Portugal
The STAL union organised a demonstration on 5 April against plans to privatise the AdP water company. The union wants to prevent privatisation but is also concerned to protect existing collective agreements and protect workers against any restructuring that might take place in the lead up to any sell-off.
Read more at > EPSU (EN)
The FSC-CCOO and FSP-UGT federations have criticised the failure of the FEMP - the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces - to respond to their call for an agreement to tackle the decline in collective agreement coverage in the sector and prevent that many collective agreements lapse without being renegotiated. In contrast, the unions welcome the agreement signed between the two unions, the CSIF union and the Regional Federation of Municipalities and Provinces in Castile and León. This accord recommends to local authorities in the region to renew collective agreements before 8 July
EPSU affiliated unions CGSP, CSC Services Publics and SLPF are on strike in municipal electricity company Interelectra. They are protesting at plans to set up a private sector umbrella holding company which would mean that the public character of the company and the public character of the statute will disappear. The unions are fighting for democratic control by the municipality, public service obligations in public hands and oppose that 75 years of work is thrown away. Read more at > EPSU
A planned three-day strike by UNISON members at the Mid Yorkshire National Health Service (NHS) Hospitals Trust has been called off after the trust’s management lifted the threat of creating a wholly-owned subsidiary. In line with other NHS bodies around the country, the trust had intended to set up the company and transfer the contracts of cleaners, maintenance workers, IT and canteen staff to it. The subsidiary would have made it possible to put staff on non-NHS terms and conditions and to make it easier for it to be sold to a private company. UNISON is campaigning around the country to
