16 epsucob@NEWS 14 August 2006

Employers and unions in the National Health Service (NHS) have agreed proposals for changes to the NHS pension scheme that are being put out to consultation to health workers. The proposals retain a final salary format for the scheme. Current staff will still be able to retire on a full pension from 60 (or reduced pension from 50) while new starters will only get a full pension from 65. Contribution rates will increase for all but the lowest paid. [Read more at > UNISON (EN)->http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=851] [And at > NHS Employers (EN)->http://www

Over the next two weeks three Turkish union federations will be negotiating with various ministerial representatives in the Public Employers Board over the pay and conditions of 1.5 million government workers. Improving minimum rates and higher pay increases for the lowest paid workers are among the key demands of the three federations. All three will be organising various events and demonstrations in support of their claims. If a deal can't be reached within two weeks then a conciliation board made up of academics is brought in to find a way to conclude the negotiations. Federations are

The annual survey of negotiated working time by the EIRO industrial relations observatory reveals few changes in working time across the European Union. Perhaps surprisingly it makes no reference to developments in Germany where ver.di has managed to resist employer attempts to impose longer working hours on all public sector workers. In fact, the survey notes a 0.1-hour increase for Germany as a whole as a result of increases in Eastern Germany. The only other change at country level was a small decrease in negotiated hours in Portugal. The survey monitors hours in six sectors and finds that

The latest half-yearly report on wage increases around Europe from the WSI trade union research institute shows that Germany is still recording the lowest increases in the European Union. The WSI warns that this could lead to pressure in other countries to hold back pay increases as Germany continues to benefit from rising exports. The institute also points out that modest wage increases are doing nothing to tackle the low levels of domestic demand in the Germany economy. Negotiated wage increases in Germany at 0.8% a year are well below the 2.8% average for the European Union as a whole.

Members of IMPACT, the main public services union, have voted four-to-one in favour of the latest national pay and conditions agreement, “Towards 2016”. The agreement provides for a 10% pay increase over 27 months (10.5% for those earning less than €10.25 an hour) but also includes a number of important changes to strengthen employment rights including higher fines for employers and a trebling of the number of labour inspectors. The agreement has further proposals for public service modernisation but maintains restrictions on the circumstances in which public sector employers can outsource

The autumn will see the German parliament debate a range of labour market measures including a possible proposal on a legal minimum wage. The minimum wage campaign being run by the ver.di services union and NGG hotel and catering union is monitoring MPs' views on the issue. All MPs have been sent a questionnaire and 40% have replied so far. It is now possible to see if individual MPs are for or against a minimum wage or still undecided. The website will be regularly updated as more MPs reply to the survey. [Read more at > minimum wage website (DE)->https://www.mindestlohn.de/initiative/mdb

The GPA private sector employees' union is carrying out a survey of workers in the health and social services sector to find out the extent to which they are physically and mentally burnt out by their work. The union believes that the exhaustion characteristic of “burn-out” syndrome is common among workers whose jobs mainly involve dealing with other people. There are around 300,000 employees in the sector and the union hopes that the online survey results will help it formulate demands for future collective bargaining and give members and works council members ideas for improving their