epsucob@NEWS February 2005

Public service union ver.di agreed a new pay deal with federal and communal employers in February. Although the previous agreement expired at the end of January the new deal does not take effect until 1 October 2005. There will be no increase to pay rates but three lump-sum payments of 300 euros in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Normal weekly hours will increase from 38.5 to 39 in the west but will be cut from 40 to 39 in the east. The agreement covers some 2.3 million workers. It will also introduce a new and simplified pay structure and allow for small amount of pay to be linked to performance.

The Belgian unions in the health and social services, called non-profit in Belgium, started an all-out strike on 24 February 2005. The aim of the unions is to ensure that the government respects the agreements that were concluded in 2000, and to improve on them. The EPSU affiliates SETca/ BBTK and LBC-NVK demand:

• extra days of leave for older workers;
• a thirteenth month’s salary and for the employers to increase the end of year bonus;
• supplementary pensions for all, and a strengthening the so-called 2nd pillar - while some in the sector already have this, not all are part of the pension fund scheme; and
• additional jobs for the sector (25,000) to deal with stress and to deliver quality service to patients.

Negotiations with the government broke down 22 February. Most unions rejected the final result with large majorities. The unions decided to maintain the trade union solidarity. The strike is also supported by other unions in the sector such as AC-CG, CNE and the non-profit sector of ACLVB.

Government ministers have indicated they only wish to continue to talk with the unions if they cancel their strike. A bitter conflict can be foreseen.

The four main unions in the Northern Ireland water sector (NIPSA, Amicus, ATGWU and GMB) took strike action on 9 February in protest at the UK government’s planned reforms. The unions argue that the reforms will mean hundreds of job cuts and the loss of civil service employment status for workers.

Hundreds of thousands of French workers from both public and private sectors took to the streets on 5 February to demonstrate against the government’s plans to undermine the 35-hour week and its refusal to enter proper negotiations over public sector pay. Further action is now planned for 10 March.

Spanish firefighters on Gran Canaria were so desperate to win improvements in their pay that some of them resorted to a hunger strike to make their point. Before a final agreement was reached in February some 16 of the 140 firefighters were taken to hospital after 12 days on hunger strike. The protest was generally about poor working conditions and the lowest pay of any group of Spanish firefighters. Details of the new agreement will be worked out in the coming months.

The industrial relations observatory EIRO reports that the Maltese government is looking for a three-year pay freeze from public service workers in negotiations over a new collective agreement. According to EIRO’s correspondent while there is agreement on both sides about measures to improve work-life balance, unions are strongly opposed to what they see as government austerity measures.

The EIRO industrial relations observatory reports that a framework agreement has been signed in the semi-governmental sector in Cyprus following strike action in January. The sector includes electricity and water operations and the three-year framework deal, backdated to January 2004, sets out guidelines for individual negotiations within the separate organisations. The agreement includes no pay increases for 2004 or 2005 and then a 2% increase on basic wages as from 31 December 2005 and 1% from 31 December 2006 - this will be retrospective and cover the whole of 2006.

Public service workers Slovakia will get a 5% pay increase this year (1 July), compared to the 7% awarded in 2004. The agreement runs from 1 January to 31 December 2005 and also allows for cuts in working hours and increases to paid leave. Future pay increases were also discussed during the negotiations with increases of 6% in 2006 and 5% in 2007 regarded as acceptable by the social partners.

Specialists’ and managers’ union Prospect reports that the German-based energy multinational E.ON has pledged to maintain the pension schemes covering its workers in the UK. E.ON has four operations in the UK with four pension schemes and it is paying in 420 million GBP as a step towards reducing the combined 728 million GBP deficit. (From ProFILE, Prospect’s magazine, February 2005)

EPSU affiliate VDSZSZ reports that unions in the electricity sector in Hungary have agreed a new pay deal which should ensure an average increase in gross pay of 6.5% in 2005. This will be confirmed later in the year when pay details are checked and employers will have to ensure that increases will be implemented. Negotiations will re-open if inflation rises above 4%. The negotiating partners have also agreed that the monthly average salary should reach 60,000 Hungarian Forints (around 250 euros).

Members of Prospect working for EDF’s power companies in the south east have agreed a 9%-plus pay increase following the threat of industrial action. The union, which covers specialist and managerial staff, reports that not only was union recruitment boosted during the pay dispute but over 100 people switched from personal contracts to be covered by collective bargaining. (From ProFILE, Prospect’s magazine, February 2005)

The problem of high levels of temporary work in the Spanish public sector is on the agenda of the social partners this year. In the public healthcare sector, for example, around 30% of workers are on temporary contracts. This figure is set to fall, however, following a recent decision by the government to make a large number of temporary jobs permanent in the public health care sector. Around 37,000 permanent jobs are being advertised and it is thought that many of these will be taken up by temporary healthcare employees who will do the relevant examinations to become civil servants.

Women working for North Cumbria Acute Trust part of the NHS in the north west of England are set to win between 35,000 and 200,000 GBP in compensation in a major equal pay case. Women working in catering, cleaning and administration compared their jobs to those predominantly done by men in building and maintenance. The Women were found to have been discriminated against not just in terms of pay rates but also in working hours, pensions and sick pay.

The T&G general workers union has taken its low pay campaign to the heart of UK democracy by focussing on poor pay and conditions of cleaners employed at the Houses of Parliament. The workers get only the minimum wage and minimum holiday rights - 12 days’ leave plus statutory holidays.