Amendments to the Act on Co-operation within Undertakings

The Government aims to reform working life legislation to remove barriers to employment and, in particular, to strengthen the operating conditions of small and medium-sized companies. The amendments to the Co-operation Act are among the Government’s labour market reforms. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden caused by legislation, especially in companies with fewer than 50 employees.

The first phase of the legislative project implements the Government Programme’s entries on raising the threshold for applying the Co-operation Act and reducing the minimum duration of change negotiations by half. It will be evaluated in the second phase of the project whether the board representation of employees should be amended.

Timeline on the progress of legislative drafting in two phases: The first phase began with a working group (11 December 2023–20 June 2024), continued with a consultation round (28 June–23 August 2024), a government proposal (28 November 2024) and ended with the entry into force of the legislative amendments (1 July 2025). The second phase began with a report on board-level employee representation (21 January 2025) and an assessment by a working group (1 January–31 March 2025). The Government’s mid-term policy review session was held on 22–23 April 2025. The legislative amendments are currently being prepared by a working group (20 May–31 December 2025).

Questions and answers on the amendments to the Co-operation Act

Inquiries: 
Elli Nieminen, Chief Specialist, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, firstname.lastname@gov.fi