The Spring Union Meeting of Research Professionals met remotely on Friday, 22 May to decide on statutory matters. Despite the external challenges – or perhaps because of them – one joyful piece of news is that the number of members in Research Professionals has continued to grow.
In his opening speech, President Antti Pajala mentioned university work plans, the drafting principles of which he says have recently been locally agreed with varying degrees of success.
“It’s good that the work plans are now being discussed, since they highlight a basic problem: teaching and research personnel may be doing as much as tens of millions of euro worth of unpaid overtime beyond their agreed 1,612 hours”, Pajala said.
He also noted that the Union was concerned about the drawn-out collective bargaining dispute regarding universities of applied sciences, which has led to a wave of strikes. Employee representatives YTN and OAJ would have accepted the settlement proposed by the National Conciliator on 11 May, but it was rejected by the employers’ representative, Finnish Education Employers FEE.
Pajala highlighted Research Professionals’ Vision for higher education and research for the 2040s as one of the high points of recent times. Research Professionals’ own vision was drawn up as a communal project involving a wide range of higher education personnel working in different positions through all 16 of our Member Associations. The core focus is on personnel and the impact and quality of higher education and research.
“Without research professionals, there is no research, teaching, expertise or science – let alone the resulting impact and success in society”, Pajala points out.
The Union’s parliamentary election objectives have been hammered out in tandem with the vision work. Key themes include academic freedom, funding for higher education, grant-funded work, RDI funding and international experts. The related advocacy work has already been going on throughout the spring by explaining the background for our themes to political parties.
“The Union now has a genuine opportunity for influence, since the parties rarely have a deep level of expertise on issues within the higher education sector. Our collective voice is needed.”
Active advocacy work for the common good
Nina Hahtela, Executive Director, stated that the year 2025 challenged research professionals to defend their working conditions, rights and the importance of research-based knowledge.
“At the same time, it showed how important community, collective supervision of interests and support for one another is for every research professional.”
She explained that, over the past year, Research Professionals has been actively influencing legislative projects, science and higher education policies and the securing of the prerequisites for science. As one example of the Union’s success, Hahtela mentioned the advocacy work carried out on the initiative of members to encourage the Finnish Immigration Service to revise its interpretation of the reformed Aliens Act regarding the travel documents of Palestinians.
“It was extremely encouraging that, despite all the external turmoil, membership was able to provide much-needed support. People did not back out or give up. Instead, our membership continued to grow. It speaks of trust: that you should defend your work together, and that the Union, as an organisation of research professionals, definitely has a place in times such as these”, Hahtela said.
Statement calls for reform of funding models for higher education institutions
The Union Meeting decided on a statement that proposed the need for a parliamentary consensus spanning across election terms concerning the financing of higher education institutions. This would significantly increase the possibilities of higher education institutions to anticipate the amount of funding as well as improve stability and working conditions.
According to the statement, within the development of the funding system, it is important to cut down the number of funding indicators and to strengthen the share of core funding. In addition, funding models should promote the possibilities of higher education institutions to concentrate on their core tasks and areas of strength. It would also be essential for the models to reduce competition between higher education institutions and instead motivate them to cooperate.
Read the statement here.
The Union Meeting decided on the election committee, which shall prepare the election of the Presidency and members of the Board of Directors for 2027–28. Katja Haapanen (TURTLE) was elected as the committee chairman.
Representatives from every Member Association of Research Professionals participated in the Union Meeting. Simultaneous interpretation of the meeting from Finnish to English also made it possible for people with different language backgrounds to participate, once the minor technical issues at the beginning had been solved.
Juha Ylisalo (TURTLE) was elected as Chair of the Union Meeting, Miia Ijäs-Idrobo as secretary, Jaana Virta and Matti Leppiniemi as examiners of the minutes, and Sanna Hoikka and Eevastiina Aho as vote counters.