Social Services

Public service trade unions have reacted angrily over the government decision to freeze pay for millions of public sector workers, including municipal employees, care workers, civil servants and teachers. Health workers are excluded from the “pay pause” as the chancellor (finance minister) calls it and there will be a GBP 250 (EUR 278) increase for workers paid less than GBP 24000 (EUR 26730) a year. The unions have attacked the decision as a “divide and rule” tactic and argue that many public service workers have yet to see their pay levels recover in real terms after the last bout of

The Fp-Cgil, Cisl-FP, Uil-Fpl and Uil-Pa public service federations are mobilising for the national strike on 9 December. The unions say that years of recruitment freezes have created staff shortages and mean that public services need around 500000 extra workers. The unions are also calling for action to increase permanent employment with around 170000 workers on precarious contracts. Health and safety are also vital with unions wanting action on personal protective equipment, reduced workloads and measures to tackle harassment. Finally, the federations are calling for a renewal of the

Public sector workers are set to get a 1.45% increase in pay and allowances from 1 January following what trade unions describe as quick and responsible negotiations and bearing in mind the very challenging circumstances. The increase will protect purchasing power and unions see this as some recognition by the government of the contribution of public sector workers to fighting the pandemic. younion (DE) GÖD (DE)

Workers in a range of non-governmental health and social service providers (Section 39 organisations) will begin strike action on 15 December. This is the latest stage in long-running campaign to ensure that workers in these bodies see their pay restored to pre-austerity levels in line with directly employed public sector workers. The action will be staggered across different organisations and will continue into January. Meanwhile, public sector unions have agreed to start talks with government over a new collective agreement on pay and conditions. The current Public Service Stability

Workers in the Liebenau Leben im Alter (LLA) non-profit eldercare provider, part of the church-based Caritas network, have taken strike action for the first time in a campaign to get a collective agreement. There are around 1.8 million workers in church-based health and social care providers where pay and conditions are set by the employer rather than by collective agreement. Last year just four ver.di members began to organise in LLA but the union now has 240 members in the organisation who want their employer to recognise the work they have been doing during the pandemic and bring their pay

Social care workers in Kerry and Cork have voted for industrial action in what is set to be a national campaign of strikes across what are called Section 39 organisations. These are non-government, publicly funded bodies that provide health and social services. In 2018 there was an agreement that employees in these organisations would, in line with the public sector, get pay rises to compensate for the cuts imposed during austerity. They are still waiting for this pay restoration and as many as 250 organisations across the country could be hit by strike action over the coming weeks. SIPTU

Following a government report on nursing and care, services union ver.di has called for urgent action for a long-term solution to understaffing across health and care institutions, particularly in light of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with hospital and care associations the union has already put forward a process for assessing staffing needs in hospitals and says that an academic proposal for evaluating staffing levels in eldercare has identified the need for an extra 100000 staff. Ver.di argues that measures are needed on training and pay and working conditions. It

Negotiations in the private nursing and care sector have ended without agreement and so now move into mediation. The trade union position is to try to ensure that occupations are paid at similar levels irrespective of the collective agreement in place but there is not employer commitment to do this. Public service union Fagforbundet acknowledges that there will always be some variations between agreements but is concerned that major differences are becoming systematic. It points out that a cleaner in private nursing and care has a minimum wage of NOK 258000 (EUR 24000) which is around NOK

The Cgil, Cisl and Uil Pa public service federations have declared a one-day strike on 9 December covering public health, and local, regional and central government. New collective agreements are due to be negotiated across these sectors but the unions argue that the government has failed to guarantee funding to cover any negotiated improvements. They also say that there is no commitment from the government to ensure safety at work, to increase employment or to tackle precarious work. Fp-Cgil (IT)

Public services union UNISON is part of a new group of 80+ organisations and individuals – the Future Social Care Coalition – that is calling for an emergency fund to support social care and boost carers’ pay. The coalition has estimated that GBP 3.9 billion (Euro 4.3 billion) is needed to stabilise the sector and finance a fair deal on wages. Meanwhile, the GMB trade union is celebrating a victory with the announcement by the Welsh government that it would fund full sick pay for workers who are off sick with COVID-19 or have to self-isolate. Until now many low-paid social care workers would

The Kommunal municipal services union believes that the recent deal in local and regional government – the largest collective agreement in the country – will deliver real benefits for the women-dominated sector and help address the recruitment challenge in health and social care. The 41-month agreement will run until 31 March 2024 and includes general pay rises of 2% in 2020 (worth on average SEK 520 (EUR 50), a further 2% (SEK 530 (EUR 51)) in 2021 and 1.4% (SEK 380 (EUR 37)) in 2022. There will be an additional 0.6% in each of the three years for vocationally trained occupations and a lump