Waste, Italy, Austria

Fp Cgil and other unions in the waste and environmental sector have negotiated a three-year agreement covering the period 2022-24 which will bring together the previously separate public and private sectors and cover around 100,000 workers. Workers will see an average monthly pay increase of around €121 which the unions argue will keep wages in line with inflation. The unions particularly underline the importance of achieving a single agreement for the sector. The new agreement will also include increases in various allowances, benefits and productivity payments. There are provisions to

Following their massively supported national strike on 8 November, union federations in the waste sector are taking another day of action on 13 December. The unions have been calling for the renewal of the sector agreement which expired 29 months ago and to ensure it covers the whole of the sector. Employers are, however, are looking to undermine collective bargaining and trade union rights. They haven’t made any offer to increase pay or to compensate workers for the period since the expiry of the last agreement. Unions are calling for investment in the sector and the sectors’ workers and will

The Fp-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, Uiltrasporti and Fiadel trade union federations report very high levels of support for the national strike action in the waste sector on 8 November. They estimate overall that 90% of workers joined the strike with 100% coverage in some areas. The trade unions are determined to retain and renew the sector agreement and to incorporate a range of improvements. They want to ensure the agreement covers the whole sector including recycling plants and they are calling for action on safety, training, job classification and to ensure real increases in pay and other benefits.

The federations that organise workers in waste and environmental services – Fp-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, Uiltrasporti and Fiadel – have called for a national strike on 8 November. The unions are mobilising hard to maximise turnout and ensure the key messages of the dispute are fully understood. They are facing up to employers who are pushing to unilaterally worsen employment conditions for all workers with a view to cut labour costs and eliminate the unions. The unions are determined to resist precarious working conditions and calls to decentralise bargaining and so fragment the main sector agreement. A

The four main unions in the waste sector - Fp Cgil, Fit Cisl, Uiltrasporti and Fiadel – will be consulting with their activists on 16 September in the lead up to the next sector negotiations due on 20 September. The unions will discuss mobilisation across the sector if the employers fail to respond to the unions’ key demands for the renewal of the collective agreement that expired 26 months ago. The unions are looking for a number of key improvements including extension of the sector agreement to cover recycling plants, strengthening of the industrial relations system, better health and safety

Trade unions in the electricity and waste sectors reported very high levels of support for their industrial action and protests on 30 June. The unions want article 177 of the procurement code to be deleted as they argue that it requires widespread outsourcing across their sectors, posing a major threat to jobs and working conditions. They say that if the article is not deleted there will be increasing fragmentation of these industries and it will undermine initiatives towards a circular economy and low carbon energy sector. Meanwhile, the three main confederations have also been mobilising to

Following raids by the Federal Competition Authority on waste companies the vida services union has renewed calls for a collective agreement for the sector and stricter procurement criteria. The union says that discussions about a collective agreement have been going on for more than 10 years and that it is time for those responsible to finally take the final step. However, the union argues that there is also an urgent need for binding criteria for the award of contracts based on the best bidder principle rather than lowest price. This would mean specifying issues such as the sustainability of

The tragic death of 54-year-old Michele Lorusso, an employee of a private waste contractor near Bari in southern Italy, has prompted calls for urgent action on safety in the sector. The incident happened when Michele was on his own and attempting to fix a waste truck that had broken down. The FP-CGIL trade union says that this is just the latest in a long line of incidents with the sector registering a rise in accidents and occupational diseases in recent years. The union wants to see health and safety in the industry now given the highest priority.

The FP-CGIL public service union has raised serious concerns about the introduction of Amazon-style electronic bracelets for waste collection workers by a private company in Livorno. The bracelets communicate with waste containers to check they are empty. Union says that this degree of surveillance is excessive considering that there are already supervisors who monitor the work along with GPS systems in trucks. FP-CGIL says that employers should be concentrating more on dealing with the serious health and safety issues in the sector.

(July 2016) Workers in the waste sector, will take two days of strike action on 11-12 July in their continuing campaign over pay and conditions and health and safety. The unions, FP-CGIL, Fit Cisl, UilTrasporti and Fiadel, have already organised industrial action on 30 May and 15 June calling for a new collective agreement. The previous agreement expired at the end of 2013. The unions also want action to improve health and safety for the 100000 workers employed in both public and private waste sectors. Read more at FP-CGIL (IT).

(May 2016) The four main unions that organise in the public and private sector waste industry are planning to strike on 30 May. There are many elements to the unions' protest including the need to defend a sector agreement in the industry, to stop cuts in pay and jobs, to ensure public procurement is used to deliver quality services and to improve health and safety. Around 100000 workers are employed in the industry and the unions involved are FP-CGIL, Fit-Cisl, Uiltrasporti and Fiadel. Read more at FP-CGIL (IT)