published by the employers ande the employees confederations. The booklet is a summary of the main findings of the latest research project launched by the national social partners in the last incomes policy agreement for the period 2005 to 2007.

Nowadays local and workplace bargaining is increasingly concerned with pay and remuneration. The main subject of local bargaining nowadays is still flexible working hours, and the most successful examples of such bargaining have come about in this area. Local bargaining is a tool for managing change based on the needs, mutual trust and interests of the parties involved, a Finnish form of flexicurity.

Reciprocity and trust are the key elements of local bargaining. There can be no effective negotiations between management and staff at a workplace unless the two sides trust one another.

Local bargaining is not an end in itself. Bargaining at the workplace is based on needs, and agreement is not mandatory. Many workplaces are content to apply the framework provided by legislation and national collective agreements, and feel no need to seek more detailed modifications for local conditions.

This booklet sheds some light on developments in local bargaining over the last decade. It is based on a broad and practical understanding of what is meant by local bargaining. Experiences in workplaces and the prospects and conditions for developing local bargaining are described in a summary of research findings.

Booklet: Local bargaining - studies of actual practice (2008)