Ensuring essential work during industrial action

Essential work usually refers to work that is necessary to prevent harm to life, health, work machinery or equipment and the environment during industrial action.

Currently, no provisions exist concerning essential work performed by employees in an employment relationship during industrial action. Instead, the employee association participating in the industrial action decides on essential work and, if necessary, negotiations on essential work are conducted between the employees’ and employer’s sides. Employee associations have varying procedures for deciding on essential work.

Due to the industrial action in the healthcare sector, a temporary Act to Ensure Necessary Healthcare and Home Care During Industrial Action was enacted in 2022. When the Act was laid down, Parliament required that the Government evaluate the need to develop the provision of essential work and, if necessary, prepare legislative proposals to ensure the organisation of essential work during labour disputes.
 
The parliamentary resolution is based on the proposal of the Social Affairs and Health Committee. The Committee considered it important that, after the end to the ongoing industrial action, an evaluation should be carried out to explore the need for legislation to define more extensively and precisely the functions critical to society where industrial action could pose a threat to people’s lives or seriously endanger their health. In the Committee’s view, society has a wide-ranging obligation to ensure that the right to life is safeguarded despite industrial action and that people’s health is not seriously endangered by such action. The Committee also stated that an assessment should be conducted on the need to introduce a possible separate conciliation procedure and to develop the conciliation procedure concerning essential work.

According to the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government, the Government will implement the parliamentary resolution (see the previous question and answer) and prepare legislation to ensure the organisation of essential work during disputes.

A statutory duty of care would be imposed on associations of employees and public officials. This would mean that the associations would have a statutory duty to ensure that industrial action does not directly, concretely and seriously endanger e.g. life, health, employer’s property or the environment and the functions necessary to safeguard them. The duty of care would require that certain tasks or functions are completely excluded from industrial action or, alternatively, a sufficient amount of essential work is performed. 

According to the proposed act, the employer would be required to: 

• clarify without delay any issues concerning essential work or the limits to industrial action with the association responsible for the implementation of the industrial action
• notify the association without delay of any danger to necessary functions in order to initiate negotiations
• during the negotiations, provide the association with sufficient information and rationale for the need for necessary personnel and on the means available to the employer to avoid endangering the functions.

The employer could apply to the court to prohibit industrial action in cases where the employee association fails to limit the industrial action or perform essential work as required by law.

Employee associations would be required to ensure, either by limiting industrial action or by performing essential work, that the industrial action does not directly, concretely and seriously endanger the necessary functions protected by the regulation. The following would be safeguarded during industrial action: 

• tasks necessary for human life and health provided by healthcare services, social welfare services, rescue services, the police, the Emergency Response Centre Agency and closed institutions, 
• necessary maintenance, repair or supervision of property essential for the continuation of industrial and commercial activities,
• tasks necessary to prevent environmental damage, 
• tasks necessary to safeguard animal welfare, 
• tasks necessary to protect Finland’s territorial integrity and prevent illegal entry into Finland, 
• functioning of the State’s highest decision-making, 
• availability of commodities essential for human life or health (e.g. energy, water, medicines and food),
• investigation and prevention of very serious crimes,
• urgent tasks of the court system and the National Prosecution Authority and implementation related to these tasks,
• digital payment transactions and availability of cash,
• certain essential information and communications technology services and information systems. 

Yes. However, the duty of care would be imposed on employee associations, not on individual employees. As a rule, employee associations decide for which tasks essential work is performed and, consequently, which employees will perform the essential work. As a last resort, however, the employer would have the right to order employees to perform emergency work.

Yes. Both employees in employment relationships and public-service employment relationships perform tasks that are essential for safeguarding the functions mentioned above. Employees in both kinds of employment relationships may be involved in the same tasks covered by the duty of care. This is the case in hospitals, for example.

Yes. The regulation would impose obligations on employee associations. The proposal would not affect the requirement that employees must consent to overtime and shift changes, unless the employer has the right to order employees to perform emergency work. Nor would the proposal affect the option to resign, which is available to all employees.

Although the regulation as such applies to all forms of industrial action, it should be noted that the less serious forms of industrial action do not generally endanger the functions referred to in the Act. For this reason, the proposed regulation would not normally be applicable to them.

Primarily, the employee association that implements the industrial action will assess these matters. If, in the employer’s view, the employee association failed to comply with its duty of care, the employer could refer the matter to the court after negotiating with the employee association.

The legislative project primarily concerns the reconciliation of different fundamental rights and objects of legal protection. To the extent that regulation requires the provision of essential work or the limiting of industrial action, this would be a restriction of the right to industrial action, which is a fundamental right. The right to industrial action would be restricted only to the extent necessary to safeguard the functions mentioned above, such as those essential for life or health.

The statutory duty of care that would be imposed on employee associations would in itself safeguard that a sufficient amount of essential work is performed during industrial action.

In the event of disagreement, the parties would be obligated to negotiate on essential work. 

If necessary, the employer could apply to the court to prohibit industrial action in cases where the employee association fails to perform essential work as required by law.

The employer would be allowed to order employees to perform emergency work if the threat of damage to life, health, property, the environment, animal welfare or national security arising from the interruption of the above-mentioned functions was so immediate that it could not be avoided by means laid down in the act or by any other reasonable means.

In practice, this would apply to situations of acute danger comparable to a necessity. Ordering employees to perform emergency work would be the means of last resort of the employer to prevent damages that are significant for fundamental and human rights and fall within the scope of regulation. Ordering emergency work would only be possible if the damages could not be avoided by means laid down in the law or by any other reasonable means.

International agreements have been considered during the preparation. According to the enforcement practice of conventions by the International Labour Organization and the revised European Social Charter, the provision of so-called minimum services during industrial action can be required. In accordance with this practice on minimum services, legislation on essential work is possible.

No.

Key changes made in further preparation include: 

• the tasks and functions covered by the duty of care of employee associations are defined in more detail at the legislative level 
• the threshold for the duty of care of employee associations has been specified 
• obligations of employers have been supplemented to improve the efficiency of negotiations
• compensatory sanctions of employer’s and employees’ sides have been removed 
• according to the proposal, ordering employees to perform emergency work would be the means of last resort in order to avoid significant damages covered by the regulation.

The draft proposal was prepared on a tripartite basis by the working group for ensuring provision of essential work during industrial action appointed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on 25 March 2024. In addition to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the working group included representatives from the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK), the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (Akava), the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, the Local Government and County Employers (KT), and the Office for the Government as Employer. The working group was not unanimous. EK, the Federation of Finnish Enterprises and the employee organisations SAK, Akava and STTK submitted dissenting opinions. KT submitted a supplementary statement.
 
A consultation round was organised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on the working group’s report from 22 November 2024 to 3 January 2025.

The Government submitted its proposal to Parliament on 13 March 2025.

The legislative amendments are scheduled to enter into force as soon as possible after the parliamentary consideration.