An updated edition of the Sacked, huh? change negotiation guide has been published

Sacked, huh? The Change Negotiation Guide is the 7th updated edition of the previously published Sacked huh? Co-operation Negotiation Guide. The update and revision of the guide has been carried out by lawyer Kia Laitinen from the Industrial Union, Head of Legal Services, LL.M. Trained on the Bench Patrik Stenholm and lawyer Mira Strömmer from Trade Union Pro, and on behalf of YTN, lawyer Eeva Salmi from the The Union of Professional Engineers.

The Act on Co-Operation within Undertakings (2021/1333) entered into force on 1 January 2022. When it entered into force, the Act on Co-Operation within Undertakings (2007/334) that was previously in force was repealed.

The Act on Co-Operation within Undertakings has been revised since 2023.

The guide is being updated again, as the latest amendments to the Act on Co-Operation entered into force on 1 July 2025. The changes are part of the Petteri Orpo’s labour market reforms as stated in the Government programme of 20 June 2023, which, among other things, include raising the scope of the Cooperatives Act to companies employing at least 50 employees and cutting the minimum duration of change negotiations by half.

As of 1 July 2025, the Cooperation Act’s duty to negotiate and participate in dialogue applies entirely to companies with at least 50 regular employees. However, a company with 20–49 regular employees must conduct change negotiations only if it is considering dismissing at least 20 employees within a 90-day period, making them part-time or unilaterally changing an essential term of an employment contract on financial or production-related grounds, or laying off employees on the basis of Chapter 5, Section 2, Subsection 1, Paragraph 1 of the Contracts of Employment Act. In companies with 20-49 employees, the duty to participate in dialogue has also been eased through these changes.

The guide can be found in Finnish, Swedish and English at this link.