Antti Kuisma expects the Ski Federation to negotiate a new employment contract with him. The head coach has been working since the holiday without a signed contract.
Chosen as the United’s head coach in the spring of 2022 Antti Kuisma has been working diligently with the athletes for the success of next season.
However, Kuisma’s situation is very special to the extent that he works without a valid written employment contract, relying only on word of mouth. They do not ensure the employee’s legal interests as watertight as a written employment contract.
– It’s true, there is no signed employment contract for next season. It’s a bit of a strange situation at this point in the year, Kuisma told Urheilu on Thursday of Midsummer week.
The background to everything is the Ski Federation’s chaotic and worsening financial discipline, which is why next season’s employment contracts are in arrears and the teams’ operating budgets are only partially taking shape.
Kuisma says that he received a proposal from the Skiing Association at the beginning of May on the terms on which the employer would redeem the last year of his 1+1-type employment contract signed in 2022. Since then, Kuisma has not heard anything from the direction of the Ski Federation on this issue From Ismo Hämäläinen.
– We should be able to negotiate on that and hopefully we will in the near future, Kuisma stated.
If Kuisma would continue to work persistently, and the Ski Federation would allow the situation to continue as it is, the head coach’s employment relationship could at some point be considered legally valid for the time being.
However, the goal of the ski association is always to make fixed-term contracts with the coaches. The Ski Federation recently announced that it will start the yt procedure and layoffs. Those in fixed-term employment cannot be laid off.
Finish soon
Executive Director Hämäläinen says that the matter of Kuisma and others relying on oral agreements is being taken care of.
– We unify the contract bases. The written agreement will be finalized soon, Hämäläinen assures.
The salary payment to Kuisma has continued, even though there is no written employment contract.
Although Kuisma does not admit that he is worried about his own affairs, he admits that it is very frustrating that he does not know what kind of resources the team will be able to use to prepare for next season.
– It has only gone as far as Strömsö. There is still no information on how much the budget will be cut, but most probably in this challenging situation of the union, cuts are coming.
The United national team camps mostly in Kuopio during the summer season.
– But for everyone’s psyche, it is important to get to other conditions at some point.