Austria
Unions have broken off negotiations in the energy sector following unsatisfactory pay offers from the employers. The employers had wanted to follow developments in the public sector which would have involved a pay increase of 2.65% plus €11.10 a month. A revised offer from the employers was hardly any different and would have meant pay increases of between 2.9% and 3.25% at a time when inflation is at 3.3%.
Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE )
Negotiations in the private energy sector will resume on 5 February after unions rejected a 3.5% pay offer (3.6% on minimum rates) from the employers. The offer also included a €250 lump sum that would be dependent on company profits. The unions believe that, despite the current economic problems, energy companies are in a healthy state and can afford to pay more. Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)
The UCEA university employers association has increased its pay offer from 0.3% to 0.4% and refused to work with unions to produce a manual on how to avoid redundancies. The unions representing manual, administrative and teaching staff in the sector have condemned the latest pay offer although did acknowledge progress in discussion in some areas such as equal pay. Read more at > UNISON (EN)
The ver.di public services union is campaigning for a major re-grading of the mainly women workers employed in various social, welfare and educational occupations. The union argues that these workers’ occupations have not only been undervalued but their responsibilities and the pressure of work have increased considerably in recent years. In the second round of negotiations on 30 March employer proposals for re-grading were rejected as an outrageous provocation by ver.di which has launched a special website to argue the case for the re-gradings. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse.verdi
