007 epsucob@NEWS April 2008

Denmark - Health and social workers set to step up strike action

Some 23,000 health and social workers - mainly those working in hospitals, elder care and childcare - began strike action on 16 April in support of their claim for higher pay. A further 13,000 workers are set to join the strike on 28 April unless the trade unions receive an indication from the municipal employers that they will re-open negotiations. The unions involved are the DNO nurses’ association and the FOA federation that covers a wide range of municipal employees, although they have different claims. The municipal employers have offered a 12.8% salary increase over three years and the DNO is looking for an increase of 15%. The FOA has not specified a higher increase. Instead it wants a commitment from the government to establish a commission on equal pay that will consider a major injection of funds to tackle the pay gap. The FOA argues that the salaries of these health and social care jobs were set many years ago when there were far fewer women in the labour market. They now need to be substantially revalued and FOA is calling for “male” wages for “female” jobs. The union believes that the government needs to get involved in the issue in order to provide a substantial level of funding - anything from €600-€700 million. Read more at > the FOA strike website (DK) The Copenhagen Post is an English-language website that includes news updates on the strike but it is not always accurate about the trade union position. Read more at > Copenhagen Post (EN)

Sweden - Nurses strike for higher pay

Following a failed attempt at mediation members of the Swedish Association of Health Professionals began strike action on 21 April. The union says that current pay levels fail to reflect the years of training and levels of responsibility that nurses have. It is calling for an increase of SKr 1,700 (€181) a month in 2008 and in 2009. This would be worth around 7% each year for nurses on average pay. More workers will get involved in the action if the employers, the municipalities, don’t come back to the negotiating table with a better offer. Read more at > Vardforbundet (EN) And at > Yahoo news (EN)

Germany - Strikes in private waste industry

Around 4,000 workers in 21 private waste companies in the North-Rhine Westfalia region have taken strike action following the failure to make progress after the second round of collective bargaining in the sector. Ver.di says that the employers latest offer will mean that the 20,000 workers in the sector nationwide will get no pay increase to cover the period between January and April 2008 and that the 3% on offer for the 12 months to April 2009 only comes with a one-hour increase in the working week to 38 hours. The employers are also offering 2.5% for next year but with a further one-hour increase in working time. Read more at > ver.di (DE)

Germany - Federal and municipal workers back pay deal but transport workers strike in Berlin

A ballot of ver.di members in federal and local government produced a 76.5% majority in favour of the final pay offer from the employers. Around 189,000 members took part in the vote with 145,000 supporting the deal that will mean a 7.11% pay rise for the lowest paid workers. However, employees of the Berlin transport companies, BVG and BT, are taking strike action over the employers’ failure to respond to ver.di’s latest proposals. Ver.di members had already taken 12 days of strike action in February and March when the employers initially planned to offer no pay increase at all to current employers. Following the agreement for federal and local government, a compromise was reached in the negotiations between ver.di and BVG/BT but Berlin finance minister Thilo Sarrazin blocked the deal and strike action was resumed at the weekend. Read more at > ver.di (DE) And at > ver.di Berlin (DE)

Ireland - Union ballots for industrial action over recruitment freeze

The public service union IMPACT is organising a ballot of its health service membership over industrial action in protest at the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) continuing recruitment freeze. The union criticised the HSE for introducing the policy and won a court ruling that the employers had failed to consult properly over the freeze. IMPACT as warned of the effects on services as the recruitment freeze bites. Read more at > IMPACT (EN)

Austria - Union calls for immediate negotiations over civil service pay and employment rights

The GÖD public sector union wants to begin negotiations as soon as possible over reforming the pay structure and employment rights of federal civil servants. The union has made it clear that the two issues go hand-in-hand and it wants to see pay reform include higher pay for new starters. Any reform of employment rights should also retain protection for civil servants’ jobs against political interference. The proposals were endorsed by two recent studies for both the unions and the government and on this basis the GÖD believes that negotiations can be completed quickly and that there is no need to wait until the autumn when the normal collective bargaining round begins. Read more at > GOED (DE)

Belgium - Unions call for better social dialogue at regional and local level

A local demonstration in Liège on 12 April and a march in Namur on 17 April reflect trade union discontent with local and regional social dialogue in Belgium. In Liège the local government unions were protesting over problems that were piling up because the municipality had failed to negotiate with them. Understaffing, pay and failure to regulate employment conditions were among the list of grievances. Meanwhile trade unions were also planning the Namur demonstration on 17 April in protest at the Walloon government’s failure to meet a commitment to increase the number of civil service posts in local government organisations across the region. Read more at > CSC (FR) And at > CSC (FR)

Netherlands - New collective agreement for childcare workers

ABVAKABO reports that a new collective labour agreement covering nurseries should make working in the sector more attractive. Along with higher pay, more training possibilities and improved career prospects comes there is also an increase in annual leave entitlement. The collective agreement runs from 1 May 2008 to 1 May 2009 with pay increases of 2% on 1 May 2008 and again on 1 January 2009. A lump sum payment worth 0.5% of pay will be paid in October 2008. Leave entitlement rises to 210 hours a year, up by 35 hours with part timers having a pro-rata entitlement. The agreement covers around 65% of nurseries and some 55,000 workers. Read more at > AVAKABO (NL)

France - Unions criticise government’s public sector policies

Two public service federations are calling for action in the week beginning 13 May in protest at the government’s policies on the public services, the so-called RGPP - Révision Générale des Politiques Publiques (General revisions of policies on the public sector). The CGT’s UGFF section is planning a week of strikes and demonstrations while FO’s FGF federation is focussing on 15 May. The unions argue that the government wants to cut services, reduce the number of public service workers and hand over more services to the private sector. The FGF points out that inflation in France has already reached 0.9% this year while public sector pay increased by only 0.5% in May. The CFDT confederation reports that prospects for social dialogue appear bleak with public service minister Hervé Morin saying there is nothing to discuss in terms of how the RGPP is to be implemented. Read more at > FO-FGF (FR) And at > CGT-UGFF (FR) And at > CFDT (FR)

UK - Unions reject local government pay offer in Scotland

The UNISON, GMB and Unite trade unions have rejected the employers’ offer of a three-year pay deal with increases of 2.5% in each year. Unions were looking for a 5% increase or £1,000-a-year, whichever was greater. There will be a consultation of branches to decide over how to proceed and whether there should be a ballot for industrial action. Meanwhile, UNISON will be balloting it health sector members to see if they support the employers’ pay offer. This is worth 8.1% over three years and includes a number of measures to improve pay at the bottom end of the pay scale, setting a minimum wage of £6.77 (€8.44) an hour, just above UNISON’s £6.75 target. Read more at > UNISON (EN) And at > UNISON (EN)