Work-life balance, Economic Policy, Central government

Members of the FNV trade union are currently voting on whether to accept a new collective agreement covering central government. The deal includes a €1200 one-off payment for full-time employees to compensate for inflation paid in May this year even before the current agreement expires. On 1 July there will be an 8.5% pay increase plus €50 and an increase in the individual choice budget by 0.13% to 16.50% of the salary. A one-off payment of €800 will follow in November 2024 and a further payment of €350 on 1 July 2025. The one-off payments add up to €2350 (pro rata for part timers). The

The FSC-CCOO and UGT-SP public service federations are to declare a collective dispute with the Tax Agency which will coincide with the start of the Agency’s campaign on filing income tax returns. The dispute will raise a number of issues related to professional career development, internal promotion, strengthening the mobility agreement, telework and negotiating a new collective agreement. The unions are also concerned about plans to increase the telephone service without specifying salaries or the need to increase recruitment. They will also raise concerns around productivity and about safe

The Council of Ministers in Bulgaria has agreed to allocate BGN 180 million (€92 million) for a salary increase benefiting 53,000 state administration employees. This increase, averaging BGN 283 (€145) retroactively from 1 January, aims to address disparities in salaries within the public sector. A decree approved by the Council of Ministers outlines the allocation of a total of BGN 268 million (€137 million) in the budget for this purpose. The KNSB and Podkrepa federations actively participated in negotiations over the past three months to develop the methodology and distribution of these

Members of public sector unions have voted by a large majority to accept the pay agreement negotiated earlier this year. The agreement runs from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026 and provides for pay improvements worth 9.25% but because of flat-rate elements this rises to 17.3% for lower paid workers. This agreement also provides specific provisions for local bargaining, which will give trade unions the scope to negotiate up to an additional 3% of pay costs, inclusive of allowances, for particular grades, groups or categories of employee. The agreement also sees the full and final unwinding of

The FSC-CCOO federation organised protest rallies on 20 and 21 March in its continuing dispute with the Ministry of Justice, marking almost a year since the union began a series of strike actions. The federation is seeking a salary increase for all staff in general and special bodies, negotiations on the Efficiency Law which has implications for workers’ pay and conditions, proper recognition of functions and career development. The FSC-CCOO says that the Ministry broke off negotiations on 7 March saying it would not negotiate a salary increase for all workers. The federation is also angry

Following the article on Iceland, the latest in the series of articles on working time commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department focuses on developments in the other Nordic countries. While several unions in Sweden have put shorter working time on the bargaining agenda (see also article on Sweden in this newsletter), there are only a few cases in social care where a shorter working week has been implemented. In Norway and Denmark the priority has been more to ensure that workers in health and care and other services have the right to full-time working although there are some