Appendices

Appendix 3 - Shop Steward agreement

1 § Scope of the agreement

This agreement applies to the members of The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries and their employees who are members of the Federation of Special Service and Clerical Employees ERTO.

2 § The shop steward

1. In this agreement, shop steward refers to a shop steward and deputy shop steward elected by organised employees bound by the collective agreement.

2. The shop steward of an enterprise shall be elected by organised employees of the enterprise who are members of the Federation of Special Service and Clerical Employees ERTO and fall within the scope of the collective agreement.

3. Employees may elect a site-specific shop steward for an independent unit in which there is an employer representative who determines the terms and conditions of employment and hires and dismisses employees. The matter shall be reviewed with the employer representative before the election.

4. When appropriate from the standpoint of local negotiations and the shop steward system, it can be locally agreed that several shop stewards as referred to in this agreement be elected for the independent regional or functional units of a large or regionally diversified enterprise. If annual meetings for shop stewards have been arranged within an enterprise, the former practice shall continue.

5. If there are several shop stewards in an enterprise, a chief shop steward can be elected.

6. A deputy shop steward can be elected to serve as the substitute of the shop steward when he or she is prevented from attending, assuming the rights and obligations of a shop steward for this time.

7. A shop steward must be an employee of the enterprise in question who falls within the scope of the collective agreement, is a member of ERTO, and is familiar with the conditions of the workplace in question.

8. When the operations of an enterprise or a functional unit thereof are fundamentally reduced or enlarged, or in the case of business transfer, merger, divestment, or comparable substantial change, the shop steward organisation shall be renewed to correspond to the changed situation in accordance with the principles of this agreement. The employer’s representative and the shop steward shall together review the shop steward‘s position in the new organisation. The shop steward shall retain his or her position in a business transfer if the business or part of it retains its independence.

3 § Election of the shop steward

1. The election of a shop steward can be carried out in the workplace, and all organised employees must have the opportunity to participate in the election. However, the arrangements and execution of the election must not disturb work. The times and places of elections arranged in the workplace must be agreed upon with the employer at least 14 days before holding of an election. Holding an election is mainly the responsibility of the shop steward or, when he or she is prevented, the deputy shop steward if there is one. The election can also be arranged by means of an electronic voting procedure implemented with the help of ERTO. The necessary time spent by these persons on holding the election shall be considered time spent on shop steward’s duties.

2. The employees responsible for the arrangements of a shop steward’s election shall inform ERTO about the election as soon as the planning of such an election begins – however, no later than 14 days before the election is carried out.

3. The shop steward, and any deputy shop steward elected, will gain the position of shop steward or deputy shop steward as referred to in this agreement once the local branch or ERTO have informed the employer in writing of the name of the shop steward elected. The employer shall be informed in writing of the resigning of a shop steward or deputy shop steward.

4 § Discussion on co-operation and targets

The goals and functionality of the negotiation system shall be discussed regularly in the workplace. Such a discussion must be conducted for the first time within two months of the beginning of a new shop steward’s term of office, and annually thereafter. The parties to the discussion are the shop steward and employer's representative. Both parties give feedback at the discussion, on the basis of which the parties strive to improve co-operation further. Moreover, the parties deliberate together on the goals set for the negotiation system and shop steward’s activities, and how the development of co-operation is monitored. Furthermore, the times of submitting information to the shop steward under the provisions of Section 7 shall be reviewed at the discussion, in the course of planning for the need for education related to the shop steward’s duties, the schedules, and objectives thereof.

5 § Shop steward’s employment

1. Unless otherwise specified in this agreement, a shop steward is in the same position as other employees with regard to his or her employment with the employer. The shop steward is obliged to personally comply with the general terms and conditions of employment, working hours, the orders of the management, and the regulations of the workplace.

2. The shop steward’s opportunities to develop and advance in his or her profession must not be impaired because of his or her duties as a steward.

The shop steward’s pay development must correspond to the general pay development within the enterprise.

During the period after the shop steward’s duties have come to an end, the shop steward shall be provided with further or supplementary training in addition to work that enables the shop steward to return to his or her previous duties or to duties with similar competence requirements.

3. An employee acting as a shop steward may not, during the term of office or because of it, be transferred to duties with a salary lower than that which he or she had when being elected as shop steward. He or she may not be transferred to duties with lower status if the employer is able to offer other work corresponding to his or her professional skills. He or she may not be dismissed because of his or her shop steward’s duties.

4. If the enterprise’s labour force is reduced or laid off for financial or production-related reasons, this must be done in an order that makes the shop steward the last employee subject to such measures. Deviation from this provision is permitted if the shop steward cannot be offered work corresponding to his or her profession or qualifications. If a shop steward considers him- or herself to have been dismissed or laid off in violation of the above provisions, he or she is entitled to demand that the matter be resolved between the organisations.

5. A shop steward’s contract of employment cannot be terminated for a reason created by the shop steward without the consent of the majority of employees required by Chapter 7, Section 10(1) of the Employment Contracts Act. Such consent shall be investigated by the organisations having signed the collective agreement.

6. The employment contract of a shop steward may not be cancelled by virtue of Chapter 8, Section 1(1) of the Employment Contracts Act on the grounds that he or she has violated the regulations of Chapter 3, Section 1 of the Employment Contracts Act.

7. In assessment of the grounds for cancellation of a shop steward’s contract of employment, the shop steward must not be placed in a disadvantageous position when compared with other employees.

8. The provisions on the protection of employment stipulated above shall also apply to a shop steward candidate, of whose name the local branch or ERTO have notified the employer in writing (protection of the candidate). Such protection begins, at the earliest, two months prior to the beginning of the term of office of the shop steward to be elected and ends for others than the elected shop steward after the result of the election is declared.

9. The provisions on the protection of employment shall apply to an employee who has served as a chief shop steward or shop steward within the enterprise for six months following the termination of his or her shop steward duties (post-protection).

10. The shop steward shall be notified of any termination of employment at least one month before the beginning of the term of notice in accordance with the collective labour agreement. The reason for dismissal must be indicated on the notification of termination of employment provided to the shop steward. The employer shall inform the local branch or ERTO, too, of the notification given to the shop steward.

11. If a shop steward’s contract of employment has been discontinued in violation of this agreement, the employer is obliged to pay compensation to the shop steward equalling at least six and at most 30 months’ salary. The compensation must be determined in accordance with the grounds provided in Chapter 12, Section 2 of the Employment Contracts Act. The fact that the shop steward’s rights under this agreement have been violated must be taken into consideration as a factor increasing the compensation. If a court of law considers preconditions for the continuation of employment or reinstatement of a terminated employment relationship to exist but, despite this, employment is not continued, this must be taken into consideration as a particularly weighty factor in determining the amount of compensation.

12. If the dispute applies to the discontinuation of the employment of a shop steward as referred to in this agreement, local negotiations and negotiations between the unions must be initiated and carried out immediately after the grounds for discontinuation are contested.

13. A shop steward may not be pressured or dismissed from work on account of his or her duties.

6 § Shop steward’s duties

1. The shop steward’s duties also include efforts to maintain and develop negotiation activities and co-operation between the enterprise and its staff.

2. The main duty of a shop steward is to act as the representative of employees organised in ERTO bound by the appropriate collective agreement. As regards questions concerning interpretation of the collective agreement, the shop steward represents all employees (regardless of whether they are members of ERTO) in case the matter in question applies to all employees covered by the collective agreement, or some of them as a group.

Shop steward’s duties include, for instance, the following (the list is not exhaustive):

  • To represent all employees collectively in relation to matters concerning the interpretation of the collective agreement and its application, and matters concerning local agreements.
  • To represent all employees collectively in relation to matters defined in the Act on Co-operation.
  • To develop co-operation at the workplace jointly with the employer.
  • To represent and assist employees organised with ERTO in handling their employment matters.

7 § The shop steward’s right to information

1. In the event of any lack of clarity or disagreement about employees’ salaries or other matters related to employment, the shop steward must be provided with all information pertaining to the resolution of the issue subject to disagreement.

2. The employer provides the shop steward, in writing or in another way to be agreed upon, the following information on the enterprise’s employees:

The following information is to be provided once a year.

  • ·A list of employees (first name and last name, task category and competence classification, and starting date of employment).
  • The average salary in each task category and competence classification if a task category and competence classification includes at least five people.

The following information is to be provided twice a year.

  • ·Numbers of the enterprise’s full- and part-time employees. This also applies to staff separately invited to work or other temporary staff who have worked during the half-year period.

The following information is to be provided four times a year.

  • The name, task category, competence classification, and starting date of employment for new employees, and details on dismissed and laid-off employees. In cases of fixed-term employment, the agreed duration of the employment contract shall be indicated.

3. Upon his or her request, the shop steward shall be provided with a report on the information collected in connection with recruitment.

4. The shop steward has the same right as the shop steward referred to in the legislation to study reports on emergency work, Sunday work, overtime work, and the increased wages paid for these.

5. If several shop stewards have been elected within the enterprise on the basis of Section 2 above, the employer and the shop stewards shall mutually agree on the principles applicable to the distribution of information between shop stewards. However, the chief shop steward is entitled to all information.

6. The shop steward must maintain the confidentiality of information received in the course of his or her duties on the basis of the above.

8 § The shop steward’s exemption from work

1. A shop steward is entitled to use sufficient time for shop steward duties, on the average, as follows:  

Number of employees                          Exemption,                                  ,                          % of working hours

Less than 100                                                     10 %

101-300                                                              20 %   

301-600                                                              30 %

Over 600                                                            40 %

The implementation of exemption from work can be agreed upon in more detail at enterprise‑specific level.

The use of a chief shop steward’s time is subject to local agreement.

If the shop steward’s sphere of authority covers several locations of a regionally decentralised company, special attention shall be paid to the amount of exemption for the shop steward so as to facilitate the appropriate management of shop steward’s duties. The implementation of exemption from work can be agreed upon in more detail enterprise‑specifically, in deviation from the table above.

2. The employer and the shop steward shall mutually agree on whether the exemption from work is granted as a temporary or recurring exemption. The prerequisites for operation of the enterprise must be taken into consideration, as well as the need to attend properly to the shop steward’s duties. If necessary, work arrangements shall be managed accordingly (via designation of a substitute, for example).

9 § Shop steward’s compensation and compensation for loss of income

1. The shop steward is entitled to compensation for attending to the duties of shop steward as follows:

Number of  employees

Compensation until 30 September 2010,

€/month


Compensation from 1 October 2010,

€/month

 

5–100

55

59

101–300

100

107

301–600

140

150

yli 600

160

171

Compensation for the chief shop steward is subject to separate agreement.

2. Shop steward’s compensation will not be paid whenever the shop steward is prevented from attending to his or her duties because of an annual holiday or illness, or for another, comparable reason. The matter can be agreed on in more detail locally.

3. The employer shall compensate for any income lost by the shop steward during working hours while either engaged in local negotiations with the employer’s representative or working on other duties agreed on with the employer.

4. If a shop steward carries out duties as agreed with the employer outside his or her regular working hours, overtime compensation will be paid for time spent this way or a local agreement will be concluded on some other type of additional compensation.

If necessary, the parties to the collective agreement may agree on the grounds and the amount of compensation.

5. If a shop steward needs to travel in order to carry out duties agreed on with the employer and is ordered to travel by the employer, he or she shall receive compensation for travel expenses in accordance with the scheme applied throughout the enterprise in question.

10 § Shop steward’s storage and office space

A shop steward is entitled to storage space for the documents and office supplies needed in his or her duties. A shop steward specific to an enterprise or a regional business unit is entitled to use appropriate office space that can be given over to the shop steward’s use for shop steward duties free of charge if such a room is under the employer’s control. The shop steward is entitled to use the employer’s standard office facilities (including email) for his or her shop steward duties.

11 § Training for shop stewards

1. The unions consider it desirable that a shop steward be provided with the opportunity, insofar as possible, to participate in training that is likely to increase his or her competencies in shop steward’s duties.

2. Participation in training has been agreed upon in the training agreement valid between the unions (Appendix 4).

12 § Validity of the agreement

1. This agreement becomes valid on 1 January 2010.

2. Any union that wishes to amend this agreement must provide the other party with a written proposal thereof, after which the matter will be added to the agenda for negotiation between the unions.

3. This agreement shall remain valid until further notice served three months in advance.

Helsinki, 12 January 2010

THE FEDERATION OF FINNISH TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES

Martti Mäenpää              Risto Alanko

FEDERATION OF SPECIAL SERVICE AND CLERICAL EMPLOYEES ERTO

Tapio Huttula               Jouko Malinen