2014 January epsucob@NEWS 01
Unions wait for better offer
Public sector pay negotiations get underway this month after talks broke down before Christmas. Employers had offered a 1.7% pay increase adjusted according to the level of pay. This was an improvement on their original offer of 1% plus a 0.5% lump sum but below the trade unions' target of a 2.3% increase to compensate for inflation. The unions' case was given massive support on 18 December when 40000 public sector workers from all over Austria joined a demonstration in Vienna in support of higher pay. [Read more at > GdG-KMSfB (DE)->http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01B
Unions calls for pay rise for municipal workers
Public services union Unison, representing 600000 workers in local government, has written to the Chancellor (Finance Minister) making the case for a pay rise for municipal workers who have seen their pay fall in real terms by 18% over the past four years. In the letter, the union points out that around 200000 council employees earn between £6.45 and £6.90 pence an hour (€7.75-€8.30) while 510,000 earn less than the "Living Wage" of £7.65 (€9.20) an hour. The local government unions - Unison, GMB and Unite - have submitted a pay claim for an increase of at least a £1.00 (€1.20) an hour for all
Unions take action over jobs and services
Unions representing municipal workers in Lisbon - STAL and STML - organised strike action over the Christmas period in protest at the city council's plans to decentralise services to parish councils. The unions are concerned about the impact on jobs and pay and conditions but also argued that the decentralization will undermine the provision and quality of services and, because of the limited resources available to the smaller, local councils will open the door to outsourcing and privatization. The strike involved all categories of workers on 26th while cleaning staff took action over four
Federations call on government to negotiate
The four public sector union federations - Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp, Uil-Fpl and Uil-Pa - have called on the government to open negotiations over new collective agreements in the public sector. Collective bargaining has effectively been frozen since 2009 and employment has fallen by 5.7%. The unions argue that it is time to negotiate and not just about pay and conditions but also about important issues such as work organisation, restructuring, skills and career development and reducing precarious employment. The unions underline that they are prepared to discuss how to eliminate wasteful expenditure
Federations challenge government in high court
The three public sector federations in the CCOO confederation (citizens' services, health and education) have submitted a case to the Audiencia Nacional high court in protest at the government's failure to negotiate pay increases for workers in the public sector. The right to negotiate is written into the basic statute for public sector workers and the government effectively ignored this last autumn when it said it would not negotiate over pay increases, having already made such a statement to the press. Meanwhile the FSP-UGT federation has also lodged a case against the Ministry of Health for
Union prepares claim for disabled care sector
Over 1600 workers in the disabled care sector responded to a questionnaire by the FNV Abvakabo trade union which is using the survey responses to help prepare for negotiations over the sector agreement that expires on 1 March this year. Over 75% of respondents thought that quality of care had been reduced as job cuts have led to increased workloads. The survey indicates that most respondents want Abvakabo to focus on maintaining jobs, regulating flexible contracts and protecting purchasing power which will mean a target of a 3% pay increase. [Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)->http://www
Report reveals continuing pay gap
The Vision white-collar trade union has updated figures to show the continuing large pay gaps in certain professions. For the third year running the union has compared pay rates for economists, human resources specialists and IT technicians in male-dominated and female-dominated sectors. Vision says that these pay gaps are not only large but getting larger. In one specific comparison for two identical workers both aged 41, an economist in a female-dominated sector is SEK 17080 (€1900) per month in salary, compared to civilian economist in a male-dominated sector . That's 204,950 per year
Unions continue mobilisations in Grenoble
Unions representing members in a range of public sector organisations in the Isère region organised strike action and a demonstration on 10 January. The mobilisation was part of the unions' (CGT, CFDT, UNSA) campaign to defend jobs and employment conditions but also to protest over the violent response of the police to an earlier demonstration in Grenoble on 12 December. Read more at > local news website (FR) And at > CGT (FR)
Union website on public sector jobs
The ver.di services union has set up a new website to provide a range of information about working in the public sector. With over 4.5 million employees the public sector is the biggest employer in Germany and, as the ver.di website explains can provide a very broad range of job and training opportunities along with good employment conditions and career prospects. The website is aimed at young workers and includes information about ver.di itsefl. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://www.verdi.de/themen/nachrichten/++co++a67b3ca4-77aa-11e3-b774-52540059119e] [And at > public sector employment
Commission publishes recommendation on traineeships
In December the European Commission published a proposal for a Council Recommendation on a Quality Framework for Traineeships. The aim is to enable trainees to acquire high-quality work experience under safe and fair conditions, and to increase their chances of finding a good quality job. The Commission says that currently one in three traineeships is substandard with regard to working conditions or learning content. In March last year, EPSU and the other social partners agreed a joint statement on the Commission's consultation on a quality framework. [Read more at > European Commission (EN/FR
New analysis undermines flexicurity claims
The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revised the way it assesses employment protection arrangements in different countries and the outcome undermines earlier claims by the European Commission that Denmark was a shining example of "flexicurity". The new evaluation by the OECD takes account of collective agreements and case law and shows that Denmark has higher levels of employment protection than previously thought. Ronald Janssen explains the changes in an article on the Social Europe Journal website. [Read more at > Social Europe (EN)->http://www.social-europe
Union disappointment over posted workers compromise
In December European Ministers of Labour reached a last-minute agreement on the Enforcement Directive, legislation aimed at improving protection afforded to posted workers. For the EFBWW building workers' federation "The final outcome is a desperate agreement reached in order to demonstrate at the upcoming EP elections that there is still a “social Europe”. Both the EFBWW and ETUC said that the proposals fail to ensure clarity in two key areas - the measures that national governments are allowed to take and the responsibility of main contractors for sub-contractors. [Read more at > EFBWW->http
Pensions dispute at energy company resolved
Unions at the ESB electricity company called off planned strike action before Christmas after negotiations secured an agreement over treatment of the pension scheme. The unions were pleased that the company will continue to treat the pension scheme as defined benefit rather than defined contribution and also that there will be a commitment to tackle any future pension deficits in the same way as they have been dealt with in the past. Read more at > RTE news website (EN)
Firefighters protest over changes to statutes
Firefighters organised by all three public sector federations (ACOD-CGSP, SLFP-VSOA and ACV-CSC) organised a demonstration in Brussels on 13 December in protest at plans to change the statutes regulating their employment conditions. The unions are particularly angry about the lack of proper negotiations as well as transparency and information about the proposed changes. Read more at > Le Soir newspaper (FR) And at > CGSP/ACOD/SIAMU (FR, NL)
Collective bargaining news from the ETUI
The latest issue of the ETUI's collective bargaining newsletter includes several articles on developments in the public services. These include: agreement on new minimum wage for childcare workers in Austria; protests in Cyprus over cuts to public sector shift allowances; pension fund agreement at the ESB power company in Ireland; action by pharmacy workers in Malta; waste workers strike in Portugal and wage freeze in Serbia. Read more at > ETUI Collective Bargaining (EN)
Wage devaluation fails to boost exports - IMF
Using the IMF's own data, our colleague Ronald Janssen of the ETUC has written an excellent analysis, posted today on the Social Europe web site, showing that the wage devaluation policies the Fund has promoted in the eurozone have not resulted in increased exports from the crisis countries to states such as Germany. However they did succeed in slowing down the eurozone's overall recovery. Jointly with its troika partners (European Commission and ECB), the IMF has applied the failed competitive wage devaluation strategy through loan conditionality or policy advice in countries such as Spain
Campaigners want action on in-work poverty
The European Anti-Poverty Network has published a report calling for measures to tackle the growing problem of in-work poverty. An estimated 15 million working people across Europe are classified as poor a figure that has increased during the crisis. The EAPN report includes a wide range of recommendations for action including statutory minimum wages set at a "living wage" level and measures to support trade union membership and collective bargaining. [Read more at > EAPN (EN)->http://www.eapn.eu/en/news-and-publications/publications/eapn-position-papers-and-reports/working-and-poor-eapn-s
Packed conference debates key collective bargaining issues
Over 110 trade unionists from 28 countries across the EU and the rest of Europe took part in collective bargaining and social dialogue conference organised by EPSU in Brussels on 16-17 December. The conference was partly financed by the European Commission and provided EPSU affiliates with a chance to discuss the impact of economic governance on collective bargaining. Other key issues tackled during the two days included pay in the public sector and comparisons with the private sector, working conditions in central government, the gender pay gap in the pubic services, youth employment and