Migration, Trade, Restructuring, Recruitment & organising

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

In three separate disputes, members of the Fórsa and SIPTU trade unions have voted in favour of industrial action. In the ambulance service, SIPTU members voted with a 95% majority to back industrial action following the refusal of management to implement a restructuring plan that had been negotiated with and was fully supported by the union. Meanwhile, SIPTU members in the water sector will take strike action on 7 June unless there is a guarantee that their local authority pay and conditions will be protected when they transfer to a new employer, Uisce Éireann, a new standalone public utility

EPSU’s recruitment and organising (R&O) team has arranged a webinar at 13.00 (CET) on 27 September to discuss the links between organising and collective bargaining. It will include practical examples from EPSU affiliates in Finland (JHL) and Germany (ver.di). Pertti Paajanen, JHL’s director of organisational affairs will talk about the union’s successful R&O campaigns and the interaction between recruitment and collective bargaining and industrial action. Ver.di activist Silvia Habekost will explain how the union succeeded in reaching collective agreements on staffing levels in two big public