2016 September [email protected] 11

(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

(September 2016) Trade unions are moblising on 10 September in their continuing campaign against the proposed new Labour Code. The President blocked the code over the summer and EPSU has sent a message of protest to the Lithuanian government arguing that the Code will do nothing for the economy and only create more precarious working conditions, particularly for young workers. Read more at LPPFS (LT).

(September 2016) Over 1000 trade unionists, including many representatives from EPSU unions, gathered in Prague on 7 September as part of the pay campaign coordinated by the CMKOS confederation. End cheap labour is the campaign slogan and union data shows the extent to which pay trends in the country have lagged behind other parts of Europe. CMKOS notes that there has already been some progress this year with pay increases promised to civil servants and health workers and the target next year is for unions to negotiate pay increases of 5% to 5.5%. Read more at CMKOS (CZ).

(September 2016) The latest issue of the ETUI's collective bargaining newsletter includes over 100 articles with news from 34 countries. There are several updates on developments in the public services in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Icleand, Ireland, Romania and Serbia. Read more at ETUI.

(September 2016) The vpod/ssp public services union is joining others in the federal public sector to call for negotiations over pay increases in 2017. The unions have reacted to government figures showing that the budget outcome for 2016 will be a surplus rather than the forecast deficit and the unions argue that this means that the proposed pay freeze for 2017 needs to be withdrawn and a pay rise negotiated.

(September 2016) The Kommunal municipal trade union has called for a block on all new personal assistant appointments by private care companies in the ALMEGA employers' organisation. The union is protesting over the proposal by private care companies to offer personal assistants a 0.8% pay rise, well below the 2.2% being offered in the public sector.

(September 2016) The GWU general union and MUMN nurses' union have both signed agreements with the government providing guarantees on pay and conditions and collective agreements applying to workers affected by a public-private partnership covering three hospitals. The workers affected will remain government employees.

(September 2016) The FeSP-UGT public services federation has called on the interim government to open negotiations with trade unions to ensure that the law setting out the budget for 2017 includes provisions for increased employment and a pay rise for public sector workers. The federation says that urgent action is needed to fill vacancies, take on temporary staff on permament contracts and reinstate the 170000 jobs cut since 2011. It is also arguing for a 3% pay increase in line with overall economic growth. Read more at FeSP-UGT (ES).

(September 2016) The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced plans for four periods of industrial action in protest at the government's decision to impose a new contract on junior doctors. Junior doctors voted by 58% to 42% to reject the revised contract which they say fails to deal with problems relating to part-time work (affecting mainly women) and also working at weekends. The union has suspended action planned for September but action planned for 5 October will go ahead unless the government agrees to negotiate. Read more at BMA.

(September 2016) Unions Impact and SIPTU have made progress with two disputes following strike action and the threat of action. The unions will meet management of a youth detention centre at the Workplace Relations Commission after care staff at the centre took strike action over safety concerns. Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive has agreed to reactivate a job evaluation scheme following a massive ballot in favour of industrial action by Impact members. Read more at Impact and SIPTU and also at Impact on the HSE.

(September 2016) The Eurofound tripartite research agency has published a new report on supplementary reward systems including performance-related pay, profit-sharing, payment by results and benefits in kind. These schemes are seen as ways of trying to motivate and reward workers and maybe linked to workplace results/profits/performance. The examines the different types of schemes, their prevalence in different countries and sectors, including the public sector, across the EU and Norway. Read more at Eurofound.

(September 2016) Non-teaching staff in higher education in England and Wales are being balloted for industrial action while non-teaching staff in Scottish futher educations take industrial action on 6 September. In England and Wales unions generally in higher education have rejected a 1.1% pay offer from the employers while in Scotland non-teaching staff are objecting to the flat-rate pay offer that is nearly half the level of the flat-rate pay increase awarded to teaching staff. Read more at Unison on higher education and FE in Scotland. Also at Unite.

(September 2016) The FOA public services union began strike action against the DK-Pleje care company on 1 September in protest at its refusal to sign up to a collectvie agreement. This is the first time the union has taken action against a private care company. It argues that DK-Pleje is undercutting reputable employers by paying its workers below rates agreed in the sector agreement and points out that the company has lost contracts with some local authorities because of the poor quality of care it provides. Read more at FOA (DK)

(September 2016) The CGIL confederation and its public service federation (Fp-Cgil) are working together to coordinate legal and industrial action in support of forestry workers who are facing transfer to the carabinieri police force. The transfer would mean major changes for the workers who would lose the right to strike. The confederation and federation are planning to organise strike action in protest but in the mean time are planning to support action by individual workers to challenge the legality of the new statute to implement the transfer. Read more at Fp-Cgil (IT).

(September 2016) Ver.di members working for Ameos healthcare company in Hildesheim and Osnabrück in Lower Saxony are voting on new collective agreement secured only after a long conflict. The new agreements will run for three years until 30 April 2019 and includes a 6.75% pay increase to be paid over six stages. Other key elements include a continuing link to developments in the public sector agreements, a commitment to take on agency staff as direct employees and a commitment to no redundancies. Read more at ver.di (DE).