France - Unions unimpressed by government response to national day of action
Unions were very happy with the turnout for the national day of action on 4 October. Private and public sector workers came out in protest at government policies and in support of pay increases. Public sector unions are unimpressed by the government’s response and failure to commit clearly to proper negotiations on pay.
Read more at > CGT
Read more at > FO
Read more at > CFDT
Germany - Health workers take action on pay and to defend working hours
Health workers in Baden-Württemberg, including nurses, ancillary and technical staff, are continuing their protests over pay and working hours with strike action at the Freiburg University Clinic on 6 October when only emergency operations will take place. Around 5,000 workers took action no 5 October in the south west of the region.
Read more at > ver.di
Germany - Doctors get to negotiating table
The Marburger Bund doctors’ union has had an initial two-day meeting with the regional employers over its pay and conditions claim. Two further rounds of negotiations are planned for the end of October and mid-November.
Read more at > MB
Belgium - Strike against increase in pension age
The FGTB/ABVV socialist union federation called a one-day general strike on Friday 7 October in protest at the government plans to cut back on early retirement so that workers will have to retire at 60 rather than have the option of retiring at 58. The Christian and Liberal union federations were still seeking further negotiations and although they didn’t join the strike call did express support for any joint action at local level.
Read a report on the strike at > Business Week
Read the FGTB/ABVV arguments at > FGTB
And at > ABVV
Read the other federations arguments at > CSC
And at > CCOD
And at > CGSLB
And at > ACLVB
Portugal - Federation calls two one-day strikes
The FNSFP public services federation has called two one-day strikes on 20 and 26 October. The first is part of the unions’ continuing campaign of opposition to the government’s proposed increase in pension age and latest pay offer which will mean another real cut in pay for public administration workers. The second strike is specifically aimed at the Ministry of Justice where again proposals on pensions and restructuring have angered unions along with the Ministry’s failure to abide by collective bargaining agreements.
Read more at > FNSFP
Read more at > STAL
Read more at > FNSFP
Read more at > STE
UK - Health workers could see 20% pay increases
Workers employed by private contractors in the health service could see substantial pay rises following an agreement negotiated by health unions. Contractors have agreed to move towards the Agenda for Change pay and conditions that is being introduced across the health service. This will initially mean a minimum pay rate of £5.65 (8.35 euros) an hour and an extra two days’ holiday.
Read more at > UNISON
And at > GMB
Spain - Unions call for negotiations
The FSAP-CCOO union is calling for union reps in the federal administration to assemble outside the Director General’s office on 19 October to put pressure on the administration to come to the negotiating table. Around 70,000 workers are covered by this collective agreement and there has been no progress since the union presented its initial demands in May.
Read more at > FSAP-CCOO
Netherlands - Union puts collective bargaining information on the web
ABVAKABO has redesigned its website and set up new pages which cover news and information on all the collective agreements which is negotiates. You can find out the latest news on collective bargaining or go straight to a list of all the agreements to get details on the one that interests you. If you already have something like this on your union website or are planning a similar re-design please let us know.
See the collective bargaining news page at > ABVAKABO
And the list of agreements at > ABVAKABO
Sweden - Pay report finds growing gap between blue and white-collar workers
A new report from the LO trade union federation says that the pay gap between blue-collar and white-collar workers grew from 34% to 43% in the 10 years to 2004. The report argues that higher pay increases are now needed for blue-collar workers. It also reports that the gender pay is 18% with women earning on average 20,700 SEK a month (2,200 euros) compared to 25,200 SEK (2,700 euros) per month for men.
Read more at > LO
Europe - Low pay, outsourcing, working time, young workers, migrant workers - all up for discussion at the EPSU collective bargaining conference
Don’t forget to book your place at the fourth EPSU collective bargaining conference. Taking place in Brussels on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 December, the conference will discuss what unions in the public services can do to tackle low pay and resist the threat of outsourcing. Speakers from the ETUC and the ETUI-REHS research institute will provide updates on the latest developments in the social dialogue and collective bargaining across Europe.
Read more in 10 languages at > EIRO
Europe - ETUC collective bargaining committee
The ETUC’s collective bargaining committee met on 12 October. The agenda included a round-up of the first findings of the annual survey of collective bargaining, an initial discussion of the key points of the collective bargaining resolution, a further discussion about the European Commission’s proposals for a framework for transnational collective bargaining and a presentation about the international wage finder internet survey system. More details of the meeting will be available on the EPSU website shortly.
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