Together we can make a difference

We aim for a better working life. We are willing and able to work for our interests together, and we will not give up until we succeed. Every member is involved in improving working life and social care, health care and education services, employment terms and salaries, and increasing our impact – sometimes through collective influence. Membership is also a contribution to bolstering the status of the field!

Assistance and support for questions and problems with employment relationships

We provide assistance in all matters related to employment relationships. The closest contact for assistance is at the workplace: your own union representative. You can turn to the union representative if you have any questions about salary, work shifts, call-out pay or shift change compensation, for example. These services are not available anywhere else! In addition to the union representative, you have access to Tehy’s experts.

Legal aid

Where necessary, Tehy members can receive assistance in matters related to disputes, offences and contractual violations. If legal aid is granted, we will cover all legal costs. Members are not liable to pay an excess or other expenses.

Tehy has its own lawyers specialising in labour law and the social and health care sector. We handle hundreds of cases for our members each year. Most other unions do not provide a corresponding service. Read more about the legal service

Case: discrimination and stringing together multiple fixed-term employment contracts

An employer had unlawfully stringed together multiple fixed-term employment contracts and discriminated against a nurse. The employer had not renewed the nurse’s employment contract when she went on maternity leave.

The employer was ordered to pay €25,000 in compensation and the relevant legal costs to the member.

Insurance coverage included in the membership

Our insurance coverage is a benefit that provides significant security for employment. Insurance policies provided by employers do not cover all possible work-related accidents. For example, liability insurance for personal injury and property damage is included in the membership for employees, self-employed persons and students.

Unemployment benefit

When joining Tehy, you can also choose whether to join the Unemployment Fund for Social and Healthcare Workers. Tehy will pay the unemployment fund’s membership fee for you. Fund membership provides security in the event that you lose your job or are laid off. In these cases, you are entitled to an earnings-related allowance.

Training and competence development

Tehy offers high-quality training to its members. They are mostly free of charge! We organise training related to professional expertise and supervision of interests, seminars, webinars, field-specific study days and other interesting activities. Through the training courses and events, you can also network with other professionals!

Events bring us together

We organise a large member event and other leisure activities each year. In the past, we have arranged cruises and large member events in locations such as Himos, Särkänniemi and Linnanmäki. There have also been live and streamed performances by artists such as Maija Vilkkumaa, Olavi Uusivirta, Reino Nordin, Lauri Tähkä, Kaija Koo and Vesterinen Yhtyeineen.

The professional branch connects

the Tehy members who work for the same employer or within the same region. Professional branches organise a variety of events. You can stay up to date on the events on your trade union’s website and social media and register. The trade union plays an important role, since interests are now increasingly supervised at workplaces. It is, in many ways, beneficial to be involved in local activities!

Joy from member benefits for leisure

Tehy members enjoy a wie range of valuable member benefits. Members gain various accommodations: member discounts for Holiday Club flats and other hotels and holiday locations throughout Finland. The Tehy magazine, Cityshoppari app for free, audio book app at an affordable price, newspaper and magazine benefits, campaign benefits for many products and services... Member benefits provide savings as well as joy and energy for enjoying your free time!

Bring up Tehy membership and ask if a colleague, student or intern is a member.

Most non-members say that this is because no one has offered them a membership or talked about its benefits. As such, the most important may well be that they have simply not thought about membership. You can do your friend a big favour by recommending membership and talking about its importance!

Talk about how you have benefited from your Tehy membership

Have you received help from a Tehy employee representative or expert in a matter related to your employment relationship? It is a good idea to mention this, since this service is not available anywhere else: we are aware of employment terms and how to adhere to them. Or have you taken part in a training or member event? Have you used a member benefit or perhaps enjoyed affordable accommodation? Concrete and personal examples are helpful. It is also important to note that the union can provide support and security when something unexpected happens.

Talk about the services and benefits gained by members. See the list above for everything that the membership includes. Remember to mention the impact we can have together to promote improvements in working life!

Who can join Tehy?

Tehy is a multi-professional organisation – all trained social care, health care, education and rehabilitation professionals and students of the field can join. We are willing and able to work for our interests together. We are a community that provides you with protection, as well as joy and energy. We have the power to make a change! You can recommend membership to your colleague, friend or even relative if they are professionals or students of the field.

What is the best way to recommend and how can friends become members?

Talk face-to-face or recommend electronically:

Bring up membership at the workplace, for example. When talking face-to-face, you can describe your own experiences or services you have received. It is also important to mention collective agreement negotiations and talk about how we can make a change together.

Download the Tehy mobile app and send a recommendation through it! You can send a link to the membership form by text message, WhatsApp or social media private message. The form will automatically feature your member number in the ‘Suosittelija’ (Recommended by) field. This ensures that you gain the recommendation points.

Navigate to www.tehy.fi/liity. You can use the social media share buttons on the page to send a link to the membership page directly to a friend through Messenger or WhatsApp, for example. Ask the friend to enter your member number in the ‘Suosittelija’ (Recommended by) field so that we can reward you for the recommendation.

It is easiest to become a member through the Tehy website. Help your friend fill in the membership form at www.tehy.fi/liity. Remember to enter your member number in the ‘Suosittelija’ field.

Talk about the cost of the membership

Tehy’s membership fee is among the most affordable in the field: 1.1% gross income. People who are considering membership are often interested in the cost. Mention that it is a tax deductible expense, which means that the membership fee is actual even lower than it seems. Tehy reports the amount of the membership fee directly to the tax administration, so there is no need to worry about it. By using the member benefits and Tehy services, you can recover the membership fee many times over. For example, if your colleague or friend were to purchase employment-related or legal advice from a private operator, the average hourly rate would be €200.

Student membership is free of charge.

Remember to be friendly and provide time for consideration

Always remember to be friendly about the recommendation. Bring the membership up, talk about it and also listen to your friend’s questions and concerns. If you are unable to answer a question, you can find out more. Tehy’s website provides a wealth of information! Sometimes it is necessary to think on the membership. If this is the case, you can suggest continuing the discussion later.

Share Tehy updates and news in social media

Tehy’s social media channels are dynamic and active! Join the followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and share Tehy posts with your friends. This will introduce them to Tehy and its work and solidify the decision to become a member.

Tehy’s incentive system rewards members for active member acquisitions. The more members you acquire, the better the awards you gain.

• When you recommend Tehy, ask your friend to enter your member number in the form’s field indicating who made the recommendation. The recommender only gains points if their member number is indicated in the electronic membership form. If you send the recommendation through Tehy’s mobile app and your friend uses the link to join, your member number will be automatically included in the form.
• Acquiring even one member activates the reward system.
• One recommendation point equals one euro. An employed member nets 25 points, whereas a student member nets 10 points.
• When your friend joints, you will gain user credentials for the reward site in three months. It will be sent to the e-mail address you provided for the Tehy member register.
• You gain points by acquiring new members. The recommendation points are updated to the reward site each month.
• You can use the accumulated points to claim products through the Tehy Awards website.
• If you do not acquire new members for a year, your points balance will be removed. The year is counted from the joining date of the last acquired member.
• The Tehy Awards website features test credentials you can use to learn about the award products.
• More detailed instructions on the rules of the Awards site (logging in required).

Problem situations

The Tehy Awards provides instructions and contact information for assistance, if needed. If you cannot find answers in the instructions, you can send an e-mail to [email protected].