EPSU intervenes on behalf of local government union

After three weeks of selective strike action in hospitals involving several public service unions, the government has used its powers to force an end to the action and refer the matter to a national labour tribunal which will meet in October. The strike was over pensions and ensuring that all hospital workers have a right to a pension from the first Krone earned. The government claimed a threat to health when the unions decided to step up the action. It has intervened in this way in the past, most recently in November 2018 in a dispute involving the NSF nurses' union (see epsucob@NEWS 22, 2018

After 10 weeks of action, the strike coordinated by the DSR nurses’ union was brought to an end by government intervention. This means that a recommendation by the conciliation commission will be imposed even though it had been rejected by a large majority of DSR members. The union argues that the government is deaf to the long-standing demands of nurses over the unfair pay structure in the public sector. Some nurses have continued to take unofficial action despite the imposition of a settlement and the threat of fines if they continue. The union says that the focus now shifts to the work of

(September 2016) EPSU has written to the major of the Aviclar local authority in Istanbul calling on him to reinstate 43 workers who were sacked earlier this year without good reason. The workers have been campaigning for reinstatement for over four months with support from the local community and at national level from their union Belediye-Is. EPSU has also called on the mayor to negotiate with the trade union and the local worker representatives (see letter).Update: The union has reached an agreement with the city council that will result in the reinstatement of dismissed workers (7 October