2015 February epsucob@NEWS 02

A report by the UGT confederation reveals that the gender pay gap in public administrations is, for the first time, higher than the national average. The UGT report compares salaries between women and men over a life-course of a woman. The gap has reached 24% for those doing the same work or work of equal value. That means that a woman has to work 79 days more a year than her male colleague (nearly 25% more). A woman has to work 46 years in her working life in order to get the same salary, pension and unemployment benefits than her male colleague working 35 years. For first time the pay gap in

The three public sector federations, Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp and Uil-Fpl, met on 25 February to discuss how to respond to government plans for reforms to the provincial administration. The unions are very concerned about the lack of clarity, content and timing of any changes and the impact that these will have on workers. The unions are looking for a commitment to consult with unions and for guarantees on workers' conditions and quality of services to citizens. The three unions are planning a series of actions and mobilisations throughout March, culminating with a national demonstration on 31 March.

Ver.di the union for social care workers is calling for higher pay for eldercare workers in recognition of the value and arduous nature of the work they do. Figures show that eldercare workers earn up to 30% less than their colleagues in healthcare and there is a major pay gap between East, West, North and South. An eldercare worker in Magdeburg €1000 less than a similar worker in Stuttgart while pay is as much as €500 lower in Lower Saxony than in North-Rhine Westfalia. That's why ver.di is calling on the federal government to use reforms to the sector to facilitate better pay and ensure that

The collective bargaining committee of health union ver.di at 33 clinics and hospitals owned by the Fresenisu-Helios company is calling for a 6.5% wage increase in the negotiations that got underway at the end of January. The negotiations cover 23000 in 33 facilities. Other parts of the Fresenius group are covered by different agreements while around 10000 workers in various subsidiaries and service companies are not covered by a collective agreement. Ver.di is also looking for extra time off to relieve the pressure on shift workers as well as better pay and conditions for trainees. [Read more

A meeting of trade unions, employers and governments at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 25 February agreed a statement re-affirming the right to strike. This ends two years of controversy after employer organisations had brought the ILO’s supervisory mechanism to a standstill by challenging the existence of an international right to strike and the authority of the ILO. PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli, said that while the recognition of an international right to strike is essential, attacks on the right to strike at national level are widespread. Therefore PSI will continue

The European Commission's statistics agency Eurostat has just released the latest figures for minimum wage rates for the 22 countries in the EU, now including Germany, that have national minimum wages. The report includes a comparison with figures from 2008, and reveals that Greece was the only country to see a fall (-14%) while in Ireland the rate remained unchanged. The highest increases between 2008 and 2015 were registered in Romania (+95%), Bulgaria (+64%), Slovakia (+58%) and Latvia (+57%). The report also includes figures for minimum wages related to median wages although the data on

Minimum wages in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan play a very important role in wage setting and EPSU affiliates in these countries are active in their union movements in campaigning for higher rates. They have also been involved in debates around the basked of goods and services on which living wage calculations are based. One of the main successes for unions has been to ensure that minimum wages are increased on a regular basis. In some countries workers had to wait as long as five or even nine years to see an increase in the rate. Information on recent developments is provided

The ver.di services union has broken new ground by signing an agreement on pay and holidays covering trainees working in eldercare in the voluntary welfare sector in the Lower Saxony region. This is the first agreement of its kind and the union is aiming for it to be declared generally binding so that it covers all workers in the sector in the region. The agreement provides for a trainee salary of €975 in the first year, rising to €1138 in the third year with 29 days' paid leave. The employers regard this as important step in improving the pay and conditions of trainees and encouraging

Members of the SIPTU and IMPACT trade unions joined a protest outside the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government on 18 February in opposition to the Department’s drive to privatise community social inclusion programmes. They were also protesting over the refusal of the Department to accept a Labour Court recommendation to negotiate with community workers and their union representatives concerning changes to their conditions of employment and threatened job losses. [Read more at > SIPTU->http://www.siptu.ie/media/pressreleases2015/fullstory_18858_en.html] [And at > IMPACT-

Municipal employees are set to get a 5.42% wage increase over the next three years. The FOA public services union sees this as a good deal after the previous two collective agreements that were negotiated under pressure from the economic crisis. The new deal also includes a commitment to negotiate on training, particularly for unskilled workers, and provides more paternity leave. There will also be initiatives to tackle psychosocial risks at the workplace. Meanwhile for the state sector pay will rise by around 6.5% over three years. [Read more at > FOA (DK)->http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse

The ETUC has welcomed a European Court judgement that says that workers should be paid according to the relevant arrangements in the host country. In this case it means that 186 electrical workers posted from Poland to Finland were entitled to be paid the appropriate rate set by the sector collective agreement. [Read more at > ETUC (EN+FR)->http://www.etuc.org/presse/arr%C3%AAt-de-la-cour-de-justice-europ%C3%A9enne-en-faveur-de-l%E2%80%99%C3%A9galit%C3%A9-salariale-pour-les-travailleurs#.VO7S0zGA3cu] [And at > EU legal website (EU languages)->http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/;ELX

A threat of legal action and major demonstration by the YOL-İŞ construction union seems to have generated a reaction from the government. The union planned to mount a legal challenge against the Ministries of Transport and Finance over their failure to abide by a Supreme Court ruling dating from 2011. The Court said that 8761 union members had the right to be directly employed by the General Directorate of Turkish Highways from the first day of their employment rather than via a subcontractor. In advance of the union's demonstration planned for 5 February the government initiated talks and the

Following negotiations with the new government public service unions have negotiated increased salaries and wages for all public service employees. Wage rates increased for all employees either by 3.5% from November 2014 or by 5% from 1 January 2015. Unions report this as a successful outcome to their bargaining and plan to negotiate to rectify the cuts imposed by the previous government, which had a negative impact not just on staff but on citizens dependent on public services.