Ireland
Unions at the ESB electricity company called off planned strike action before Christmas after negotiations secured an agreement over treatment of the pension scheme. The unions were pleased that the company will continue to treat the pension scheme as defined benefit rather than defined contribution and also that there will be a commitment to tackle any future pension deficits in the same way as they have been dealt with in the past.
Read more at > RTE news website (EN)
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
Strike action in the energy sector has been avoided following arbitration to resolve a dispute over pay and pensions. The new agreement sees pay generally rise by NOK 2195 (€270) with a 3.3% increase on the minimum wage in the sector. The main issue in the dispute was pensions and the question as to whether local arrangements could be agreed on pensions. The agreement involves setting up a committee to look into how this will be incorporated into the sector agreement. [Read more at > EL&IT (NO)->http://www.elogit.no/id/16065.0] [And at > Fagforbundet (NO)->http://www.fagforbundet.no/?article
The EIRO industrial relations observatory reports that the border guards' dispute was resolved with a pay offer worth 6.1% over two years. However, as part of the deal guards will be covered by a new pay structure based more on individual workloads and performance. Read more at > EIRO
