Uniarts Helsinki launches change negotiations concerning teaching and research staff’s total working time

28.2.2023 News

The aim of the negotiations is to co-operate with the employee representatives to find a solution that takes the special characteristics of arts teaching into consideration.

Uniarts Helsinki is launching change negotiations concerning teaching and research staff’s total working time in March 2023 as part of Uniarts Helsinki’s HR policy development project.

The negotiations aim at establishing principles for the total working time at Uniarts Helsinki, defining practices for applying them and finding a financially sustainable solution to the total working time in co-operation with employee representatives.

The negotiations concern the teaching and research staff in the total working time system, about 360 employees in total. According to the employer’s estimate, the negotiations will not lead to terminations of contracts, lay-offs or reductions of employment contracts into part-time contracts for employees.

The aim is to establish practices concerning the total working time

Uniarts Helsinki has engaged in a dialogue with the employee representatives about matters concerning the total working time starting from autumn 2022. In February 2023, the university board authorised the rector to initiate the required measures in order to reach local solutions to questions concerning the total working time.

The negotiations concerning the total working time aim at establishing principles for the total working time at Uniarts Helsinki, defining practices for applying them and finding a financially sustainable solution to the total working time in co-operation with employee representatives.

Change negotiations concerning the total working time are part of Uniarts Helsinki’s HR policy development project in 2021—2024. In the earlier stages of the project, the university reviewed all fixed-term academic employment relationships and signed permanent employment contracts with 88 employees. In the second stage, the university reviewed the situation of hourly-paid teachers, which resulted in a local agreement for Uniarts Helsinki and the establishing of a new position of university arts teacher. In the same context, the university offered a permanent university arts teacher position to 52 persons and a permanent lecturer position to 9 persons.

The aim is to conclude change negotiations by the end of June 2023. The plan is to implement the measures that result from the negotiations, such as the introduction of new total working time principles and related new working time plans, as part of the yearly planning for the 2024—2025 academic year at the latest. Uniarts Helsinki’s negotiations are local, and they are not linked to the national negotiations concerning the collective agreement for universities.