Italy, Ireland, Azerbaijan

Members of public sector unions have voted by a large majority to accept the pay agreement negotiated earlier this year. The agreement runs from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026 and provides for pay improvements worth 9.25% but because of flat-rate elements this rises to 17.3% for lower paid workers. This agreement also provides specific provisions for local bargaining, which will give trade unions the scope to negotiate up to an additional 3% of pay costs, inclusive of allowances, for particular grades, groups or categories of employee. The agreement also sees the full and final unwinding of

The FP-CGIL public service federation reports that the latest official data show that there were 16000 incidents of aggression against health and social care personnel in 2023, affecting 18000 workers. The statistics were published in the 2023 report from the National Observatory on the Safety of Health and Social Care Professionals which was established in January 2022 and is made up of the Ministries of Health, Interior, Economy and Finance and Labour, other government agencies, trade unions and regional professional associations. Nurses were the most affected by incidents of aggression

The three public service federations – FP-CGIL, CISL-FP, and UIL-FPL – report a successful national strike of workers employed by the Federcasa social housing organisation. The unions have been negotiating on the 2022-2024 collective agreement since last autumn and resorted to strike action to put pressure on the employers to improve their pay offer and ensure that there is an additional payment to cover the delay in negotiating the agreement. The action on 20 February included a sit-in in Rome and many regional demonstrations across the country, including in Trentino, Liguria, Lombardy

The INMO nurses’ and midwives’ union has called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to end the moratorium on recruiting frontline patient-facing staff. The HSE has revealed that emergency department attendances are up 13% compared to the same period in 2023 and 452 patients were admitted to hospital without a bed on a single day earlier this month. INMO warns that its members are bearing the brunt of public disappointment and in some cases aggression for the state of the health service while working in extremely challenging environments. The union says that staff who are leaving because of

EPSU and PSI have sent solidarity greetings to the three union federations – Filctem-Cgil, Flaei- Cisl and Uiltec – in their dispute with the ENEL energy company. The three unions are planning national strike action on 8 March and began a month-long period of industrial action affecting overtime, travel and changes to working hours on 24 February. The unions are angry about the company’s unilateral plans to change working hours arrangements, to outsource operations on the electricity grid, and its refusal to renew the remote work agreement. The three federations argue that the measures will

The Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl public service federations have brought two collective agreements in private social care together and are working on consolidation with a third. The unions have signed the agreement for the period 2020-22 covering the National Association for Public Assistance (ANPAS) and the National Confederation of the Misericordie d'Italia, secular and religious providers of health, social care and other services. The aim is to create a single sector agreement covering providers of social and health assistance, medical transport and emergency out-of-hospital care. The next

Fórsa, SIPTU, INMO, AHCPS and other public service unions are consulting their members over the latest pay offer from the government which would provide for a series of pay increases over a 30-month period from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026. The unions have until 25 March to complete the ballots. If an aggregate of the members of all the unions vote in favour then the agreement would provide the following pay increases: in 2024 – 2.25% or €1,125, whichever is greater, from 1 January; 1% on 1 June; 1% or €500, whichever is greater, on 1 October; in 2025 – 2% or €1,000, whichever is greater, on

The FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-FPL public service federations called off strike action planned for 31 January after the ARIS private sector health employers’ organisation agreed to sign a bridging agreement as called for by the unions. This means that there is now a temporary agreement with both the ARIS and AIOP employer organisations that allows for negotiations to begin to create a single, sector agreement covering all employees of both organisations. The bridging agreement provides for additional remuneration for different categories of workers ranging from €40 to €318.50 for a 13-month

Public services unions, including Fórsa, SIPTU and INMO, were very disappointed with the government’s initial pay offer as part of the negotiations for a new, multi-year public sector collective agreement. The unions say that the offer revealed the lack of preparedness of the government to negotiate a sustainable deal. The unions argue that the offer of 7% with 1.5% payable in March this year, fails to meet the basic test of dealing with the cumulative gap between wages and inflation – amounting to almost 19% over the last three years. The unions are concerned about the painfully slow process

The FP-Cgil, Cisl-FP and Uil-Fpl public service federations have proclaimed a national strike for 20 February for the staff of public and social housing companies covered by the Federcasa collective agreement. The unions say that, in the current negotiations for a new agreement for 2022-2024, the employers have proved unwilling to recognize the need to ensure the full professional development of staff and to offer adequate increases to protect wages. The planned strike will be the latest stage in lengthy mobilisations and campaigning since autumn 2023 which have focused on the crucial service

The Fórsa trade union reports that the breakdown of public sector negotiations in December, has led to public service unions planning possible ballots on industrial action. The 19 trade unions that make up the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions are set to meet on 11 January to decide whether to ballot if there is no progress on negotiations with the government. Negotiations mainly on issues other than pay began at the end of November with 11 meetings taking place up to Christmas but without conclusion and without moving on to pay bargaining. The previous public

The Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl public service federations have declared a day of strike action and protests on 31 January in their continuing campaign to secure a bridging agreement with the ARIS non-profit health employers’ association. ARIS has rejected the proposal that aims to provide a basis for negotiations to start that would lead to a collective agreement that covers both the ARIS and AIOP private health employer organisations. The unions are determined to secure improvements to pay and conditions for workers who haven’t had an update to the collective agreement for 11 years. The aim

The three public service federations – FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-FPL – have signed a draft agreement with the ARAN agency for public sector employers that covers over 13,000 managers and senior staff in local and health authorities. The agreement is the last in the public sector covering the 2019-2021 period and means the unions can now focus on the next round of bargaining. There are three main pay grades covered by the agreement and along with a basic increase of €135 a month there will be additional increases related to each occupational group ranging from €104 to €174. The unions are