Change Negotiations
If the number of employees is less than 20, the employer is not obliged to negotiate. The personnel representative negotiates with the employer on behalf of the personnel. This person can be selected in accordance with the Co-Operation Act. We always recommend primarily selecting a shop steward (if the collective agreement is followed) or a personnel representative (not the collective agreement), as this promotes cooperation and dialogue between employees and the employer, even outside of times of crisis. If this person has not been selected in advance, another agreed representative will be selected as the negotiator.
Employees should be aware that ad-hoc representative does not benefit from the legal protection against dismissal that applies to officially recognized employee representatives.
Companies with 20–49 employees
Change negotiations are not required in the case of a fixed-term layoff based on a temporary reduction in work and lasting no more than 90 days.
However, if the employer is considering dismissing, making employees part-time, unilaterally changing an essential condition of the employment relationship or laying off at least 20 employees during a 90-day period, negotiations must be held for at least 7 days.
Companies with at least 50 employees
In companies with at least 50 employees, the negotiation period is 7 days when the employer plans:
to dismiss fewer than 10 employees, to lay off employees for an indefinite period, to make them part-time or to unilaterally change an essential term of the employment contract, or
to lay off personnel for a maximum period of 90 days on the basis of a temporary reduction in work (also when the measure concerns more than 10 employees).
In other situations, the negotiation period is at least three weeks in companies with at least 50 employees.
Breach of change negotiation obligations
If an employer violates the provisions of the Co-operation Act concerning change negotiations, they may be sentenced to pay compensation to employees who have been dismissed, laid off, made part-time or who are the subject of a change in another essential term of the employment contract. The change negotiations are subject to precise regulations, obligations and responsibilities, which must be complied with.
Support and Assistance
We help employees before, during and after negotiations, as well as in representative elections. For example, we organize change negotiation information sessions either on-site or remotely, whichever is best for the employees. You can notify us of upcoming change negotiations by email at peliala@peliala.fi.
In addition, our members can receive advice on change negotiations and other employment-related matters from the customer service of Insinööriliitto (Union of Professional Engineers).