05-2007-epsuco@NEWS 12 March 2007
Union demonstrates over low pay in social care
The Trade Union of Health and Social Care Employees of Latvia (LVSADA) organised a picket in the capital, Riga, on 8 March, calling for an increase in salaries and improvement of working conditions for social workers and women working in social care and assistance. The LVSADA has been negotiating with Riga City Council since November 2006 and has tried to reach a solution on decent salaries in the social care sector from January 2007. Unfortunately all the union's efforts of the union have been unsuccessful. A survey by the LVSADA revealed that 98% of employees in the social care sector in
Campaign for higher pay in health and social services
The ver.di services union has launched a campaign for higher pay in the health and social services sectors, arguing that jobs in the sector are undervalued. The union is trying to counteract the trend towards more precarious working conditions for the 4.5 million workers in the sector. Ver.di wants to see better agreements guaranteeing health and social workers more opportunities to train and obtain qualifications. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=28fe6b0a-b826-11db-4d37-000e0c672486] [And at ver.di's special website > “social work is worth
Non-profit sector deal finally signed
The threat of strike action by a common front of unions in the non-profit (health, housing and social services) sector in the Wallonia region of Belgium paid off last month. Employers in the sector finally signed the agreement that had been concluded between the unions and the regional government at the end of 2006. The agreement allows for increased spending over the 2007-2009 period with more jobs in the sector and improved holiday entitlement. Read more at > SETCA (FR)
Firefighters get new agreement on 48-hour week
Firefighters in the Netherlands are now in negotiations over the introduction of a 48-hour week following successful legal action. This will mean a six-hour reduction from the existing 54-hour week without a reduction in pay or other entitlements. The agreement is, in fact, backdated with compensation for any weeks since June 2006 when firefighters have worked over 48 hours. Unions and employers will have until the end of 2007 to introduce new rosters. Read more at > ABVAKABO (NL)
Prime minister rejects unions' demands
Prime minister Dominique Villepin has refused to discuss union demands for proper negotiations over pay increases and pay structures in the public sector. The unions had contacted him directly following a failure by the public services minister, Christian Jacob, to discuss these issues. The CGT union federation has called for a further day of strikes and demonstrations on 29 March, a day when unions in other sectors, post and telecommunications, have also planned action. Read more at > CGT (FR)
Week of action in energy sector
The energy and mines federation in the CGT confederation is calling for a week of action at the end of March (22-26). The union argues that its members are facing a range of problems over jobs, pay, outsourcing and sub-contracting, stress, trade union rights, retirement and social protection. The union is organising meetings across the sector to draw up a list of demands to put to employers. Read more at > CGT (FR)
Equal pay campaign launched in Scotland
Public services union UNISON has launched an equal pay campaign in Scotland. It has submitted an invoice to the Scottish Executive highlighting the amount of pay owed to women in the public services. UNISON points out that it is 30 years since the Equal Pay Act and eight years since the single status agreement was signed in local government. Both were supposed to deliver equal pay but women are still waiting. Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Monitoring employment conditions across Europe
The ETUI-REHS research organisation has published its latest compilation of information on the world of work across Europe. Benchmarking Europe 2007 covers a wide range of issues including: flexicurity, macro-economic developments, employment, wages and income developments, social protection, workers' satisfaction with training opportunities, information consultation and worker participation, corporate governance, European social dialogue and labour law, EU trade and competitiveness and the working environment and occupational health and safety. [Read more at > ETUI-REHS (EN)->http://www.etui
Work-life balance part of key to equal pay
In a report on equal pay to coincide with International Women's Day, the European Commission's Employment Directorate argues that work-life balance is a key area in achieving greater equality between women and men. The report points out that the employment rate for women aged 20-49 falls by 15 percentage points when they have a child, while that of men increases by six points. In addition, women have a disproportionately high recourse to part-time work (32.9%) compared with men (7.7%). Read more at > DG Employment (EN)
Collective bargaining group takes stock and looks ahead
Last week 20 representatives from EPSU affiliates around Europe met in Brussels to follow-up the main collective bargaining conference last December and provide the EPSU secretariat on guidance on future work. There were further discussions on the policy documents on young workers and migrant workers and it was agreed to circulate these once more with final amendments. The meeting also agreed that this year's collective bargaining conference (3-4 December in Brussels) would include a major debate on the future of European industrial relations in the public services. There would be a number of