UK - NHS Logistics workers take second day of strike action
The campaign against privatisation of NHS Logistics has continued with another 24-hour strike at the end of September. Public services union UNISON also took the fight to the Labour Party conference and won a resolution condemning creeping privatisation in the health service and specifically demanding that the NHS Logistics sale to the DHL delivery company be stopped.
Read more at > UNISON (EN)
And more at > UNISON (EN)
Turkey - Civil service unions unhappy at 12%-13% pay increases
The Turkish government is imposing a 12.2% pay increase on civil servants in 2007, with 13.2% for the lower paid. The actual increases will be 3% in January and 3% in July for most civil servants while the lower paid will get two instalments of 4%. The extra percentage in each case is compensation for loss of purchasing power in 2006. Unions point out that inflation is already heading for 10% by the end of the year against a forecast 5%.
Read more at > Turkish Daily News (EN)
Europe - ETUC attacks European Central Bank’s rate rise
The ETUC has criticised the European Central Bank for its decision to increase interest rates by a quarter of a percent. The ETUC says the rise will damage prospects for the continuing recovery of economic growth and that there is no evidence of a pick-up in wage inflation as argued by the Bank. The ETUC maintains that wage increases are running at around 2.5%, little different from 2005 and with no indication of any significant change running into 2007.
Read the press release at > ETUC (EN)
And at > ETUC (FR)
And the background report at > ETUC (EN)
Slovenia - Change to minimum wage fixing
A change in legislation means that the national minimum wage is now set by an annual formula rather than as the result of tripartite consultation. The increase each year will be determined by the level of inflation and the nationally agreed pay rises for the public and private sectors. This year’s increase is 2% for the year from 1 August to 31 July 2007. Trade unions had wanted a change in the law to establish the national minimum wage more firmly and not have it called into question in the annual negotiations. However, they did not want the annual increase to be removed from the tripartite discussions.
Read more at > EIRO (EN)
UK - Union prepares more equal pay cases over age-related pay scales
Prospect, the union representing managerial and specialist staff in the civil service and utilities is planning a number of employment tribunal cases following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on equal pay. Although the ECJ ruling did not go unequivocally in favour of the union, it did state that employers will have to justify objectively differences in pay where there are pay scales linked to age over lengthy periods. In the UK new age discrimination regulations it states that pay scales running for more than five years will have to be justified by employers. The union’s case was based on a health and safety inspector paid £9,000 less than her colleagues.
Read more at > Prospect (EN)
France - Further protest at GDF merger/privatisation planned
The CGT union federation is continuing its campaign against the privatisation of the GDF gas company through merger with the Suez private utility. The union claims that half of GDF employees joined the strikes and demonstrations that took place on 3 October and the next mobilisation is for regional demonstrations on 14 October. The FO federation is also opposed to the merger and following a National Assembly vote in favour of the privatisation, FO is targeting members of the upper house, the Senate, to reject the proposal.
Read more at > CGT (FR)
And at > CGT-FNME (FR)
And at > FO-FNEM (FR)
Sweden - Bus drivers protest over violence
Bus drivers in Stockholm, members of the Kommunal municipal union, have responded to a recent attack on a driver by refusing to collect money from passengers. A new ticketing system has increased the amount of money drivers collect from passengers and the recent action by bus drivers is the third in recent weeks in protest over violence.
Read more at > The Local news website (EN)
Finland - Survey reveals regional differences in public sector pay
Doctors and teachers in Finland benefit from special pay rates to attract them to areas in the north of the country as a way of tackling labour shortages. The survey by the official Finnish statistics agency found that teachers can get 15% more in the north than in the south while doctors’ salaries can vary by as much as €800 a month between north and south.
Read more at > YLE news website (EN)
Netherlands - Pay deal in nursing homes just ahead of inflation
The 225,000 workers covered by the nursing and care homes collective agreement negotiated by the ABVAKABO public service union will get a 1.5% pay increase backdated to 1 January 2006. The agreement runs from 1 January 2006 to 1 January 2007 and includes a 0.5% lump sum payment as well. This lump will be converted into an employer contribution to the “levensloop” arrangement which allows employees to save up working time to be taken at a later date and was introduced to compensate for removal of early retirement rights. Inflation in the Netherlands is currently 1.1%.
Read more at > ABVAKABO (NL)
UK - Health unions form alliance
Unions and professional associations throughout the health service have come together in a campaigning alliance to try to defend the NHS and prevent the unravelling of recent years of positive progress. The campaign involves all the health unions in the TUC confederation plus organisations like the Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Midwives that are outside the TUC. The campaign will focus on the impact of budget cuts by local NHS Trusts and the threat to jobs and service. It will also highlight problems with repeated new reforms being foisted on health workers without proper consultation.
Read more at > nhstogether (EN)
Europe - ETUC Collective Bargaining Committee looks forward to Congress
The ETUC Collective Bargaining Committee met on 5 October to discuss a number of issues that would be developed further in the run up to the ETUC Congress next May. The Committee continues to discuss in depth proposals from the European Commission to establish a voluntary framework for European collective agreements. The Committee re-affirmed the importance of having trade unions and particularly the European industry federations as the key negotiating and signatory bodies in these agreements. A tripartite seminar on 27 November would provide the next opportunity to discuss the issue with employers. The Committee also debated the flexibility issue and supported the idea of a campaign to highlight the risks of excessive flexibility in working time, temporary and part-time contracts and low pay. The Committee was informed by the ETUC Secretariat that a taskforce had been set up with the ETUI-REHS research institute to look into the issue of minimum wages in preparation for a possible resolution on the issue at the ETUC Congress.
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