A large sum has arisen from the salary arrears of the Päijät-Häme welfare municipality association, which the municipality or the welfare region could not afford to pay.
An agreement is emerging for tens of millions of salary arrears for nurses and other workers. The missing salaries are supposed to be paid retroactively for two and a half years.
The employees of the municipal corporation that produced social and health services in Päijät-Häme have been left without salary increases totaling approximately 38 million euros, which were created when the municipal corporation was founded.
Even though the labor market parties who negotiated the wages, the municipal employer KT and the wage earners’ organizations, are reaching an agreement on the period from which retroactive wages must be paid, it is still unclear from whose wallet the wages are paid.
The municipal corporation should have paid all its employees doing the same work a uniform salary so that the salary level would have been determined according to the highest salary. However, this did not happen in Päijät-Hämee.
No willing payer can be found
When salary arrears came to the fore last spring, the municipalities denied their share. The municipalities and the welfare district argued over who should pay the arrears.
The issue is embarrassing for the welfare district, which inherited the problem from the municipal association that closed at the turn of the year. According to the welfare regional director, unpaid salaries are already making recruitment difficult.
The welfare district of Päijät-Häme has now approached the municipalities asking if they accept the principles of paying salary arrears and whether the welfare district can sign the negotiation agreement on behalf of the municipalities. The municipalities seem to be raising their hands: \”It’s not up to us anymore. The municipal association ceased to exist at the end of last year\”.
The biggest bill would fall on Lahti
The municipalities of Hartola and Padasjoki have already processed the survey of the welfare area. Neither of the municipalities feels that they are a party to the case and therefore cannot answer questions about the welfare area. Padasjoki municipality’s share of salary arrears would be EUR 744,000 according to the welfare area’s calculation, Hartola EUR 714,000.
The city of Lahti, the largest municipality in the Päijät-Häme welfare municipality group, would have to pay the most. According to the welfare area’s preliminary calculations, Lahti’s share of the total amount would be around 23 million euros.
– One option is that the welfare area would pay the missing salary at this stage. After that, we will resolve the matter through the courts if necessary, says Mäkinen.
According to the welfare area director Petri Virolainen, the welfare area has not been allocated funding for this.
– The Ministry of Finance has given us a financial framework and it is intended to secure services for the people of Päijäthämälä. It is not possible that we would start paying old receivables with that amount, says Virolainen.
The same work was paid differently
If the municipalities in Päijäthämä had had enough money, salary arrears would hardly have arisen. The Päijät-Häme welfare municipality association was created in 2017, when all municipalities could no longer organize social and health services for their residents on their own.
– It was not possible for us to raise salaries to competitive top salaries as we should have, says Niinistö.
However, Lahti’s acting city manager Mika Mäkinen reminds that the welfare association voluntarily made many other investments, from which the welfare area is now benefiting.
– In many other areas, salary harmonization and investments in common information systems are now done with state money. Regions are treated unequally, says Mäkinen.
So far, the state has not responded, although the municipalities of Paijäthämä have visited the Ministry of Finance to tell about their experiences of injustice.