Employment, Energy, Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Wages

"This process was more difficult than usual, as Enefit Solutions was created last year as a result of a merger of three subsidiaries of Eesti Energia. The company has registered a loss for a number of years in a row. And the collective agreement of the merged company, the previous name of which was Eesti Energia Tehnoloogiatoostus AS, would have expired on July 10, but luckily we were able to come to an agreement and both parties accepted my proposal to do away with one of the collective agreements," public conciliator Meelis Virkebau told BNS.

"In this case, both parties signed a so-called good will agreement, which will last until the end of this year and the parties in September will start negotiations to sign a collective agreement involving all of the employees of Enefit Solutions," Virkebau said.

"My certain suggestion was not to increase the main wage of the employees this year, as the company is experiencing a significant financial loss, but this will come under discussion in September or October, when negotiations about the conditions of collective agreements for next year will start, which will enter into force on Jan. 1, 2018," he said.

"But certain benefits, which the trade unions wanted were given to the employees in part. The employees have protection and in that, obligation to refrain from striking has been guaranteed at Enefit Solutions," Virkebau said.

"There were a number of benefits, which have carried over from the previous collective agreement, but the most cutting issue was the holiday benefit, which is 160 euros per person and will stay like that. Another important issue was school allowance, according to which an employee's middle school age child will receive an allowance of 80 euros at the beginning of school," he said.

A merger of Eesti Energia Tehnoloogiatoostus AS, Eesti Energia Hoolduskeskus AS and Eesti Energia Testimiskeskus OU, three subsidiaries of Eesti Energia, was carried out last year, which resulted in the cration of Enefit Solutions. Consequently, the company had two simultaneously valid collective agreements, one of which the employer decided to do away with at the beginning of this year.

As the parties did not come to an agreement in the negotiations before the declaration of cancellation and the employer later did not give any indication of the continuation of negotiations, the trade union said that a situation was created in which as of the beginning of July this year part of the company's employees would have lost guarantees set by the collective agreement. This was also the reason why there was no obligation to refrain from striking within the company.