Tehy, the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals, is insisting for a 24 percent wage increase for its members over 28 months, rebuffing employers' offer of 12 percent pay rise.
Half of the union's 124,000 staff are battling to survive out of the low salary, and a number of them now yearn to work abroad, which if no settlement is found, the mass resignations will impair Finland's healthcare system, the union alerts.
"Hospitals will be paralyzed, especially big ones where many of our members are employed," an official of Tehy's chairwoman, Jaana Reijonaho said.
She also added that a nurse's average wage is about 1,900 euros, compared to 2,300 euros average pay for full-time workers across the country, which also made the nurses in Finland's public sector to say that they are poorly paid and often have to deal with with vast workloads.
Meanwhile, employers react that a 24 percent wage rise is baseless, as it is about 15 percent above average salary growth.
As part of some experts analysis that 12,800 signatures collected by Tehy could not be accepted as resignation letters from a legal point of view, the union admits that this is something of a grey area and a court case is likely to be done.
