Collective agreement approved, announced staff strike cancelled

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Bulletin 20.5.2025

Update May 21, 2025: A settlement has been reached on the collective agreement for Finnish universities. The staff strike planned for Tuesday May 27 is cancelled and University functions will continue normally.

Original news item published on May 20, 2025:

A strike planned for Tuesday 27 May will interrupt teaching and close the University's services. If the negotiating parties find a solution before the planned date of the strike, the strike will be called off.

JUKO (Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals), Trade Union Pro and the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL) have jointly announced a potential strike involving the University of Helsinki, set for Tuesday, 27 May 2025 from 00.01 to 23.59.

The potential industrial action relates to the protracted negotiations on the new collective agreement for Finnish universities. The national conciliator has submitted a settlement proposal and the negotiating parties will respond to it by 11.00 on Wednesday, 21 May. If all parties approve the proposal, the announced strike will be cancelled. We'll update information on the results of the negotiation on the front page of the Studies Service on Wednesday May 21.

If the strike takes place, it will also affect the daily lives of students and doctoral candidates: 

  • Teaching planned for the day of the strike is, as a rule, cancelled. Teachers will notify students separately for any exceptions to this rule.
  • Examinarium examinations can be taken as usual during the strike day. All other examinations are cancelled unless otherwise indicated. If necessary, a new date will be offered for cancelled exams.
  • The student advice services and other University services will be closed on the day of the strike.
  • Doctoral defences planned for the day of the strike will go on as planned.
  • The University Library's customer service will be closed on the day of the strike, and all trainings and events planned for the day are cancelled. Library facilities will be open, but there may be exceptions to opening hours. Please follow the information on the University Library’s website.
  • Unisport's self-service sports centres (Meilahti, Töölö, Otaniemi and Kumpula) are open as usual. However, the strike may affect the opening hours of the customer service, the opening hours of UniSport Kluuvi, and group exercise classes. More information about the exceptions will be provided on the Unisport website as the strike approaches.
  • UniCafe and Sodexo staff are not affected by the strike. For up-to-date information on restaurant opening hours, please visit the UniCafe website and the Sodexo website. 

The University's public spaces will be open during the strike. However, there may be some changes to the opening hours of facilities that require customer service from University employees. 

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Photo: Anniina Sjöblom (University of Helsinki)