Finance minister has yet to approve health workers’ wage deal

A three-year wage agreement between the Faroese Health Assistants’ Association and the Municipal Employers’ Association has not yet been approved, KVF reported. The Finance Ministry received the deal on Friday, but its head of wages said the approval process could take longer than usual.

Jan Sjóstein, head of the ministry’s Wage Department, said such agreements are normally processed within a few days. The minister of finance, Aksel V. Johannesen, must approve agreements covering municipal employees.

The two organisations signed the agreement on Friday with help from the Conciliation Institution, after difficult negotiations. Their previous agreement expired on October 1, 2025.

The negotiations were affected by a separate pay framework agreed on February 5 between the Finance Ministry and 12 public-sector unions. Neither the Health Assistants’ Association nor the Municipal Employers’ Association is part of that agreement. Sjóstein said the framework applies only to those 12 unions, but the Wage Department also considers public-sector pay levels as a whole when reviewing municipal agreements.

The new agreement raises monthly pay by 3.87% from January 1, 2026, and by 1,000 kroner for all employees from October 1, 2026. Pay will rise by a further 3% on October 1, 2027. From April 1, 2027, evening and night work will receive additional time credit: each hour worked after 5pm will count as one hour and eight minutes, and each hour worked between 11pm and 6am will count as one hour and 16 minutes.