Finland
The number of sick leave days in the municipal sector fell again last year - part of a downward trend since 2009. In 2013 the number of average sick leave days per employee was 16.7 days. A year before it was 17.2. Municipal union JHL thinks that local authorities might be contributing to the decline by focusing on working ability together with occupational health.
Read more at > JHL (EN)
Public service unions joined the national protest on 27 November calling for action to defend and improve sickness absence rules. Under the slogan "sick workers are not criminals" the Podkrepa confederation called for workers to be covered by sick pay from the first day of absence and for a range of other measures on sick leave and working time. Meanwhile on the same day social workers from the administrative services union in Podkrepa took an hour's strike action calling for a 40% pay increase.
Trade unions representing ambulance workers - Unison and the GMB - have rejected the decision by NHS employers in England to change sick pay arrangements that could lead to cuts of up to 25% for some workers. The employers imposed the change on 1 September arguing that it brought ambulance workers in line with other groups in the health service. The unions argue that ambulance workers have long had different employment conditions and have criticised the employers for their reluctance to negotiate on the issues. [Read more at > Unison->http://www.unison.org.uk/news/ambulance-service-too-vital
The FOA public services union has congratulated the government on changing working time legislation to ensure that workers who fall ill while on paid leave are entitled to take more paid leave to cover this period of sickness. This should have been implemented as long ago as 2004 but the law only applied when workers fell ill before the paid leave started. The union criticised previous governments for failing to deal with the issue to the detriment of thousands of workers. Read more at > FOA (DK)
