EPSU

2010 August epsucob@NEWS 17

richard — 2010-08-31T17:00:56Z

Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine - protests against pay cuts and freezes; Romania - unions pursue legal challenge against pay cuts; UK - pay freeze imposed in local government in Scotland; Switzerland - cleaners' strike continues - epsucob@NEWS - bimonthly email newsletter

National protest against wage cut proposals

richard — 2010-08-31T16:49:31Z

Public sector workers including health employees, firefighters and police are set to join a demonstration on 21 September against government plans to cut civil service pay in 2011. The proposals are part of the budget cuts put forward by the new government and the health union warns of the risk that the cuts could be deeper than the 10% being talked about. Unions are also concerned about planned government reforms of the Labour Code which they believe are aimed at weakening employee rights to make the labour market more “flexible”. Read more at > Czech news website (EN) Read more at > Statorg (CZ)

Unions to demonstrate against pay freeze

richard — 2010-08-31T16:48:11Z

Public sector unions are building for a major demonstration on 22 September in protest at the government's plans to freeze pay in 2011 as part of cuts strategy. Unions in the state sector are calling for an increase of 5.3% next year. Read more at > Polish news website (EN) - Poland / Central government, Health and social services, Local government, 2010 August epsucob@NEWS 17

Unions co-ordinate legal action against government

richard — 2010-08-31T16:46:28Z

The Sed-Lex civil service federation is urging individual members to pursue legal action against the government and challenge the imposition of the 25% cut in pay that was implemented from 1 July this year. The union is also considering taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights. Another public sector union, Publisind, is also co-ordinating action among its members. Read more at > Sed Lex (...) - Romania / Central government, 2010 August epsucob@NEWS 17

Public sector pay will rise in 2011

richard — 2010-08-31T16:44:18Z

After two years of pay freezes, public sector pay will increase in 2011 by the rate of inflation recorded in the second half of 2010. The government made the announcement following an agreement with the International Monetary Fund which also involves the unfreezing of pensions. (Retail prices rose by 7.9% in the year to August, with the consumer price index registering a lower increase at 6.3%.) Read more at > Balkan Insight website (...) - Serbia / 2010 August epsucob@NEWS 17

Two union federations leave civil service negotiations

richard — 2010-08-31T16:43:16Z

A pay agreement for 2011 has been negotiated in the civil service but with only one union federation, Memur-Sen, supporting the increase. Both Kamu-Sen and KESK left the negotiations at different points in protest at the way they were being run by the government. KESK also wanted the negotiations postponed until after the referendum and the possibility that unions would have a clear right to strike if constitutional changes are agreed. The negotiations will deliver two 4% pay increases in each half of 2011 plus TL80 (€41) for all workers. Read more at > Hurriyet news website (EN) And further at > Hurriyet

EQUAL PAY QUESTIONNAIRE – URGENT

richard — 2010-08-31T16:41:53Z

All EPSU affiliates are being urged to reply to the questionnaire on equal pay that was sent out earlier this year. This is a vital issue for EPSU with two resolutions passed on the subject at last year's Congress. So far we have had 14 responses from nine EU Member States and two Eastern European countries. This means we have a long way to go before getting a comprehensive picture of pay inequality and action to close the gender pay gap in the public services. Get copy of questionnaire at > (...) - Europe / 2010 August epsucob@NEWS 17

Union wins potentially important equal pay victory

richard — 2010-08-31T16:41:02Z

The Equality Tribunal has ordered a local authority to award a female after-school service manager the same pay as managers in the technical services department. The case was pursued by Else Marie Nygaard with the support of the YS union and pay comparisons showed her receiving a salary that was between NOK2000 and NOK30000 (€2000-€3750) less than a manager in the mainly male technical services section. The decision could have important implications for pay levels in local authorities. Read (...) - Norway / Local government, Equal pay, 2010 August epsucob@NEWS 17

Regional authorities look to reinstate minimum pay rules in procurement

richard — 2010-08-31T16:39:56Z

The WSI trade union research institute has found that regional authorities are pursuing various possibilities to set up or re-establish procurement rules that require contractors to bide by relevant collective agreements. They have been reviewing the situation since 2008 when the European Court ruled against Lower Saxony in the Rüffert case. Following the case 10 regional authorities set aside their procurement rules. Now four have introduced new rules and five are planning changes this autumn. The authorities are using sectoral minimum wages as a basis for their new rules or are taking advantage of the fact that special rules apply to the transport sector. Two regional authorities have also introduced minimum wages specific to procurement. Read more at > Hans Böckler (DE)

Local government employers in Scotland impose pay freeze

richard — 2010-08-31T16:38:47Z

Unions have reacted angrily to the decision by the COSLA Scottish local government employers to impose a pay freeze on 150,000 council workers. COSLA had offered a three-year deal with 1% in 2010, 0% in 2011 and 0.5% in 2012. This was rejected by unions but instead of negotiating the employers have moved to impose a worse deal with a 0.65% increase this year followed by two years of pay freeze. Read more at > UNISON (EN) And at > Unite (EN) And at > Herald news site (EN)