Mediation board begins efforts to reach settlement in labour dispute between nurses and municipal employers

Mediation proposal is delayed

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On Wednesday, a mediation board headed by Archiater* Risto Pelkonen began its efforts to reach a settlement in the labour dispute between the Commission for Local Authority Employers (KT) and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy).
      National Conciliator Juhani Salonius, named to act as the secretary of the mediation board, said that a potential settlement proposal - if any - could be expected no sooner than at the end of next week. In other words, the schedule of the proposal had to be postponed until the end of next week - not early next week as had initially been anticipated.
      If a consensus is not reached, there would be no point in presenting a quarrelsome proposal, Salonius noted.
     
Archiater Pelkonen, the Chairman of the mediation board, regarded the situation as difficult. Nevertheless, he said that he was optimistic about the outcome of the talks.
      On Wednesday, the board discussed the conflict for four hours, with the representatives of both parties of the dispute being present all the time.
      According to Salonius, all questions that could be linked with the labour conflict - directly or indirectly - were brought up during the first mediation session.
      Apart from the current pay demands and offers, the debate also involved other issues relevant to the dispute, for example the reform of collective bargaining.
     
The nurses at Helsinki’s surgical hospital are hopeful and confident about the mediation board’s ability to present a settlement proposal that will come close to the 24 per cent pay hike over the next two and a half years that Tehy has demanded.
      Mediation efforts are set to continue on Monday next week, while in the meantime, a secretariat including Juhani Salonius, Minna Helle from Tehy, and Ulla-Riitta Parikka from KT, will be outlining the basic details for a potential proposal.
     
Press briefing will be the responsibility of Juhani Salonius, while all other members of the mediation board were asked to take a pledge of secrecy.
      The mediation board includes representatives from Tehy, KT, the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees STTK, the City of Helsinki, and the Ministry of Finance, as well as Pirkko Mäkinen, Finland’s Ombudsman for Equality.
     
If no settlement is reached, a mass resignation of some 12,500 Tehy health care workers is scheduled to start on November 19th.
     
     
*An honorary Finnish title, deriving from the Greek word for "senior physician". Pelkonen is the current holder of the title, which is awarded by the President. For many years the term was associated with Arvo Ylppö (1887-1992), a pioneering paediatrician credited with reducing infant mortality in Finland to its present extremely low level.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nurses´ union accuses municipal employers of illegal industrial action (31.10.2007)
  Health care workers threaten mass resignation in labour dispute (10.10.2007)
  Tehy rejects contract offer approved by other nurses´ union (1.10.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat