17 epsucob@NEWS 28 August 2006
New pay structure for private waste industry
Recent negotiations between the BDE private waste employers' association and ver.di produced an agreement to overhaul the pay structure in the industry. As an interim measure the 67,000 workers in the industry will get lump sum payments in 2006 and 2007 while a new pay structure is negotiated. The 2006 lump sum will be in line with the percentage increases being awarded across Germany in collective negotiations. The aim of the new pay structure will be to try to ensure that more employers are covered by the collective agreement and to try to put an end to widespread undercutting of pay rates.
Unions welcome tougher line on violence against health workers
UNISON and the RCN nurses' union have expressed support for new measures to try to tackle violence against health workers. The Association of Chief Police Officers has agreed a number of measures with the NHS security management agency. The police say they will investigate every reported incident of violence or abuse and will encourage the courts to take a stronger line against offenders. Read more at > UNISON (EN) And at > RCN (EN)
Government sets up gender equality commission
The government has set up a commission of researchers to investigate the persistent gender pay gap, according to the EIRO industrial relations observatory. The commission will report its recommendations to the government by the end of March 2008. The social partners are not represented directly on the Commission but will be involved in the process through a consultative group. One issue the Commission will consider is whether legal changes are necessary to tackle the longstanding pay differences between occupations and industries traditionally seen as male and female. [Read more at > EIRO (EN)
New code for civil servants
The EIRO industrial relations observatory reports that the Greek civil service is due to implement a new code in 2007 that will introduce changes to a number of conditions including leave, disciplinary matters, job transfers and promotion. ADEDY, the civil service union, is concerned that proposals to assess civil servants' performance and competence are too subjective. Read more at > EIRO (EN)
Unions want shorter working hours for hospital doctors
The GdG trade union has called for the Working Time Directive's maximum of 48 hours a week to be applied to doctors. The union argues that more doctors should be employed in order to reduce individual working hours and warns that the definition of inactive hours that might become part of the revised directive will make matters worse for doctors. The union says that patients' interests should be central to this issue and they should have the right to be treated by doctors who work normal hours not who have been exhausted by excessively long shifts. [Read more at > GdG (DE)->http://www.gdg.at
Hospital workers respond to outsourcing threat
Hospital workers in Cornwall in South West England are considering strike action in response to their employer's plans to outsource their jobs. The local NHS organisation, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, is facing a financial deficit and was already planning 400 redundancies. The union said it would negotiate with the Trust over measures to reduce the deficit but then discovered the plans to send work overseas as a way of cutting costs. Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Protests over incentive payments in health service
The FSP-UGT trade union federation is organising a series of protests against the regional administration of Castilla and Leon over incentive payments to doctors and nurses. The incentive payments are being awarded as a measure to help reduce waiting lists in the area. The union says that the government has unilaterally decided to allocate around €62 million over the next four years (80% to doctors/20% to nurses) but it argues that it is unclear how this money will be distributed and doesn't take account of other health workers who jobs have an impact on the reduction of waiting lists. [Read
Need for better pay and conditions to tackle emigration
The EIRO industrial relations observatory reports that the economy is under pressure because of high and increasing emigration from the country. The report says that Latvian trade unions are arguing that social dialogue is the key to negotiating improved pay and better working conditions, particularly working time, in order to make jobs at home more attractive. This would include an increase in the national minimum wage. Read more at > EIRO (EN)
Union attacks increase in health costs
The STAL trade union and Frente Comum of public service unions has condemned the government for increasing health costs for workers in the public administration. The unions are particularly angry that the government has taken the decision to increase the payments without any negotiation with the relevant trade unions. Read more at > STAL (PT)
Performance pay deal for federal employees
After 25 days of negotiations ver.di has agreed a new deal on performance pay covering employees of the federal government. The proposed agreement will be put to the union's collective bargaining committee for approval and, if agreed, will mean that all federal employees will have an element of performance pay in their salaries. The new collective agreement that came into effect last October included a provision to allow for the introduction of performance pay up to a value of 8% of pay. Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Call for proper funding and minimum standards in care sector
The public service union and the GPA private employees union, which organises workers in the private care sector, are calling for proper funding for the care sector. They say that all care workers, whether Austrian or migrant workers, need the protection of minimum standards and have the right to proper pay and conditions. The unions argue that care services often rely on illegal workers and to remove them from the system would lead to its collapse. [Read more at > GÖD (DE)->http://www.goed.at/12082.html] [And at > GPA (DE)->http://www.gpa.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA