2021 EPSU Collective Bargaining News March No.6
Church-based care provider rejects sector minimum wage
Caritas, the church-based care provider, has rejected the proposal to extend a new collective agreement to the whole of the eldercare sector which employs over 1 million workers. The agreement was recently negotiated between the ver.di services union and the BVAP eldercare employers’ organisation (see EPSU Collective Bargaining News February 2021 No.4) and sets a range of minimum standards for pay and leave. It means pay increases of 25% for some workers by 2023. Ver.di and the BVAP applied to the labour ministry for the agreement to be declared generally binding for the whole sector and this
Day of action over cross-sector negotiations
The CSC/ACV and FGTB/ABVV trade union confederations are planning a day of protests and strikes on 29 March to push their claims in the stalled negotiations over the biennial agreement for the private sector. This follows two days of action in February in support of the unions’ demands to increase what they say is an unacceptable 0.4% margin for negotiations over and above what’s provided by indexation. The confederations are also calling for a higher minimum wage, action on careers and retirement and a review of the legislation that regulates pay negotiations in the private sector. The CGSLB
Unions sign innovation pact in public administration
The three confederations – Cgil, Csil and Uil – have signed a pact for innovation on public employment and social cohesion with the government that sets out the main areas for negotiation across the public services. The unions see the agreement as an important political framework that affirms that public services are a resource for the country and that revitalisation of public administration must be through the involvement of public service workers and through the enhancement of their jobs and working conditions. The pact follows a series of recent mobilisations and a national public sector
Union welcomes proposal on childcare sector pay
The government has put forward a proposal to set up a joint labour committee (JLC) that would determine minimum pay and working conditions for the childcare sector. Currently there is no sector bargaining covering childcare workers and unions have been campaigning for years to tackle low pay and precarious employment. JLCs are independent bodies that exist in sectors like security and cleaning where there is no sector bargaining. They issue employment regulation orders (ERO) setting minimum pay rates and conditions. SIPTU says that a JLC would provide an opportunity for the union and the IBEC
Union anger over 1% pay offer for health workers
Health unions have attacked the government for offering a 1% pay increase to health workers – a figure that unions say will fail to keep pace with inflation and does nothing to compensate workers for the real term loss in pay over the past 10 years. The RCN nursing union is calling for a 12.5% increase for nursing staff which it underlines is crucial to deliver fair pay, recruitment, retention, and safe staffing. The GMB general workers’ union reveals the impact of pay freezes and below-inflation pay rises since 2010 that have effectively cut staff pay by anything from GBP 3000 (EUR 3500) to
Emergency agreement implemented across several regions
The collective agreement on pay and working time in emergencies is being applied across several regions in response to the continuing spread of the COVID-19 virus. The agreement was negotiated across the public services in 2019 in response to what at the time were the demands placed on fire and rescue services by forest fires. It covers, among other things, the increase of regular working hours to a maximum of 48 hours per week and provides for additional payments with special emergency overtime permitted on top of regular working hours. The agreement also enables the hiring and lending of
Unions want action on precarious employment
The two main public service federations – FSC-CCOO and FesP-UGT – recently met with the public services minister to underline their concerns about precarious employment and urge action to implement existing agreements to curb the use of temporary contracts. The unions raised issues around staffing levels and the ageing public sector workforce but stressed that job insecurity was a major problem and that the proportion of workers on temporary contracts was still too high and had worsened in the response to the pandemic. The federations also called for action to remove any discrimination in the
Unions continue push for pay rises for all health and social care workers
Four health unions are planning a day of strikes and protests on 8 April in their continuing campaign to ensure that the pay rises agreed in the “Ségur” package negotiated last year are extended to all workers in health and social care. The unions argue that there are still large numbers of public sector employees, around 300,000 in the private non-profit sector and some 250,000 home care workers who have not been guaranteed a EUR 183 pay increase. They are calling on the government to open negotiations immediately to address this issue and tackle the long-standing problem of declining working
Health unions secure national talks on pay and conditions
The Bündnis Gesundheit alliance of health unions has secured the commitment of the federal council and health employers’ organisation to a regular exchange on how to tackle the challenges facing the sector. The unions are looking for a clear signal towards better working conditions and wages and compensation for their exceptional performance during the pandemic. The health alliance was founded last summer and has been calling for a range of far-reaching and sustainable improvements. The federal councillor (minister) responsible for health, Alain Berset, and Lukas Engelberger, president of the
Public sector union protests set to continue
Public sector unions remain angry that the government has not only failed to implement a pay rise that was set in legislation last year but also refused to engage in social dialogue. This anger has been further fed by anti-union comments from the prime minister who has challenged the independence of public sector unions, their right to collect dues by check-off and their right to protest. Unions are considering further protests. EPSU has sent letters of protest to the prime minister and raised the issue with the European Commission as the behaviour of the Romanian government clearly flies in
Unions reject government proposals on pay
Trade unions have told the government that they reject any plans to end the single pay system across the public sector and strongly oppose any unilateral changes to pay or the creation of jobs and pay rates outside of the collective agreement. In response to government calls for more flexibility, the unions argue that there is already the potential for variable remuneration and adjustments to pay for specific jobs and occupations within the current system, but they are not used. The unions are also concerned that the government wants to treat certain public services differently and see this as
Private sector health agreement reduces gap with public sector
The NSF nurses’ union has negotiated a new agreement with the NHO employers’ organisation that represents private sector providers. A key aim of the union has been to reduce the large differences between the conditions in NHO companies and conditions in other collective agreements. The NSF believes that the settlement for 2020 is a new step in the right direction. With effect from 1 October 2020 the new minimum wages for nurses is NOK 412000 (EUR 40500). There is a general increase of NOK 0.5 (EUR 0.05) an hour for everyone from 1 May 2020 and there will be local negotiations conducted in