Report examines threat of outsourcing public services

The key International Labour Conventions are no.87 on freedom of association and 98 on collective bargaining. A report for UNISON by the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR) argues that both of these should apply broadly to the vast majority of public service workers. If there are any doubts about public sector workers’ rights to collective bargaining then Convention 151 on labour relations in the public sector can be used to challenge any restrictions that governments try to impose. While Conventions 87 and 98 have been ratified by most countries, ratification of 151 is more

New reports from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Eurofound research agency analyse developments in collective bargaining in the light of the pandemic and other important drivers of change. The ILO report provides an overview of developments in collective bargaining during the pandemic, focusing on seven countries – Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Belgium. The report argues that the role of strong sectoral collective bargaining institutions was particularly important, allowing sectoral actors to negotiate specific responses considering the impact and

A new report from the European Commission examines recent labour market trends and highlights some positive developments in terms of employment and unemployment. However, the report includes some more controversial claims about pay, including assumptions about an upturn in pay increases based more on speculation rather than fact. The report also compares trends in the private and public sectors and suggests that government sector pay as been rising at a faster rate than private sector pay in several Member States. However, the report also concedes that the government sector is characterised by