14 epsucob@NEWS July 2009
Public service union backs national demonstration over crisis
The SSP/VPÖD public service union is supporting the call for a national demonstration in Berne on 19 September. The protest has been called by the SGB union confederation in response to a range of measures adopted by the government in response to the crisis. The unions argue that higher health costs, lower pensions, less money for the unemployed and weakening of redundancy rights mean that workers are paying for the crisis. The SSP/ VPÖD acknowledges that private sector workers have so far faced the main effects of the recession but the union is well aware of what is at stake for public sector
Union wins equal pay battle with local council
Public services union UNISON has won an equal pay tribunal case against Bury council in the North West of England. Around 1,200 low paid women workers – cleaners, cooks and support staff – are set benefit from new pay arrangements that will mean they can earn the same kind of bonus payments, worth 33.3% or 50% of hourly pay, as are paid in male dominated jobs like labouring, gardening and refuse collection. Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Confederation calls for co-ordinated approach to minimum wages
The SAK blue-collar trade union confederation is aiming to secure a minimum wage of €1,500 for all full-time workers covered by the agreements negotiated by its affiliates. There is no statutory minimum wage in Finland with minimum wages set in different sectoral collective agreements. A €1,500 minimum wage would mean some substantial increases for some groups of workers. Read more at > Trade union news (EN)
Union says it won't negotiate new national agreement
Public service union IMPACT has warned its members that it won’t be possible to negotiate a new national agreement because of the government’s refusal to agree to three key requirements. The union has demanded guarantees that there will be no further reductions in public service pay or in the value of public service pensions, nor taxation of the pensions lump sum. It also called for an agreed protocol on public service employment issues. The union’s executive was due to meet on 24 July to plan a campaign of action to resist any further attempts by the government to attack pay and conditions.
Union organises strike against church employers
The ver.di services union is planning for a further stage of strike action against church employers in September. Around 250 ver.di members in several different church institutions in three different regions took strike action back in May. The union says that church bodies that provide health and social care are trying to use their special constitutional status to pay employees below the sector pay norm. In a specific cases five old people’s homes in Hannover have been sold to a religious foundation that has cut pay to run the homes at a higher profit. So far the religious authorities have
Two-year deal for mental health workers
Abvakabo, CNV Publieke Zaak and NU’91 have negotiated a new 24-month collective agreement in a difficult bargaining environment, with the government talking about cuts to the health budget. There will be a 1% pay increase on 1 October 2009 and another 1% on 1 August 2010. The year end bonus payment will be worth 5.25% of salary in 2009 and 5.75% of salary in 2010 while there will also be a 0.65% lump sum payment. New flexible working hours arrangements will be introduced along with improved work-life balance provisions that will allow employees to use or save an extra 35 hours of leave. The
Union welcomes jobs initiative but lays down conditions
The GDG public service union has welcome an initiative from the Austrian employment service to subsidise jobs in local government in response to rising unemployment but said that many questions need to be resolved first. The union stressed that the scheme should be voluntary and should not be used as a way of undermining pay in the sector. Above all the union said that it should be involved in negotiations over the scheme. Read more at > GDG (DE)
Union rejects any calls for pay cuts among care workers
The Kommunal union has warned that the crisis has already spread from the private sector to the public sector as care workers have been losing their jobs. A survey carried out by the union suggests 7,500 care jobs have already been cut and the SKL local and regional government employers’ organisation predicts 15,000 jobs cuts this year and next. The union points out that those losing their jobs are invariably women on part-time and precarious contracts and that employers are finding it easy to cut jobs, particularly among fixed-term and agency workers. The union wants to see increased funding
ETUC calls for working time enforcement
The ETUC executive committee has called on the European Commission to fully enforce the Working Time directive and take action against countries that are failing to implement it. The Commission has been holding back from enforcement procedures while the process of revising the directive was underway. Although discussions over the directive may resume the ETUC has reaffirmed its call for an end to the individual opt-out and for on-call time at work to count towards working time. Read more at > ETUC (EN) Et en français > CES
Public service unions criticise prison service
The FSP-UGT public service federation has called for an urgent meeting to be convened before the end of July with the head of the prison service to review the state of negotiations in the sector. The union is particularly concerned about provision for training in the prison service. It has called for a proper training plan and setting up a training centre but is now concerned that funds for these will not be available and that there is no proper training plan. Meanwhile the FSC-CCOO federation organised a series of demonstrations on 9 July in protest at the way the prison service is being run
Negotiations to resume over pay and health of social and childcare workers
Ver.di and the local employers’ association VKA will resume negotiations on 16 July to see if they can resolve the dispute involving workers involved in social and childcare. The union has been arguing for a re-grading of the 200,000 workers to acknowledge their increased workloads and responsibilities. It also wants a specific agreement to deal with health issues facing workers. Negotiations broke down last month ver.di rejected what it saw as a wholly inadequate re-grading proposal. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=cba060c0-6a05-11de-69da
Tax workers take action over delayed payments and jobs
Around 1,000 employees of the tax service joined a demonstration on 14 July outside the finance ministry offices in Rome. They were protesting over a delay in paying workers productivity payments and against threatened cuts in the service. They were also calling for measures to increase the recruitment and retention of tax workers. The three main public service federations were involved – CGIL, CSIL and UIL, along with the autonomous unions SALFI and FLP. Read more at > FP CGIL (IT)
70,000 tax staff begin overtime ban
The PCS civil service union has organised an overtime ban in tax offices in protest at the increase in overtime that is being used to maintain services after 19,000 jobs have been cut from the department. The union argues that the department should be hiring staff not relying on overtime and temporary workers particularly in a recession when it is vital to try to collect the estimated €30 billion in uncollected tax. A further 6,000 jobs are due to go by 2011. Read more at > PCS (EN)
Union calls for negotiation over underpaid wages
The GPA-DJP trade union has called on the Red Cross to negotiate over how to pay money owed to around 200 workers. For many years the Red Cross’s blood donation service has made errors in it wage calculations, failing to pay the correct overtime payments and other allowances. It is estimated that the 200 workers are owed around €2 million. The union says that the Red Cross is trying to resolve the issue through individual discussions with workers, giving them a tight deadline to accept offers of payment below what they are really entitled to. [Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)->http://www.gpa-djp.at