Jarkko Eloranta, chair of Finland's largest blue-collar union confederation SAK, says Finland should appoint two state conciliators in future, instead of the current one.
The news agency Lännen Media reports that Eloranta argues this would allow the two conciliators to tag-team their mediation of contentious labour agreement negotiations. In the absence of pressing labour disputes, one or both could use their time for research and assessment of the current status of the Finnish economy.
"The first would assume responsibility for mediation, while the second would stay up-to-date with the content and progress of the negotiations in order to successfully assume responsibility, if it came to that, and then visa-versa. This would create a common operative model and policy for the both of the mediators," he says.
The union confederation boss suggests that the future pair could be comprised of one candidate proposed by employers' representatives and the other selected by the labour representative organisations. Eloranta also suggests that the operational framework of the state conciliators could be expanded, and the current fixed-term limitations for the mediators be waived.
Under the current practice, a single state conciliator is appointed every few years, with representative organisations of both parties taking turns proposing candidates.
According to LM, Eloranta says the system of national labour dispute mediation in Finland must be renewed because the current process has shown itself to be vulnerable. He points out that Finland's last state conciliator, Minna Helle, exited her government position before her term was finished for a position as labour market director for the employer federation known as Technology Industries of Finland. A union later accused her of bias in the preceding labour dispute negotiations.
Vuokko Piekkala has been appointed the new national conciliator in Helle's place. She began her term in early August.
Fifteen separate cases last year
Finland's national conciliator is a government official working under the umbrella of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and appointed by Finland's government.
The state conciliator is generally called in to make proposals of conciliation in situations where unions and the employer organisations cannot find an understanding on the contents of a collective labour agreement. The goal is to avoid work stoppages caused by industrial action, which often cause damage to productivity and the economy.
Finland has a decades-long tradition of tripartite-negotiated collective labour agreements, which determine the salary and working terms and conditions of different business sectors.
According to the office of the national conciliator, there were 15 labour disputes it mediated in 2017. The disputes were resolved before the start of industrial action in eight of these cases, and after the start of industrial action in five. The disputes extended to several sectors, including air transport, shipping and trade.