Hotel, restaurant and leisure industry - key provisions of the collective agreement
Updated: 09.08.2022
The collective agreement for employees in the hotel, restaurant and leisure industry sets out minimum conditions for work in the sector, including pay and supplements, working hours and holidays.
The agreement was concluded by PAM, for the employees, and by the Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa, for the employers. Around 75,000 people in Finland do work that is covered by the collective agreement.
Key provisions of the collective agreement (click to open)
Scope
The conditions are minimum conditions that employers must comply with for all their employees. The agreement applies to employees covered by the Working Hours Act.
The collective agreement for employees in the hotel, restaurant and leisure industry typically applies to workplaces such as: restaurants, cafes, pubs, night clubs, catering companies and staff canteens, convenience and manufacturing kitchens, hotels and other accommodation establishments, spas and wellness centres, camping and caravan sites, holiday and cottage parks, rural tourism services, service and transport stations, bowling alleys, holiday and course centres, congress centres and promotion, sales, marketing and mediation of Finnish tourism services.
The collective agreement for employees in the hotel, restaurant and leisure industry is in force from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024.
What is new compared to the previous collective agreement?
- Wages
- Clarification of rules on breaks
- Part-timers’ status improved
- Promotion of coping at work
Other key changes
- Lay-off notice period can be shortened by local agreement
- Wage payment date changed (effective from 1.1.2023)
- Better collective representation at small workplaces
- Working groups
General
A settlement was reached at the end of the previous agreement period, and the new collective agreement is in force from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024. The agreement contains two wage increase dates, the first of which is an across-the-board increase of 2% in July 2022.
The amount and date of the second wage increase will be agreed separately in 2023.
The key improvements in the new collective agreement include the entries on employees’ coping and wellbeing at work relating to taking breaks during the working day and agreements on complying with the rules on break times. A new element agreed on is that some annual days off can be moved to be taken out later if you fall ill.
For part-time workers, the entries in the agreement were clarified to ensure that workers get their working hours according to the employment contract.
The agreement also ensures monitoring of employees’ interests and employment terms, with shop stewards granted more release time from work to perform their duties.
Wages and supplements
The collective agreement contains agreement on two separate wage increases, one in 2022 and one in 2023.
The complete provisions on wages and supplements (in Finnish)
2022
The first wage increase in the agreement period is an across-the-board increase of 2% in all wages, supplements and payments. The wage increase date is 1 July 2022, or from the start of the wage payment period after that date.
New pay scales to be posted here when they are finalised.
2023
Separate negotiations on the second wage increase of the agreement period will be held between PAM and the employers’ federation MaRa by 15 February 2023. If no agreement is reached on a wage settlement, the collective agreement can be terminated to end on 31 March 2023.
The below changes to the text come into force from 1 April 2022, unless stated otherwise.
Clarification of the rules on rests and breaks
PAM’s objective was to improve coping at work and working conditions for workers in the sector. Change was needed in the substandard observance of breaks and unclear rules on breaks, a longstanding problem in the sector. Progress was made in these objectives:
More breaks in long shifts
- If working time exceeds 10 hours, after 8 hours employees are entitled to maximum rest time of 30 min. The time when the rest is taken is decided by the employer.
Coffee break
- If a shift exceeds 4 hours, employees are entitled to take one coffee break. The collective agreement was clarified so that small workplaces must also enable coffee breaks to be taken.
Employer must provide guidance on breaks
- Employers must give employees guidance on how they can take their breaks and rest time at the workplace as required by the collective agreement.
Part-timers’ status improved
Working hours in line with employment contract
- The entries in the collective agreement were clarified so that part-time workers get the working hours they have in their employment contract. To demonstrate this, a clear example was put in the collective agreement of how a review of average minimum working hours is to be carried out.
Right to weekend days off
- Those part-time employees who work less often than on 5 days a week will now have the right to weekend days off. Then, unless agreed otherwise with the employee, the employer must grant the employee days off at least each fifth weekend. Days off can be taken as a combination: Friday and Saturday, Saturday and Sunday, or Sunday and Monday.
Promotion of coping at work
Collective agreement takes account of the rules on employees’ coping and the timing of days off.
Postponing annual days off
- Annual days off entered in a shift list can be postponed at the employee’s request if the employee is incapable of working for longer than one annual day off due to illness or an accident or giving birth. This applies to situations in which at least four (4) annual days off have been granted on consecutive days or are combined with other time off and they form a single period of time off.
Other key changes
Shortened lay-off notice period by agreement
It is possible to agree with the head shop steward at a workplace to shorten the lay-off notice period to a minimum of 7 days. If there is no head shop steward at a workplace, the lay-off notice period is always at least 14 days.
Change of wage payment date
From 1 January 2023 wages can be paid at least once a month. The previous collective agreement stipulated, that wages are paid twice a month, unless agreed otherwise at the workplace.
Better collective representation at small workplaces
PAM’s objective in the agreement negotiations was to improve the conditions for shop stewards to represent employees at the workplace and oversee compliance with the collective agreement. Progress was made in this objective with an agreement on more release time from work for shop stewards.
Status of shop stewards improved
At workplaces employing fewer than 25 persons, there was previously no agreed fixed release time from work for shops stewards to perform their duties. The release time from work in these companies will now be at least 3 hours per 3 weeks.
To reflect the demands of the task, the number of hours of release time was also raised by an average of 3 hours in companies with higher employee numbers.
Joint working groups set up to develop the collective agreement
As part of the ongoing activities to develop the collective agreement, PAM and the employers’ federation MaRa agreed on the following joint working groups as part of the collective agreement settlement:
- Overhaul of pay system
The objective is to prepare a new pay system for the sector to improve the sector’s appeal and labour availability, and to look into the possibility of a longer-term earnings development programme. - Taking account of the effects of the family leave reform
The objective is to reconcile the effects of the family leave reform on the collective agreement by 31 May 2022.
Old agreements
Text of the collective agreement 1.10.2020-31.3.2022
Pay scales from 1.5.2018 and 1.5.2019 (workers)
Pay scale 1.5.2018 (supervisors)