The Labour Court’s decision changed the fixed-term teaching task tradition. The duties of lecturers and professors included in the career-based system will also be made permanent.
The cooperation negotiations launched in the University of the Arts in February have been concluded. As a result of the negotiations, the employment relationships of 80 employees working in teaching and research tasks were updated to be valid indefinitely. In addition, eight employees were offered other permanent jobs.
– I think that the negotiation results were very positive. The University of the Arts assessed its operations and started to fix the situation in cooperation with the shop stewards, says OAJ’s Special Advisor Hanna Tanskanen.
This establishment of the permanent employment relationships was triggered by the Labour Court’s decision issued in December 2020 concerning the grounds for the fixed-term employment relationships of two University of the Arts professors. The Labour Court ruled that the nature of arts sector’s teaching tasks is not sufficient grounds for a fixed-term employment relationship and regarded the employment relationships in question to be valid indefinitely.
The Labour Court ruled that the nature of arts sector’s teaching tasks is not sufficient grounds for a fixed-term employment relationship and regarded the employment relationships in question to be valid indefinitely.
After the Labour Court’s decision, the University of the Arts summoned the cooperation negotiations and reviewed the grounds for fixed-term employment relationships of a total of 186 employees working in teaching and research tasks who are within the scope of the overall working time. Due to this review, most of the fixed-term employment relationships defined as such due to the nature of the arts sector’s teaching tasks were assessed to be valid indefinitely.
– Permanent employment relationships create stability for employees and long-term perspective in the development of education as well as reduce unnecessary stress and worries related to the continuation of the employment relationship, says Tanskanen.
The Labour Court’s policy changed the decades-old practice of fixed-term teaching and research tasks especially in visual arts, dance and theatre sectors. This tradition was argued by explaining that art is not made in universities but in the field.
– The practices of the sector cannot override the statutory regulations of the Employment Contracts Act; a fixed-term employment relationship is always an exception. Shop stewards have continuously discussed this practice with employers. It is important that the Labour Court confirmed the employee side’s view that the nature of the arts sector does not constitute legal grounds for fixed-term employment relationships. This clarified the situation, says Tanskanen.
The practices of the sector cannot override the statutory regulations of the Employment Contracts Act; a fixed-term employment relationship is always an exception.
In the future, the positions of the University of the Arts’ professors and lecturers will, as a rule, be permanent employment relationships. For example, the employment relationships of doctoral students, visiting experts and substitutes will continue to be fixed-term employment relationships.
Read more:Uniarts Helsinki signed permanent contracts with 80 fixedterm teachers and researchers