The new collective agreement of the private social services sector was published yesterday. OAJ’s Executive Board approved the accession protocol by which OAJ is included in the agreement.

In this round the terminology of the accession protocol was renewed and modernized, and it now better corresponds to the legislation and tasks.

Improvements sought for planning, evaluation and development time (sak-työaika) were not achieved, even though the obligations imposed by law and guiding documents, such as the basics of early childhood education plan, define the same responsibilities and duties for the teaching staff both in private and municipal ECE centres.

For some reason the employer sees that the teachers PED working time (sak-työaika) includes also multiprofessional cooperation, unlike in other contracts, OAJ negotiator Kirsi Sutton laments.

She, however, promises that work regarding this issue continues in future negotiations.

This negotiation round focused on salary increases, which were used to reduce the wage gap in relation to the municipal sector. This was successful thanks to strike actions, says Sutton.

The work done in municipal and private sector ECE centres is the same. They have the same legal obligations, guiding documents and early childhood education plans.