Europe - Collective bargaining news - annual report - December conference
Don’t forget to send us news of collective bargaining developments in your country and sector. We want reports for epsucob@NEWS and for our round-up of information for the EPSU annual report on collective bargaining and social dialogue. The annual report will be discussed at the collective bargaining conference in Brussels on 3rd and 4th December.
Read more at > EPSU (10 languages)
Poland - Increasing pressure for higher pay across Poland
A round-up of the latest news on pay in Poland by the German social democratic foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, shows many sectors pushing for higher pay as unemployment has fallen and emigration increased. Doctors and nurses have been particularly active in demonstrating for higher wages in the health sector, where the government has neglected the issue of wages for many years. The report also highlights a job security agreement covering 70,000 workers in state energy companies. The government proposes to merge 15 companies to form four groups and has offered job security until 2018 or high levels of compensation in the event of redundancy.
Read more at > Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (DE)
Europe - Public administration shows wide range in flexible working
This report on flexible working hours by the European statistics agency, Eurostat, found that on average in the EU-25, the proportion of women employed in public administration with some flexibility over working hours was larger - at almost 40% - than in other sectors of economic activity. It was especially large in Denmark, Germany and Finland, at around 75% or more. In many countries, however - Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta as well as Romania - very few women (under 5%) had flexibility over hours of work in this sector.
Read more at > Eurostat (EN, FR, DE)
Europe - Growth in involuntary fixed-term employment
The latest survey on fixed-term employment by the European statistics agency, Eurostat, shows a growth in involuntary fixed-term work for both men and women across all sectors. In health and social services 6.1% of women were involuntarily on fixed-term contracts in 2005, up from 5.3% in 2000. The corresponding figures for men were 5.9% and 5.4%. Women in health and social work now account for the largest proportion - 15.3% - of all women working involuntarily on fixed term contracts.
Read more at > Eurostat (EN, FR, DE)
Europe - Little movement on working hours
The EIRO industrial relations observatory has published its annual review of working time and found little evidence of an increase in working hours. It suggests that the Netherlands with a 0.5 increase in collectively agreed working time is one of the few countries to show an overall increase. The report notes the increase in working time in the German public sector but also shorter working time across eastern Germany as a whole. The report focuses on a number of specific sectors including the civil service and public hospitals. Over the last seven years working time reductions have taken effect for civil servants in France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK, with only Germany registering an increase. The study found that weekly working time averaged 38.1 hours for nurses in public hospitals and 38.2 for blue-collar workers.
Read more at > EIRO (EN)
France - Public service federations united in demands for negotiations
The eight trade union federations in the public sector have attacked the government for announcing further cuts in jobs and are demanding immediate negotiations over pay. The unions point out that public sector pay is failing to keep pace with increases in the minimum wage which is now effectively the minimum wage in the public sector. The unions also want a debate over jobs and the impact on services.
Read more at > CGT (FR)
Netherlands - No agreement in municipal sector negotiations
Negotiations between the local government employers and the three trade unions (ABVAKABO, CNV Publieke Zaak and CMHF) will resume later this month following a failure to agree over three key points. The two sides had resolved a number of issues including an agreed 6.4% pay increase over two years. However, the unions are reluctant to move on working hours while the employers are refusing to agree union demands on incapacitated workers and compensation for higher taxes for workers. Employers want to relax the current rules that regulate when local government workers increase their working week from 36 to 40 hours. The unions say they might agree to this if the employers ensure that this only a voluntary basis and if they concede the other two points. The unions have proposed a new insurance system to protect the income of workers who are assessed as between 35% and 80% incapacitated. The employers say they will back the proposal if the unions agree to greater flexibility in extending working hours and drop their demand for the tax compensation. The taxation issue affects firefighters and ambulance staff affected by new early retirement rules and the unions want the employers to compensate these workers from the impact of taxation rules that reduce their net pay. The unions are now consulting with their members in the lead up to the next negotiations.
Read more at >ABVAKABO (NL)
And at >CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)
UK - Over 20,000 prison offers take unofficial strike action
Prison officers in the UK don’t have the right to strike and their pay is set by a Pay Review Body rather than through collective bargaining. This year prison officers, like other public sector workers, have seen their 2.5% pay increase introduced in stages. This means their pay increase this year is worth 1.9%. The government says this is necessary to stay in line with the consumer price index (1.9%) but unions argue this is well below the retail price index (3.8%). The retail price index includes mortgage payments and is seen by unions as reflecting better the cost of living. The Prison Officers Association is in talks with the government while other public sector unions are considering their position. There are reports that the Police Federation is being pressurised by its members to call for its right to strike to be reinstated.
Read more at > Guardian newspaper (EN)
And at > Observer newspaper (EN)
UK - Local government employers improve pay offer
The latest stage in collective bargaining in local government has seen an improved pay offer from employers worth 3.4% to the lowest pay and 2.475% to other workers. Unions are meeting to consider the latest offer which would be just under the current inflation rate of 3.8%. If the offer is accepted it would mean that the lowest paid council workers would be on £6 per hour (8.40).
Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Switzerland - Unions co-ordinate pay campaign
The SGB/USS trade union confederation is co-ordinating a pay campaign among its affiliates with the key demands being real pay increases of 3%-4% and action to tackle pay inequality. The VPOD/SSP public services union is part of the campaign and notes that the healthier financial situation of public sector organisations means they should end pay restraint. The union warns that cutbacks in recent years are threatening the quality of public services and that there is a risk that the public sector will fail to recruit if pay increase lag behind the public sector.
Read more at > SGB (DE)
Read more at > USS (FR)
Germany - Bargaining blocked by longer hours demand
There have already been four rounds of negotiations between ver.di and the e.on energy company but the employers won’t budge from their demand for a longer working week. They want to see a two-hour increase in working time from 36 to 38 hours a week. All union attempts at finding alternatives have been rejected by the company. The union is resisting the attempt to increase hours and meanwhile has a number of its own demands including extending e.on agreements to cover subsidiary companies, job security and taking on trainees.
Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Finland - Local government collective bargaining under way
The three main trade unions in the municipal sector have agreed common demands in the current pay round and are looking for a two-and-a-half year agreement with significant increases in pay but allowing for more agreements at local level. The overall pay demand for the 30-month agreement is around 9%. JHL, the biggest union, has also put forward a number of qualitative demands. It wants changes to the way the local government workforce is used and making the prerequisites for local agreement more equal between employees and employers. This involves issues such as providing measures to eliminate unjustified fixed-term employment relationships, improving the status of shop stewards and occupational safety delegates, and strengthening the regulations on negotiation procedures when making local agreements.
Read more at > JHL (EN)
And at > Newsroom Finland (EN)
Austria - Union leader launches working time debate
Wolfgang Katzian, leader of the GPA-DJP union that organises across the private sector including in electricity and health and social services, has called for a new 40-40-40 working time model. He is suggesting that a working career should be limited to 40 years, while the working week should be no more than 40 hours and that the working year should be only 40 weeks long. He argues that this would give workers more time for training and education as well as more time to rest and recuperate and so lessen time off work for sickness.
Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)
Austria - Union calls for pay talks
The GÖD public service union has written to the civil service minister, Doris Bures, asking to pay negotiations to commence. The union wants to ensure that negotiations take place in good time so that the annual pay increase for public sector workers can be implemented on 1 January 2008. As usual the union is calling for the negotiations to take account of economic growth and inflation. The union has welcomed a comment from social minister Erwin Buchinger suggesting that workers should expect a pay increase of 4%. The pay negotiations affect 450,000 civil servants and employees in national, regional and local government.
Read more at > GÖD (DE)
About us