2014 April epsucob@NEWS 08

Members of public service union UNISON at the Gwalia care group in Wales have voted for strike action on 6 May in protest at the company's plans to cut pay and conditions. This follows other action around the UK, including Doncaster in South Yorkshire and Rochdale in Lancashire where private care companies have attacked workers' pay and conditions. Gwalia provides elder care services in Port Talbot Neath in South Wales and originally proposed to cut pay by 16% along with cuts in staffing and reductions to additional pay for evening and weekend working. [Read more at > UNISON->http://www.unison

The latest issue of the ETUI's health and safety magazine, HesaMag, focuses on working conditions in the waste and recycling industries in Europe. Although many jobs are likely to be created in the sector, this report suggests that they will not be inherently "sustainable jobs"? From collection to recycling, waste workers face many risks. There are actually more work accidents than in construction. Musculoskeletal disorders take a heavy toll as modernisation of sorting facilities generally speeds up work paces, leaving workers exposed to noise, extreme temperatures, dust and toxic products

The four main public sector federations - Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp, Uil-Fpl and Uil-pa - have called on the government to set out clearly the resources available to fund a pay increase for public sector workers. The unions argue that this is all the more important if the government is serious about achieving reforms in public administration and improving public sector efficiency. Workers cannot be expected to deliver on these reforms after several years of blocked negotiations resulting in a significant fall in purchasing power. [Read more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages

The Vision trade union is underlining the link between good working conditions and quality of care in a new report on social workers. The report notes the heavy workload and high risk of psychosocial stress faced by many social workers. Vision argues that many social workers work long hours and reduce or cut their breaks to try to cope with too much case work. It says that urgent action is needed now to tackle excessive workloads and improve working conditions for social workers. [Read more at > Vision (SV)->https://vision.se/Opinion/Pressmeddelanden/2014/Vision-Sa-kan-kvaliteten-i

Speaking at a health ministry hearing on proposals for reforming the care sector, ver.di executive board member Sylvia Bühler has called for immediate action to train the additional 10000 care workers a year that are needed to cope with the forecast growth in demand over the next 15 years. Ver.di sees this investment in training as essential now to ensure a sustainable care sector in the longer term. The union argues that at the moment where care providers do invest in training, costs are passed on to care recipients and this means that these care providers face being undercut by those who cut

With over a year gone since the collective agreement covering municipal workers expired, the FNV Abvakabo public services union is planning a series of actions leading up to a national strike on 18 June. Demonstrations are planned for 1 and 19 May as well as 2 June. The union is looking for a 2.5% pay rise for 2013 and 3% for 2014 and argues that increasing pay for the 175000 workers in the sector will provide an important boost to the economy. [Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/over-ons/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/2014/04/gemeentemedewerkers-voeren-actie-voor-echte-banen

The FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak public services unions have called a demonstration of firefighters on 1 May in Eindhoven over cuts to the service. Since a reorganisation of the service from local authorities to 25 regions, firefighters are increasingly concerned about the level of cuts to jobs, fire stations and equipment. The majority of firefighters believe there has been an increase in risks to the public as a result of the cuts and recent statistics confirm this. The union has opened an online reporting service so that firefighters can report incidents. [Read more at > FNV Abvakabo

The vpod/ssp public services union is calling for a "yes" vote in the referendum on introducing a statutory minimum wage. The vote takes place on 18 May and the vpod/ssp believes that the introduction of a minimum wage will be a positive step towards reducing the gender pay gap. It also sees it as important to protect pay in parts of the private sector where there is less coverage of collective agreements, including former public services that have been privatised. [Read more at > vpod/ssp (DE)->http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/mindestlohn-hilft-gegen-lohnungleichheit

The FBU firefighters' union has announced that it will be taking strike action on 2nd, 3rd and 4th May in protest at the government's failure to come up with any new proposals on pensions after four months of negotiations. The FBU will also be calling for an overtime ban as part of an additional campaign of action short of a strike. The union is very concerned about government plans to change pension and retirement rules that could lead to firefighters working longer or losing their jobs if they can't meet competency requirements. [Read more at > FBU->http://www.fbu.org.uk/?p=10034] [And

The Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) has welcomed positive statements from the government about setting up a labour inspectorate but warns it will pull out of talks if the proposed agency is not given any real enforcement powers. Meanwhile, the GTUC has been critical of the new labour code's provisions on working time. The labour code sets a 40-hour working week but a 48-hour week for "special regimes". The problem is that the government has listed the sectors that may be covered by this category and the GTUC argues that this opens up virtually the whole of the economy to having a 48