Spain, Romania, Denmark, Azerbaijan
Unions to launch dispute in Tax Agency
The FSC-CCOO and UGT-SP public service federations are to declare a collective dispute with the Tax Agency which will coincide with the start of the Agency’s campaign on filing income tax returns. The dispute will raise a number of issues related to professional career development, internal promotion, strengthening the mobility agreement, telework and negotiating a new collective agreement. The unions are also concerned about plans to increase the telephone service without specifying salaries or the need to increase recruitment. They will also raise concerns around productivity and about safe
Dispute in Ministry of Justice continues
The FSC-CCOO federation organised protest rallies on 20 and 21 March in its continuing dispute with the Ministry of Justice, marking almost a year since the union began a series of strike actions. The federation is seeking a salary increase for all staff in general and special bodies, negotiations on the Efficiency Law which has implications for workers’ pay and conditions, proper recognition of functions and career development. The FSC-CCOO says that the Ministry broke off negotiations on 7 March saying it would not negotiate a salary increase for all workers. The federation is also angry
Pressure from unions delivers in health and social care
Trade unions, including Sanitas and Columna, have managed to secure pay increases for workers in health and social services. According to Sanitas, increases in the health sector vary according to occupation but range up to 26.8% with 20% in social assistance. The union has also been able to resolve discrepancies in salaries affecting a number of specific occupations. Meanwhile Columna has also been active in local government where it organised strike action on 19 March involving nearly 19000 workers as it tries to ensure that the pay increases that apply to health, education and social care
Unions taking different approaches to working time
Following the article on Iceland, the latest in the series of articles on working time commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department focuses on developments in the other Nordic countries. While several unions in Sweden have put shorter working time on the bargaining agenda (see also article on Sweden in this newsletter), there are only a few cases in social care where a shorter working week has been implemented. In Norway and Denmark the priority has been more to ensure that workers in health and care and other services have the right to full-time working although there are some
Unions want pay increase confirmed and austerity measures repealed
The UGT-SP trade union and public sector federations in the CCOO confederation are calling on the government to ensure payment of the 2% pay increase across the public sector as set out in the three-year agreement 2022-24. The agreement has so far delivered pay increases totalling 7% in 2022 and 2023 and there could be an additional 0.5% on top of the 2% in 2024 depending on economic developments. The unions also want confirmation that various measures introduced as part of an austerity package back in 2012 are finally rescinded. The unions want the government to immediately begin negotiations
Unions agree deals in municipal and regional government
The 480,000 workers in municipalities and 140,000 workers in regional government are set to get pay increases of 4% from 1 April as a first instalment of the 6.51% (municipal) and 6.53% (regional) increases over the next two years. An additional 2% fund is available for unions to negotiate separately for different groups of workers and so the overall pay rise will be closer to 8.8% and with an expectation that the real increase overall will be 2.17%. There are also additional amounts for the lower paid. At the end of 2025 there will be further negotiations that will focus on the comparative
Unions press for pay rises and negotiations in health, care and local government
The Sanitas and Columna trade unions are trying to make progress on a number of fronts, including securing pay increases for workers in health, care and local government for 2024 and to negotiate sector-wide agreements in all three sectors. In local government Columna is calling for guarantees that workers will be paid according to a national pay grid and no longer covered by each local authority and it also wants agreements to cover the sector or groups of authorities and not council-by-council. Both Sanitas and Columna are also calling for a pay rise for workers in social assistance and to
State sector unions negotiate 7.4% pay increase over two years
Negotiations on a new agreement covering the state sector were concluded on Sunday 11 February with employees set to get a 7.4% pay increase over two years that should deliver a real increase of 2.5%. The first increase will be for 5.9% on 1 April 2024 with a further 1.3% due on 1 April 2025 and 0.2% on 1 November 2025. Additional funds have been allocated for the development of wages and other conditions in the individual collective agreements with the overall package worth 8.8%. There will be an extraordinary salary negotiation at the end of 2025 which will focus on the comparative
Unions welcome pay increase but call for urgent meeting on framework agreement
Public sector federations in the CCOO confederation and the UGT-SP federation have welcomed confirmation that a 0.5% pay increase (backdated to January 2023) will be implemented in line with the last three-year pay agreement. The 0.5% figure was linked to growth in the Spanish economy. They now also want action on the 2% promised for 2024 and an end to the limit on replacing employees who leave. In the meantime, the federations are calling for an urgent convening of the monitoring committee on the framework agreement that addresses important issues such as partial retirement, annual leave
Health union’s pressure secures further commitments from government
Tough negotiating by the Sanitas health union and effective mobilisation of its members is delivering positive outcomes. Following discussions with the government on 25 January the union says that there will be a 20% increase in the salary fund so that all employees in health benefit from an average salary increase of 20% in 2024, paid in two instalments; a 20% increase in salaries for specialized personnel in care and social work; assessment of personnel needs in the public health system and unblocking of posts; and the start of negotiations for a collective agreement covering social work
Ministry of Justice negotiations begin with working groups
After lengthy strike action by Ministry of Justice staff through 2023, trade unions, including the FSC-CCOO and UGT-SP, are now sitting down with ministry officials to try to resolve some of the main areas of dispute. The FSC-CCOO was disappointed at an early stage when its proposals for the remit of two working groups were rejected. The federation wanted one to discuss a general pay increase and other issues and the working group on the efficiency law to discuss working conditions and not just job functions. The FSC-CCOO also raised a number of other issues it wants to see on the negotiating
Health union pushes for more action by government on pay and jobs
The Sanitas trade union, representing workers in health and social care has welcomed the government decision to allow recruitment to over 8000 positions in the public health system that it had previously blocked. The union had threatened to strike over the issue and while it sees this initiative as a step in the right direction it is calling for much more to be done to address the critical shortage of staff in health and social care. Sanitas estimates that the 8000 jobs to be filled cover only around a quarter of the needs of the health and social care sectors and that the government will have
Another municipality experiments with four-day week
The HK Kommunal trade union reports that the City Council of Vesthimmerland in the north of Denmark is giving all administrative employees the opportunity to divide their 37-hour working week over four days. This follows similar initiatives in other municipalities, including Odsherred, Gentofte, Esbjerg, Solrød. The experiment will be evaluated in November when it may be extended to other categories of employee. The option is entirely voluntary and will be based on allocating 74 hours over two weeks. Unscheduled citizen inquiries will be closed on Fridays and, as far as possible, there will be
Health union declares labour conflict
Following longstanding problems in ensuring full implementation of the law on salaries that applies to health and social care staff, the Sanitas trade union has declared a labour conflict. For over two years the government has blocked full implementation of the law and the proper calculation of salaries. Bonuses are stuck at levels dating back to 2018 and overtime is unpaid. A holiday allowance has not been granted and the food allowance is also linked to 2018 pay levels rather than current salaries. The situation is made worse by the repeated blocking of recruitment to fill vacancies, leading