EPSU welcomes the decision of the European Committee on Social Rights (ESCR) recognising that volunteer firefighters are workers within the meaning of the European Social Charter.
Eight trade union organisations, including the five main confederations – CGT, CFDT, FO, UNSA and CFE-CGC – have come together to organise a national demonstration on 13 October over the cost-of-living and the threat of austerity. The key demands will be around increases to the national minimum wage and pay rises in collective agreements and the unions will continue their protests against the pension reforms which came into effect on 1 September. The unions are also looking at measures to reduce the gender pay gap and increased funding for public services.
Unions at the Veolia water company have announced strike action in protest at the company's latest plans for restructuring, the fourth in three years. The unions are angry that a further 572 jobs are due to go by 2019 after 2000 have already been cut since 2014. They are particularly concerned that this time the company has not ruled out compulsory redundancies which the unions say would be the first for the sector. The unions say the cuts aren't justified in terms of the company's economic performance and they want the company to withdraw the threat of compulsory redundancies and begin a
Proposals to reform the labour code were published owin 31 August with some initial negative reactions from the trade unions. A common response was that the raft of reforms was being put forward before there had been a proper evaluation of the changes that have been implemented in the last four years. Unions expressed concern about rebalancing of the relationship between sector and company-level bargaining and changes to compensation in cases of redundancy. In small companies (less than 50 employees) it will be possible for employers to negotiate with non-trade union representatives and in
(May 2017) The FOA public services union has called on MPs to reject the continuing demand on local government and health to deliver a 2% productivity increase each year. Effectively in force since 2003, it means that workers in the sector deliver 49% more services with the same staff. The union argues that there is a limit to what can be done and that services cannot be permanently streamlined without posing a threat to quality. The union points out that while health workers have been delivering a 2.4% productivity increase each year the private sector has managed only 1%.
