013 epsucob@NEWS July 2008

At the beginning of July the three main trade unions signed a new collective agreement covering federal government workers for the period 2007-2008.The deal includes a higher end-of-year payment and an agreement in principal to work towards the introduction of a 13th month salary in future agreements. There is a particular initiative on low pay with an additional amount - €328 - added to the pay band that covers cleaning and catering staff. There are also improved allowances for workers with a second language, the first increases since 1991. [Read more at > CSC (FR)->http://csc-services

Public sector unions had talks earlier this month with the Ministry for the Public Service over working conditions with a particular emphasis on health and safety. The view of the CFDT put the focus on health and safety and argued that there is adequate protection in existing European and national legislation but that the challenge was to ensure these were applied across the public sector. The union also argued against including the issue of employing older workers within the general discussions on working conditions. UNSA also raised key health and safety issues calling for more action on

Workers in the immigration and asylum services, the maritime and coastguard services and Land Registry took strike action last week over pay as agencies tried to impose the government's 2% pay limit on civil servants. The PCS trade union said up to 10,500 workers were involved in the immigration and asylum one-day strike while the coastguard stoppage was due to last 48 hours. PCS members in the coastguard are angry about the agency's rejection of a report that argued that workers in the service should be paid inline with similar jobs in other emergency services. [Read more at > PCS (EN)->http

Although the issue wasn't initially on the agenda, public service unions called for government guarantees on pay at a meeting of the main public sector negotiating body. The unions are calling for a 2.5% increase in pay to compensate for the difference between forecast and actual inflation this year and want purchasing power protected in next year's pay negotiations. The government has said it will fulfil the agreements already signed on pay including the commitment to a €1,000 minimum salary in the public sector. The trade unions also want to see the government maintain public sector

In an assessment of the one-hour warning strike last month the CMKOS trade union confederation notes the government is delaying and amending some of its planned health and public sector reforms. In particular, the confederation says that there has been a moderation of proposals on health care fees; the division of planned health care reforms into two phases giving unions more time to influence them; a strengthening the system of pension insurance; and increased possibilities for early retirement. Public opinion polls showed 60%-70% of the public supporting the confederation's aims and that the

Better employment conditions and a new funding system are need to improve the quality of health and social care according to Wolfgang Katzian, head of the GPA-DJP trade union that represents workers in the private health and social care sectors. In the context of a major debate over the reform of healthcare funding, Katzian underlined the importance of having properly regulated providers with trained staff covered by a collective agreement. The sector is currently plagued by pseudo-self-employment that makes regulation very difficult and undermines attempts to maintain pay and conditions.

A new report from the trade union-linked Hans Böcker Foundation shows how working time has changed in Germany in recent years and older workers tend to be more affected. Overall German workers now work on average 40.3 hours a week, 40 minutes longer than they did five years ago, with a third working at least 42 hours a week. The report also highlights the fact that the growth in shift, evening and weekend working has been mainly among older workers with the 40+ age categories seeing increases in such unsocial working time. [Read more at > Hans Böckler (DE)->http://www.boeckler.de/32014_91489

This year's conference will include debates on equal pay and the threat to collective bargaining from recent European Court judgements like the Laval and Rüffert cases. There will a review of collective bargaining developments in the public services across Europe and a choice of workshops for the second morning of the conference. Information on the conference will shortly be available in nine languages. If you are interested in attending the conference then please send in your participation form early so that we can assess interest in a choice of different workshops for the second morning.