EPSUcob@NEWS June 2004

This is the fourth issue of epsucob@NEWS. You can see earlier issues in the collective bargaining section of the EPSU website.

WORKING TIME - Commission issues new communication
EPSU - Collective bargaining seminar
EPSU - Send us your news!
ESTONIA - civil service pay protest
BELGIUM - national demonstration against services directive
FRANCE - EDF/GDF unions plan further strike action
ITALY - national public sector strike
PORTUGAL - public sector unions demonstrate
IRELAND - union sets out pay strategy
UK - union challenges bonus scheme
LATVIA - ambulance workers threaten strike
GERMANY - working hours in public sector
PORTUGAL - strike blocks privatisation
GERMANY - ver.di negotiators discuss coordination of collective bargaining
UK - strike in prison service
SPAIN - strike in private health sector
GERMANY - DGB hotline reveals harsh reality of labour market
UK - violence against healthworkers
IRELAND and FRANCE - unions challenge decentralisation

WORKING TIME - Commission issues new communication

The European Commission has issued a new document on working time following its consultation on the Working Time Directive earlier this year. The Commission asked for comments on: q the reference period to calculate working time, q the opt-out that allows individuals to agree that they are not covered by the hours regulations and q the issue of on-call time raised by two key European Court judgements (SIMAP and Jaeger).

The new document summarises the main employer and union positions on these issues and highlights the gulf between the two sides. Unions are calling for the rules on reference periods to be left unchanged, for the opt-out to be abolished and for on-call time to be recognised as working time. They argue that the social partners should negotiate over this where its implementation raises questions over staffing.

Employers want a 12-month reference period (currently only possible if agreed through collective bargaining), maintenance of the opt-out and on-call time to be excluded from the calculation of working time.

The Commission document is not decisive on these points. It claims that the move towards a longer reference period reflects what is happening in practice. On the opt-out it suggests a gradual phasing out is an option but also that the opt-out should be kept and rules tightened to prevent abuse or its use even linked to collective agreements. The Commission wants the social partners to discuss on-call time and warns that if there is no agreement on the definition that it will legislate to introduced a third definition to classify on-call time as neither rest nor working time.

The Commission wants the social partners to negotiate over these issues but will legislate if there is failure to agree.

Read the press release and communication at > EU

EPSU - Collective bargaining seminar

Last month EPSU and ETUCO - the European Trade Union College - organised a collective bargaining seminar in Budapest. There were 18 participants from EPSU affiliates in the utilities sector including 14 from four of the new EU Member States - Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. Participants discussed a wide range of challenges facing the sector and decided to focus on the threat of outsourcing and how to deal with it. More details of the seminar are available on web pages set up by the ETUCO co-ordinator Jean-Claude le Douaron.

EPSU - Send us your news!

EPSU recently participated in a seminar looking at European coordination of collective bargaining policy, organised by ver.di (reported on below). Please do not hesitate to contact us if you organise similar events and would appreciate our contribution.

We would be grateful if you could ensure that epsucob@ is included in your press release distribution list especially for press releases which report on the results of collective bargaining.

Union press releases and flyers usually give an idea of what is demanded and what is achieved. And if we do not understand something we can contact you. Please make the (small?) effort as we hope this will contribute to a better and more regular stream of information.

Send your information to: epsucob@epsu.org

ESTONIA - civil service pay protest

EPSU affiliate ROTAL sent us a brief report on protest action on 15 April. This protest, the first since Estonian independence, was against plans to freeze the salaries of the public servants. The action had to be organised as a picket because Estonian civil servants do not have the right to strike.

Since 1997 civil service salaries, especially the lower levels have been increased in line with the average minimum salary. In 1999 and 2000 the other salary levels were raised as well but with no increases to budgets, the salary rises were paid for with job cuts and lower bonuses.

The State does not properly reward civil servants with higher education qualifications. Their minimum salary in 2004 is 2760 kroons (176 EUR). In the private sector even cleaners are on better pay. The average salary in the Republic is currently 2480 kroons (154 EUR).

The union demands include: a 20% increase in pay for levels 7-25; increase in police officials minimum salary to the level of the average Republic salary; tax and custom officials should have equal minimum salary with police officials in 2005; prison officials minimum salary should rise to 4900 kroons (325 EUR) from 2005; higher education must be valued in the civil service. An official whose position requires higher education should be paid at least the average civil servants salary (455 EUR). Salary agreement signed in December 2001.

Many thanks to our Estonian affiliate ROTAL for this information. We are very keen to have similar reports from other affiliates.

BELGIUM - national demonstration against services directive

The FGTB/ABVV Belgian trade union federation has come out strongly against the European Union’s services directive and is organising a national demonstration on 5 June, backed by the ETUC. The directive aims to open up the internal market for services across the EU but unions are worried that it will mean a race to the bottom and will allow employers to avoid proper social protection and undemine collective agreements.

FRANCE - EDF/GDF unions plan further strike action

Following strike action and a massive national demonstration on 27 May, trade unions are planning a further day of strike action on 15 June. Unions estimate that 80,000 people joined the march in Paris protesting against the change in legal status of the two state companies, seen as a precursor to full privatisation.

ITALY - national public sector strike

Millions of public sector workers in Italy took strike action on 21 May in support of public services and a new pay deal. The three main Italian union federations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, all backed the action which included a national demonstration in Rome. The unions are looking for an 8% increase in pay.

PORTUGAL - public sector unions demonstrate

On 19 May public service unions in Portugal united to demonstrate over their pay and government proposals to reform public sector employment. Unions argue that workers have seen real pay fall by 3%-4.5% in the last two years and are worried about the impact of government plans to introduce personal contracts.

IRELAND - union sets out pay strategy

Unions in Ireland are gearing up for pay talks to cover the second half of the three-year national pay agreement (“Sustaining Progress”). Public services union IMPACT is calling for basic pay increases for all workers that at least match inflation plus a further public service benchmarking exercise. The union believes that benchmarking has delivered improved pay and productivity.

UK - Union challenges bonus scheme

PCS the main civil service union is taking the Department of Work and Pensions to court over imposed changes to a bonus scheme. The union argues that the scheme is unfair and divisive and that unilateral changes to the scheme are a breach of contract.

LATVIA - ambulance workers threaten strike

The EIRO industrial relations observatory reports that ambulance workers in Latvia are threatening strike action if their demands for improved pay and conditions are not met. According to the report ambulance drivers’ salaries have not increased since the mid-1990s and they earn 35% less than average national wage.

GERMANY - working hours in public sector

Services union ver.di is facing a major challenge from public sector employers over working time. The regional government of Rheinland-Pfalz is one of the latest to confirm its plans to introduce a 40-hour week for all its employees from 1 November. Meanwhile 3,000 workers joined a ver.di demonstration in Saarbrücken in opposition to longer working hours and plans to cut holiday and Christmas payments.

PORTUGAL - strike blocks privatisation

Council workers in Amadora in Portugal took strike action in opposition to the municipality’s plans to privatise refuse collection and grounds maintenance work. The strike was called off when the mayor stated that privatisation would not go ahead.

GERMANY - ver.di negotiators discuss coordination of collective bargaining

The German union ver.di brought its negotiators together to discuss the coordination of collective bargaining in Europe. Examples of European coordination such as in EPSU (wage coordination guideline, epsucob@, social dialogue committees, regions and transnational companies) were given across the wide range of activities in ver.di.

Important questions linking wage policy with broader macro-economic questions such as sustaining demand in the economy, redistribution of wealth and preventing wage dumping were considered. EPSU Deputy General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan explained the work of EPSU and introduced the resolution on collective bargaining which will be discussed at this month’s EPSU Congress. Contributions from academics and IG Metall looked at the effect of EU-enlargement for collective bargaining policy.

The significance of the wage coordination guideline in bringing wages of the new member states to the EU level was underlined. A side theme was the negative effect the Services Directive can have on collective bargaining. The general conclusion of the meeting was that European coordination is important and needs to be strengthened.

A report on the conference and the presentations should be available in a book later this year.

UK - strike in prison service

Industrial and agricultural workers in the UK prison service took 24-hour industrial action last month in protest at a 1% imposed pay increase. The increase compares poorly with other pay rises awarded in the sector. The workers cover a wide range of jobs - electricians, plumbers, cooks and gardeners - and are represented by Amicus, the GMB, T&G and UCATT.

GERMANY - DGB hotline reveals harsh reality of labour market

A telephone hotline set up by the DGB trade union federation has revealed the harsh realities of low pay in Germany with security guards, delivery drivers and other workers getting as little as three euros an hour. Although most of the examples are from the private services sector, those in the social services are also affected and the DGB cites the examples of Beatrix from Doben who has a 120km daily round-trip to the old people’s home where she works and is paid around 5.75 euros an hour for a 40-hour week.

SPAIN - strike in private health sector

Spanish unions in the private health sector are taking strike action on 2-4 June in support of their pay claim and demands for cuts in working time.

UK - violence against healthworkers

Public services union UNISON has put forward a six-point plan to tackle violence against healthworkers. The union’s initiative follows a study in Scotland that found an average of one in two healthworkers are physically or verbally attacked every hour of the day.

IRELAND and FRANCE - unions challenge decentralisation

Public sector unions in Ireland and France are both trying to defend their members’ interests as governments push for decentralisation of parts of the civil service. In Ireland IMPACT has attacked the government for its “blind pursuit of decentralisation” while in France unions report that opposition to decentralisation of public services is spreading to local authorities and service users. Unions want the decentralisation plans scrapped and are calling for a proper national debate on the organisation and financing of public services.