Incomes talks for employees in the retail trade were suspended in the early hours of Monday morning without a result. The dispute over pay increases will be taken up again with the help of the National Conciliator Juhani Salonius.
The Service Union United (PAM) says that it would hold a stoppage of nearly a day by store personnel on Friday this week if no agreement is reached before that.
Issues that remain open include both the level of pay hikes as well as employee demands for a bonus of EUR 350 for extra work during the Christmas season. The Federation of Finnish Commerce has consistently rejected paying such bonuses in the service sector.
PAM is also calling for the same kind of paid maternity and paternity leaves which have been included in the restaurant and hotel branch and in the building maintenance services.
PAM Chairwoman Ann Selin is also calling for reform in the wage system, which would involve the establishment of a new sysstem of classifying how demanding each job is.
PAM has been aiming at a two-year agreement, and Federation of Finnish Commerce deputy managing director Heikki Ropponen said that it would be willing to accept a 2.5 year contract. In other sectors involving PAM, contracts that have been agreed on expire in March 2010.
PAM aims at a 10.2 per cent pay hike in two years. If the contract period extends to two and a half years, the impact on labour costs should be 12.7 per cent, which is the same as the contract offered by municipal employers to the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy).
The management side sees the demands as excessive. PAM also aims at getting workers recruited through temp agencies to be granted terms according to the employment terms of the actual work place.
