Roughly 200,000 commerce workers have won a well-deserved pay increase in Finland through a new sectoral agreement negotiated by UNI affiliate PAM. The increase, which will be phased in over the next two years, will see the workers across the sector receive a raise of at least \u20ac165 a month and a one-off payment of \u20ac400. The move is expected to benefit workers across the retail and service sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The agreement was reached between PAM and the Finnish Commerce Federation on the night prior\u00a0to a second wave of strikes in the sector. \u201cThe strikes that took place and those that were foreseen had\u00a0a significant impact on reaching such a good result – all our commerce sector members deserve the\u00a0credit,\u201d said Annika\u00a0<\/strong>R\u00f6nni-S\u00e4llinen.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Pay scales are increased by over 6% of which the first year\u2019s increase is 3.88% and the second year\u2019s\u00a02.14%. The pay increase will begin to come into effect on 1 June 2023. The agreement also included\u00a0improvements to paid family leave, as the non-birthing parents get 36 days of paid family leave\u00a0instead of the current 6 days.<\/p>\r\n