Historic strike begins in Finnish universities of applied sciences over pay and resources

Teaching staff at Finland’s universities of applied sciences have launched their first-ever strike over working conditions, as employers and unions remain deadlocked in contract negotiations, Yle reports. The employer association Sivista has declared the industrial action illegal and filed an urgent complaint with the labour court.

The strike, organised by the Trade Union of Education (OAJ), started on Monday at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, with further walkouts planned at six other institutions if no agreement is reached. Union representatives argue that growing student numbers and shrinking resources have made teaching conditions unsustainable.

Ulla Vaherkoski, a nursing instructor and OAJ shop steward at Metropolia, said staff had hoped a new sector-specific collective agreement in 2024 would improve working conditions. Instead, she claimed, resources have been cut while student intake—particularly in international degree programmes—has surged.

“Everyone wants to deliver quality education, but the current tools and resources don’t allow it. There simply isn’t enough time,” Vaherkoski told Yle. Instructor Jenni Pellinen added that bilingual teaching (Finnish and English) and supporting non-native speakers demand significantly more preparation, yet no additional time has been allocated.

At the heart of the dispute is a decades-old “availability bonus” of €700–1,000 monthly, currently paid only to engineering and transport sector instructors regardless of their actual subject. Employer representative Hanne Salonen called the system “outdated and unfair,” citing cases where a Swedish teacher in an engineering programme earns €1,000 more than a Swedish teacher training nurses.

Sivista proposes redistributing the €1.2 million monthly bonus pool across all staff, but OAJ rejects any changes to the existing scheme. With negotiations stalled, the union has issued strike warnings to six more universities of applied sciences, including Tampere and Turku, starting Tuesday.

The current collective agreement expired in March, leaving 12,000 staff in limbo. OAJ accuses Sivista of seeking to weaken terms on pay, workloads, and job security—claims the employer denies, insisting the strike violates legal procedures.