Municipal and health workers in dispute

The collective agreement covering municipal workers looks set to be signed by the unions after several months of dispute over one element of the negotiations - compensation for emergency service workers who lose out from new early retirement rules. Although this was only a small element of the overall cost of the deal, the employers refused to budge. Partial compensation of up to €500 a year will be available to those workers affected, some of whom could lose up to €200 a month. Overall the agreement includes pay increases of 2.2% from 1 June 2007 and 1 June 2008 with increases of 0.5% and 1.5

Unions continue to try to win real pay increases for their members working for municipal and provincial government through a campaign that has seen a series of short stoppages organised at different authorities around the country. Recently it was the turn of provincial government workers in Drenthe, local government workers in Purmerend and both local and provincial government workers in Maastricht. [Read more at > FNV-Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/Helft-ambtenaren-Purmerend-voert-actie] [And at > FNV-Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws

Trade unions in the municipal sector have been negotiating with the SKR and Sobona employer organisations in local and regional government with differing outcomes so far. The Vision trade union, representing mainly white-collar workers has settled on the basis of a 3.3% general pay rise and commitments to a review of working hours and joint initiatives to deliver healthier workplaces. The Vårdförbundet health professionals’ union has gone to mediation mainly because it has major concerns over the employers’ proposals on working time and the work environment which it believes will mean worse