06 epsucob@NEWS 20 March 2006
Nine unions back pensions strike
Members of nine local government trade unions have voted to back a national one-day strike on 28 March. This could be followed by selective action at regional and local level. The unions are protesting at government proposals to remove the 85 rule from the local government pension scheme. This rule allows members to retire early on a full pension if their age and length of service add up to 85. The unions point out that the local government scheme is the only one in the public sector facing this kind of reduction in benefits and 75% of its members are women workers, many of them on the lowest
Another step forward on working time
After 4½ weeks on strike, members of the ver.di services union in Lower Saxony have fought off attempts by local authority employers to introduce a 40-hour working week. Overall the 120,000 council employees in the region will have a 38.9-hour working week with different arrangements for some groups of workers. Those working in childcare, hospitals or for public enterprises such as refuse disposal will be on a 38.5-hour work plus extra training days. Other workers will be on the 39-hour week as agreed in the main public sector agreement which came into force last year. Meanwhile in the Baden
2.9% pay increase at e.on
A new two-year pay agreement at the e.on energy company will mean an increase of 2.9% valid from 1 March this year and 2.7% from 1 March 2007. There will also be two lump sum payments of 500 euros this November and 800 euros in July 2007. As part of the agreement e.on is also committed to provide permanent jobs for 160 trainees in 2007 and 180 in 2008. The agreement runs until 30 April 2008. Inflation in Germany was running at 2.1% in the year to February 2006. [Read more at > ver.di->http://ver-und-entsorgung.verdi.de/energiewirtschaft/tarifarbeit/private_energieversorger/e.on/data/Tarifinfo
Minimum wage campaign launched
Services union ver.di has teamed up with the NGG food and catering union to campaign for the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany. Their initial target is 7.50 euros and hour with the aim of moving gradually to nine euros an hour. A poster publicity campaign got underway earlier this month and the unions have set up a special minimum wage website Read more at > ver.di And at > the minimum wage site
Thousands of home care workers join demonstration
Home care workers took to the streets of Dublin on 13th March in protest over cuts to services and the “zero-hours” contracts they have to work under. A new agreement has been under discussion since 2004. This would provide home care workers with proper conditions of employment but the Health Service Executive has failed to implement the agreement. Read more at > SIPTU
One-day strike in protest at GDF privatisation
Energy sector unions FNME-CGT, FNEM-FO and CFE-CGC have called a 24-hour strike for 22nd-23rd March in protest at the government's proposal to privatise the GDF nationalised gas company by allowing it to merge with the private sector utility Suez. The unions are warning that if the merger goes ahead it will have serious implications for jobs and collective agreements right across the energy sector. They also point out that it was less than two years ago that the government made a commitment to retain 70% ownership of both GDF and EDF, the electricity company. [Read the joint union statement at
Unions back demonstrations against new dismissal law
Public sector unions joined nationwide protests on 16th March against new legislation which undermines the rights of young workers. The CPE law creates new employment contracts for young workers which gives employers much greater freedom to dismiss them during their first two years of employment. Unions estimate that over 500,000 people took to the streets on 16 March and further demonstrations were planned for 18 March. Read more at > FO And at > CGT
Unions continue campaign against government policy
Public and private sectors unions organised another 24-hour general strike this month in protest at government policies on the economy, pay and privatisation. This followed the one-day general strike last December and action earlier last year in June and November. Read more at > BBC
Long-term job guarantees in energy sector
A review of restructuring in the energy sector by the industrial relations observatory EIRO shows that workers have managed to secure job security agreements lasting between five and 10 years. These include companies which have been taken over by the Belgian, French, German and Swedish energy firms - Electrabel, RWE, EDF and Vattenfall. Read more at > EIRO
2.74% increase at EDP and REN
Employees at the EDP electricity company and REN national grid network will get a 2.74% pay increase this year effective from 1 January. Shift premia will increase by 5%. Inflation in Portugal averaged 2.3% in 2005 but increased to 2.6% by the end of the year and rose to 2.8% in February 2006. Read more at > SINDEL
Transport dispute resolved
A strike by bus and lorry drivers was ended earlier this month with a new agreement which will see pay increase by 6% over two years. The agreement runs until January 2008 and covers around 30,000 workers including those employed by SITA the waste disposal contractor. A key element of the strike was union opposition to employers using more part-time drivers. Read more at > Finnish news agency