(September 30) Press communication. Public service workers across Europe, already suffering from the impact of austerity measures, are likely to face further pressure on wages and jobs as the European institutions call for major reforms in collective bargaining systems.
The European Commission, Council and Central Bank have been stepping up their campaign for greater flexibility in wage bargaining across Europe. Their focus is on wage flexibility, an end to indexation and further (...)
(16 September 2011) Representatives of both EPSU and the ETUC took part in yesterday’s conference on wage trends in Europe organized by DG Employment. There were wide-ranging discussions around wage-setting and the link to productivity and competitiveness, levels and trends in collective bargaining, the impact of indexation systems and the causes and results of growing wage inequality.
Both EPSU and the ETUC were keen to alert participants to the fact that, despite commitments from the (...)
(14 June 2011) - UPDATE: The Southampton city council actions of our colleagues of UNITE and UNISON is now entering its third week and has seen several strikes and other actions. For an update please find the newsletter which also gives an update on the various actions used. Several EPSU unions have sent messages of support and we have also asked the unions of the waste group to send messages of support to the striking workers.
(23 May 2011) Thousands of workers employed by (...)
(April 18 2011) Meeting yesterday in Brussels the Executive Committee of the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) confirmed its position on the Working Time Directive and in particular the need to abolish the individual opt-out and codify key European court rulings on on-call time at work.
The Federation has made it clear that it would take part in cross-sectoral negotiations if specific conditions were met. The European Commission claims that it is not realistic to talk (...)
The ETUC’s collective bargaining committee met on 4 April with over 30 participants from national confederations in 16 countries and five representatives from the European industry federations.
The first part of the meeting covered the latest developments on the Euro-Plus Pact and economic governance and their implications for collective bargaining (the presentation from ETUC advisor Ronald Janssen is below).
While there were some positive elements to report - respect of national traditions (...)
(Brussels 24 February) The first meeting of the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) Economic Policy Group has a clear message for the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Claude Trichet. He commented last weekend that ‘increasing wages would be the ultimate error to be committed’ [see the reference below]. He singled out the German public sector wages which have stayed behind the European average with 15-20% points as the model to follow.
Jan Willem Goudriaan, EPSU (...)
(9 December 2010) Governments are attacking the wrong target. This is the message of a report published by the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU). The report (see attached), “The wrong target – how governments are making public sector workers pay for the crisis” was launched at a major conference gathering over 100 trade unionists from more than 27 European States. It looks at eight countries in the EU which have cut the pay of their public sector employees and what the (...)
Emerging from the crisis - fair pay and employment in the public services
7-8 December, Brussels ITUH
Collective bargaining in the crisis
Public service trade unions continue to face a very challenging bargaining environment. Pay cuts and pay freezes have been imposed on workers in Latvia, Ireland, Greece, Romania and Spain. Cuts in public spending are leading to job cuts and recruitment freezes so that those still left in work are under pressure to maintain services despite the attacks on (...)
EPSU Social Dialogue and Collective Bargaining Regional Conferences 2010
Maintaining and improving decent work in the public services
EPSU is organising three regional conferences on collective bargaining and social dialogue during 2010. EPSU affiliates are invited to participate to continue some of the key debates from the main collective bargaining conference in December 2009.
The conferences will cover a range of issues under the heading of decent work. Debates will include: the effects (...)
On 7 July the European Commission launched a Europe-wide consultation on pensions. The Pensions Green Paper poses 14 broad questions that cover the social, economic and financial aspects of pensions systems across Europe.
Although the document does address the issue of the adequacy of pensions and the need to maintain living standards and social cohesion, the European Commission starts with assumptions about the impact of the current crisis and argues that: "The number of retired people (...)
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