02-2007 epsucob@NEWS 23 January 2007
Report notes significant increases in minimum wages
A new round-up of developments in legal minimum wages by the trade union-backed Hans Boeckler research institute notes some significant increases in Latvia (47.8%), Estonia (34.3%) and Slovakia (32%). The study also points out that in west European countries the minimum wage average around €8 an hour, with Ireland, the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg all registering rates of more than €8 an hour. The target of the DGB union federation is for a minimum wage of €7.50 an hour which would put it just below the levels in Belgium (€7.93) and the UK (€7.96). [Read more at > Hans Boeckler (DE)-
Majority back national civil service strike
Members of the PCS civil service union are backing a national strike over pay and job cuts. The first day of strike action will be 31 January and this will be followed by a two-week ban on overtime working. The strike will affect over 200 government departments but in particular will affect the Revenue and Customs section on the deadline day for tax returns. The main cause of the dispute has been government determination to push through thousands of job cuts across the civil service as it implements the “Gershon” efficiency plan. [Read more at > PCS (EN)->http://www.pcs.org.uk/Templates
Unions plan day of action over pay and public services
Five of the public service federations have come together to call a day of action with strikes and demonstrations on 8 February. The day of action will the latest stage in a long-running campaign by the unions to try to establish proper negotiations covering the French public sector. Unions were angered by the implications of a statement by the public service minister that linked cuts in public service jobs to higher salaries. The unions want to see a minimum 1.7% increase in 2007 (forecast inflation) and further increases to compensate for the failure to match the rise in prices since 2000.
National demonstration over jobs, recruitment and organisation
Unions in the Belgian federal finance ministry have come together to co-ordinate a national demonstration in Brussels on 23 January. They are protesting about a range of issues related to jobs, recruitment and organisation in the department. The unions point out that current policies mean that only three workers are recruited for every five that leave the service. This means that staff are already under pressure and that this situation will deteriorate from January 2009 when recruitment will be cut to only one new worker for every two that leave. The unions have compiled a detailed dossier of
Pressure mounts for action on equal pay
The SGB/USS trade union federation is putting pressure on the Swiss parliament to push through new measures to tackle the gender pay gap. The parliament will be debating a range of equality-related proposals on 8 March and unions have been pointing out the problems and loopholes with existing legislation. The unions have been compiling new data about the persistence and extent of the gender pay gap across different sectors. Even in the federal and cantonal health services, where women make up over 80% of workers, women earn less than men even taking account of age, length of service and
Five-year agreement on minimum wage
The industrial relations observatory EIRO reports that the social partners in Portugal have agreed on significant increases to the national minimum wage over the next five years. This is the first time tripartite talks have produced this kind of agreement and the 4.4% increase to the minimum wage for 2007 will be the highest in real terms since 1992. Inflation for 2007 is forecast at 2.1%. Over the five-year period 2007-2011 the agreement provides for increases averaging 5.3% a year. Read more at > EIRO (EN)
Estonian health care workers strike postponed
A strike planned for 22 January has been postponed while further conciliation talks take place. One of our epsucob@ contacts in Estonia, Iia Täks, provided this report on the dispute over pay. The main purpose of the strike is to achieve fulfillment of the effective pay agreement and pay demands of health workers' unions and conclude a new pay agreement for 2007 and 2008. The previous agreement, signed in 2004, expired on 31 December 2006. In early January, in a bid to avert a looming strike, the employers from Estonian Hospitals' Association offered to raise minimum hourly salaries to 90
Report stresses need to maintain high minimum wages
A new report from the LO trade union confederation underlines the importance of maintaining high levels of minimum wages across the economy and preventing the gap between the high and lower paid from increasing. The report rejects the argument that low pay is primarily a temporary phenomenon affecting young people and argues that low pay of any kind has an impact on other wage earners. It also points out that many older workers still experience low pay and that it tends to affect families with poverty and low pay likely to be passed on across the generations. LO argues that measures are needed
Unions prevent major increase in temporary agency work
The three trade union federations - CCOO, UGT and CSIF - representing 90% of workers in the state statistics office have blocked an attempt by the agency to take on 450 temporary agency workers to carry out survey work. The unions argued that not only was this in contravention of last year's agreement covering the general state administration but also ran counter to the government's intention to reduce the level of temporary working in the public sector. Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)
Forum and national demonstration are next stage in campaign
The federation of public service unions is determined to continue its campaign to defend workers' pay and rights in public administration and to resist further moves towards privatisation. The federation has organised a forum on 22 February to debate how to take the campaign forward and is supporting a national demonstration with private sector trade unions on 2 March called by the CGTP trade union federation. Read more at > FNSFP (PT)
Government confirms finance for pay increases and future deadline for implementing increases
Public sector unions have welcomed decisions by the Italian government that will ensure that money is available for pay rises in 2007 and that in future there will be a clear time limit for the government to pay salary increases once new rates are agreed. Pay rises are negotiated every two years and the last agreement expired on 31 December 2005. Unions have since been trying to negotiate increases for the 2006-2007 period and threatened strike action towards the end of last year when the government initially failed to commit adequate funds to the 2007 budget to cover pay increases. As in the