24 epsucob@NEWS December 2009

Trade unions mobilized for a demonstration outside the Irish parliament in protest at the government’s budget proposals that include €4 billion in cuts. Social and welfare payments are affected while public sector workers will see their pay cut by 6%-8%. This follows on from last year’s “pensions levy” which effectively meant a 7% cut in take home pay for public sector workers. [Read more at > Impact (EN)->http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/-t-297_300_496.html] [Read more background at > Impact (EN)->http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/-t-297_300_496.html] [And at > SIPTU (EN)->http://www.siptu.ie

The CCOO and UGT confederations organised a major demonstration in Madrid on 12 December challenging the government’s response to the crisis. The unions argue that proper social dialogue and collective bargaining are key to ensuring a way out of the recession that defends and creates jobs and public services. They have agreed on 12 action points that include a demand for a fairer tax system to fund more public investment in transport, health and education. [Read more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)->http://www.fsc.ccoo.es/webfsc/menu.do?Inicio:69599] [And at > UGT (ES)->http://www.ugt.es/actualidad/2009

After several very challenging rounds of negotiations the GÖD and GDG public service unions have accepted a pay increase of 0.9% plus €4 a month for 2010. The government had initially said that it had only budgeted for a 0.5% increase in the pay bill and that it only wanted to pay a lump sum payment. The flat-rate increase of €4 means that the overall increase for the lowest paid will be 1.23% and 0.94% for the highest paid. Other payments and allowances will increase by 0.9%. The increase will cover around 400,000 workers across the public sector. [Read more at > GDG (DE)->http://www.gdg.at

The three public service federations have been mobilizing in recent weeks to put pressure on the government to ensure that public sector pay increases are properly funded. Pay agreements will now cover three-year periods rather than two and in the past unions have negotiated pay increases with the ARAN negotiating body only to find that the government causes problems by failing to allocate resources in the budget. The FP CGIL federation organized a public sector wide strike on 11 December while the CISL and UIL federations organized a range of demonstrations around the country beginning on 2

Ver.di’s local and federal government collective bargaining committee met on 15 December to confirm its claim in the lead up to negotiations that begin on 13 February. Ver.di will be negotiating with the police (GdP), teachers (GEW) and civil service union (dbb tarifunion) on behalf of nearly two million workers in local and federal government. The main demand will be for a real increase in pay plus a number of other measures including provision of shorter working hours for older workers to create more jobs for younger workers and commitments to take on more apprentices. There will also be

A new study by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) challenges the way jobs are valued in the labour market and uncovers the additional social and environmental value of key public service jobs such as hospital cleaners, childcare workers and waste and recycling workers. The NEF contrasts the positive social and environmental contributions of these jobs with the negative impact of top bankers, advertising executives and tax consultants. According to NEF calculations while collecting salaries of between £500,000 and £10 million, leading City bankers destroy £7 of social value for every pound in

The VPOD public service union is supporting the 1:12 initiative launched by the Young Socialists. The campaign is aimed at stopping the growing gap between the low paid and the high paid and proposes a limit so that the highest paid person in an organisation gets no more than 12 times the salary of the lowest paid. VPOD says that this is already an element of pay systems in some parts of the public sector with the pay structure at the City of Zürich limiting the top of its 18-grade pay system to 4.5 times the level of pay at the bottom. [Read more at > VPOD (DE)->http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell

Despite a commitment from the previous government, the federal economics minister Rainer Brüderle of the FDP liberal party has refused to back a minimum wage for the waste sector. Ver.di had agreed with the BDE employers’ organization that a legal minimum wage for the sector was needed to stop companies undercutting wages, with hourly wages falling as low as €4-€6 an hour. The union was preparing demonstrations around the country on 10 December and called on Chancellor Merkel to overrule the FDP – the junior partner in the government coalition – in order to ensure that the waste sector minimum

The CGT Public Services federation and SUD trade union are joining together for a day of action on 21 January in protest at government plans to reform local government. The unions argue that changes to the funding system and cutting jobs will undermine the proper provision of public services and lead to an increase in outsourcing to the private sector. The unions want to see a public debate about the public services, a withdrawal of plans to change public finance of local authorities, decent pay increases for local government workers to recoup their lost purchasing power and a transfer to

Unions organizing in local government, including FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak, are asking their members to vote on the employers’ “final offer” of a two-year pay freeze. The previous collective agreement expired in June and negotiations with the employers broke down in October. The unions had wanted to secure a pay increase in line with inflation and a job security agreement but the employers haven’t made any concessions. [Read more at > Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/ambtenaren-gaan-voor-koopkracht] [Read more at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)->http://www

The GPA-DJP and vida trade unions have rejected the latest offer from the employers in the private health and social service sector for an increase below the current inflation rate (up to 0.5%). Works council representatives are meeting around the country to discuss the pay negotiations and to plan their response following the next round of negotiations on 21 December. The unions are looking for a real pay increase as well as other measures to help close the gender pay gap. Works council representatives meeting in Vienna said they were disgusted by the employers’ offer and called for a decent

A briefing on pension systems in Europe for the ETUI trade union research institute questions the extent to which there should be public support or tax relief for private pension arrangements. Where private pension systems exist then, the author argues, there should be strong monitoring systems with a role for the social partners. The briefing also highlights the fact that public systems are not only low risk but are better at ensuring a broad and equitable coverage of pensions, particular for workers in atypical employment. [Read more at > ETUI (EN)->http://www.etui.org/research/Publications