Personnel representatives safeguard you in the workplace

The shop steward is a personnel representative elected in accordance with the collective agreement. The election and role of the shop steward will be agreed in more detail in the collective agreement pertaining to the sector or company. The collective agreement provides for, among other things, the election, term of office, compensation, access to information and training of the shop steward as well as the use of working time for the office. The collective agreement often also allows for certain matters to be agreed locally, and the shop steward can negotiate about these with the employer. A shop steward may also have a different title, such as contact person, depending on the collective agreement they come under.

In the private sector, senior salaried employees elect a shop steward from among themselves in those industries that come under the collective agreements of our negotiating organisation, The Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN. In the public sector, all our members are covered by collective agreements. In the public sector (state, municipalities, churches), Akava members choose shared JUKO shop stewards. The rights and responsibilities are mainly the same as those of the private sector shop stewards.

An employee representative may be elected from among the personnel if the workplace does not have a collective agreement. In this case, the selection is based on the Employment Contracts Act. A separate employee representative is commonly elected for each personnel group. An employee representative may be elected from among specialists and managers, i.e. senior salaried employees, even if the workplace has a collective agreement for other personnel groups.

The duties of the employee representative are in theory the same as those of a shop steward, but the framework set by labor law limits their ability to negotiate locally. In addition, employees may separately, by majority decision, authorise an employee representative to represent them in matters related to employment relationships and working conditions, such as remuneration or annual leave. The employee representative has the right to use the necessary amount of working time to perform their duties. However, the use of working time must be agreed with the employer first.

The occupational safety representative is a person chosen by the employees from among themselves, who represents the personnel in matters related to occupational safety.

The occupational safety representative and two deputy representatives must be selected at workplaces with at least 10 employees. Even in workplaces with fewer employees, it is possible to choose an occupational safety representative for a valid reason.

The occupational safety representative must familiarise themselves with matters related to health and safety in their workplace, encourage other employees to pay attention to them and make proposals for improvements.

The deputy representative takes care of the duties of the occupational safety representative when the occupational safety representative is not available. The occupational safety representative may be unavailable permanently or temporarily.

For more information about occupational safety cooperation and occupational safety representatives, please see the The Centre for Occupational Safety website.

An employee representative may be elected from among the personnel if the workplace does not have a collective agreement.