2010 January epsucob@NEWS 02

Ireland - Union announces industrial action from 25 January

The IMPACT public services union is set to begin industrial action on 25 January in protest at the government’s plans for further cuts in public employees’ pay. Initially the industrial action will be a work-to-rule so IMPACT members will be refusing to co-operate with management demands that require anything beyond normal duties. the union says it will take a flexible approach across the different parts of the public sector and has a range of other actions that it may resort to as part of its campaign to defend members’ pay and conditions. Read more at > IMPACT (EN)

Belgium - Unions organise joint strikes and protests over working conditions in prisons

The three public service trade unions are organising strike action across the prison service on 21-23 January with a national demonstration on 22 January. The protests are over working conditions in prisons with staff facing an average of five violent incidents a day. The unions say that the prison service needs to address urgently prison overcrowding, staffing levels and the inadequacy of security equipment. Read more at > ACOD (NL) Read more at > CSC (FR) Read more at > news website (FR)

Italy - Unions to strike over working conditions in justice department

The FP-CGIL, UILPA, RDB and FLP union organisations are co-ordinating strike action on 5 February. They are protesting at the government’s failure to allocate proper funding to the justice system in the current budget. The unions argue that, as a result of government cuts, some courts are facing closure and employees are seeing their working conditions deteriorate, with a failure to recruit and train adequate numbers of staff. Read more at > FP CGIL (IT)

EU - Regional collective bargaining conferences

This year EPSU is organising three regional collective bargaining conferences to give affiliates an opportunity to exchange information on a range of key negotiating issues including equal pay, outsourcing and precarious employment. The first conference takes place in Copenhagen on 16-17 March and is aimed at affiliates from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Affiliates from other countries will be invited to conferences later in the year in Madrid (June) and Bratislava (September). Read more at > EPSU (EN)

UK - Unions angered at local government pay freeze

The three municipal unions, UNISON, Unite and GMB, have reacted angrily to the proposal by local government employers to freeze the pay of their 1.6 million employees. The unions had submitted a claim for a 2.5% increase, with a minimum increase of £500 (€577) and are particularly annoyed by the employers’ failure even to negotiate before announcing their plans for a pay freeze. Read more at > UNISON (EN)

Greece - Civil service union plans strike for 10 February

The ADEDY civil service federation has called a national strike on 10 February in protest at government plans to cut public spending and freeze pay for many public sector workers. Read more at > ADEDY (GR) Read more at > Reuters (EN)

Finland - Public sector negotiations begin

Negotiations are underway in both the state and municipal sectors where the collective agreements expire at the end of January. In the municipal sector JHL, the main public sector union wants, the minimum pay rate in the collective agreement to be raised to €1,500 per month and family leave to be improved. JHL also aims to develop the status of employees in atypical employment relations and the rights of safety representatives. Read more at > JHL (EN) And at > JHL (EN)

Portugal - Public service unions organise demonstration for 5 February

Public service trade unions in the Frente Comum have called a national demonstration on 5 February in defence of the pay and conditions of public sector employees. The unions are opposed to a range of government measures that they say will end up making public sector workers pay for the crisis. Read more at > STAL (PT)

Sweden - Municipal union puts climate change on bargaining agenda

The SKTF white-collar local government union is calling on private companies in the KFS employers’ organisation to discuss measures to deal with climate change. The union negotiates for around 7,000 employees in companies in the municipal sector that provide electricity, water and sewage services. The union also wants to see improvements in conditions for young workers and those on temporary contracts. It argues that this is important for improving the quality and efficiency of services and for making the sector more attractive to young workers as many of the current workforce come up for retirement. Read more at > SKTF (SE)

Netherlands - New collective agreement covering ambulance workers

After lengthy negotiations the FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak trade unions have signed a new collective agreement for the ambulance sector that replaces the four previous agreements in the sector. The two-year agreement will take effect on 1 January 2011 and will involve a three-stage increase in the year-end bonus from 5% to 8.33% of annual salary. There will also be two 1% increases to basic pay. Read more at > FNV-Abvakabo (NL) And at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)

Turkey - Health unions take action over threat to doctors’ pay

Despite threats of legal action from the government, unions representing doctors and other health workers were involved in protests on 19 January against proposed reforms to the health service. The changes will mean that doctors will lose their current right to work part-time in private institutions and this will mean a substantial cut in pay. The Hürriyet news website also carries an article outlining the urgent need for Turkey’s labour laws to be reformed because of the major and unfair restrictions imposed on trade unions. Read more at > Hürriyet news website (EN) And more at > Hürriyet (EN) Read more at > SES (TK)

Norway - Final consultation over four-year municipal agreement

Unions and employers in the municipal sector have drafted a new four-year agreement on employment and working conditions. The agreement includes a number of changes and new elements covering equality, tackling discrimination, climate change and measures to reduce sickness absence. There is a brief period for final feedback up to 1 February. Read more at > Fagforbundet (NO)

France - Unions organise over 100 actions for 21 January

The CGT, FSU and Solidaires union organisations are co-ordinating over 100 demonstrations and other actions on 21 January as part of their campaign of opposition to government policies on the public services. The latest message to come from the government includes plans for further job cuts across the public services with 34,000 jobs to go in central government alone and cuts also likely in local and regional government and the health service. Read more at > CGT (FR)

Denmark - Union criticises call for pension reform

The FOA says that pension reform in recent years has had an impact with 31% of its members taking early retirement in 2009, down from 41% in 2006. The union argues that this is one reason why further pension reform should not be on the agenda. FOA also points out that the issue has been raised again because of pressure on public finances and it says that it is outrageous that public finances should be used to bail out the finance sector with the consequence that demands are made to cut workers’ pensions. Read more at > FOA (DK)

Europe - 17% of full-time workers are low-paid

A new analysis of statistics by Eurostat finds that 17% of full-time workers are low-paid – that means they are paid less than two-thirds of national median earnings. The data comes from the 2006 structure of earnings survey that excludes public administration. However, the statistics do cover the energy sector, which has the lowest proportion of low-paid workers, and the health sector where nearly 15% of full-time employers are low-paid. The report also reveals that 23.1% of women workers were low-paid compared to only 13.5% of men. Read more at > Eurostat (EN)

Germany - Call for solidarity between civil servants and public employees

The DGB confederation and ver.di have joined in responding to claims that civil servants are a privileged group of workers. They point out that civil servants in the Berlin region, for example, are effectively paid no more than they were in 2003 as a result of cuts to Christmas and holiday payments. Far from being privileged, according to the DGB and ver.di, civil servants such as teachers have to move to stay in work while the emergency services are on-call at all hours of the day. Civil servants also have no right to strike. The key issue for ver.di and the DGB is that , in the lead up to pay negotiations for federal and local government workers, that there needs to be solidarity between civil servants and public employees and they should not be played off against each other. Read more at > ver.di (DE)