2021 EPSU Collective Bargaining Newsletter December No.24
Health unions negotiate collective agreement with major boost to pay
EPSU affiliate the LSADPS and eight other medical trade unions organisations have negotiated a new three-year collective agreement that runs from 1 January 2022 and covers workers from the entire health sector, who are members of the trade union organisations involved in the negotiations. This is the first time all trade unions have come together to sign one sectoral collective agreement. A combination of factors mean that wages are set to increase by an average of 10.9% in 2022. There is also a commitment to ensure funding for wage increases to prevent a recurrence of the delay in wage rises
Pay rises for many health and social care workers but negotiations to continue
Following almost three months of intensive negotiations, 80% of employees in health and social care will receive pay increases of between 4% and 24% this month. However, such are the staffing and workload problems in these sectors, that further negotiations will take place in January to address workloads as well as the fact that some health and care staff are not covered by the initial agreement. Existing staffing shortages have been made worse as health and social staff have left the sector because of the stress and overwork resulting from the pandemic. Around 35000 healthcare, social care
Pay rise and lump sum for regional government workers
In a challenging bargaining environment services union ver.di secured a 2.8% pay increase for 1.1 million regional government employees plus a tax-free payment of €1300. Health workers are to get more money through increases in allowances. The lump sum will be paid early in the new year (trainees, interns and students are to get €650) while the pay increase will take effect on 1 December 2022 as part of the 24-month agreement. The union estimates that the combination of the €1300 lump sum, the 1.4% increase in January 2021 (part of the previous agreement) and the 2.8% in December 2022 should
Public sector deal delivers 3% average pay rise
The annual pay negotiations that cover the public sector have resulted in an average pay increase of 3% which will also apply to allowances and other pay additions. Lower paid workers will actually see their pay rise by 3.22% with a 2.91% applied to higher salaries. The increases come into effect on 1 January 2022. The increase is the highest for more than 10 years and ahead of the inflation rate up to September 2020 which forms one of the agreed bases for the negotiations.
Confederations plan national strike over government policy
The CGIL and UIL confederations have announced joint actions on 16 December with an eight-hour strike and demonstrations in Rome and four other cities. The unions are concerned about the direction the government is taking particularly with regard to taxation, pensions, schools, industrial policies and combating restructuring and job insecurity, especially for young people and women. The unions argue that resources are available to allow for a more effective redistribution of wealth, to reduce inequalities and to generate balanced and structural development and stable employment.
Unions agree equality plan with Red Cross
Public service federations from the CCOO and UGT confederations have signed an equality action plan with the Red Cross that will cover its 10500 female and 4000 male employees. The plan will come into effect from 1 January 2022 and be valid for four years. It covers 12 major objectives that include 107 measures on issues such as staff selection and promotion, training in equality and the prevention and response to gender violence, including extraordinary aid to support those Red Cross workers who may suffer from it. The plan includes a protocol for the prevention of and action against sexual
Two-week strike stops threat to pay and conditions
The JHL public services union has successfully defended the pay and conditions of workers employed by the Arkea municipal company that provides catering and other services to the Turku local authority. The company had sought to change collective agreements that would have meant significant changes to pay rates with some workers potentially losing out by as much as 30% of their earnings. The strike action led to negotiations with the company which will now stick with the current agreement which is due to be re-negotiated next spring.
ETUC highlights data showing increase in wage gap
In its continuing campaign to underline the importance of implementing a strong and effective directive on minimum wages, the ETUC has release figures showing that the gap in earnings between the richest and poorest Europeans grew in a majority of EU countries over the last decade. The ‘unequal Europe’ report produced by the ETUC and its ETUI research institute shows wage inequality increased in 14 member states between 2010 and 2019, most notably in Hungary, Spain and Belgium. The analysis suggests that trend is the result of a decrease in the share of workers covered by collective bargaining
Youth workers take second day of strike action
Around 600 youth workers gathered in The Hague on 29 November as part of day of national strike action organised by the FNV trade union. This followed an earlier one-day strike on 11 November. The workers gathered in The Hague to watch a debate on the funding of youth work in parliament. The union is calling for urgent action to increase funding in order to tackled the pressure on workers with growing waiting lists and an increase in people leaving youth work because of stress and burnout from overwork. The collective agreement for the sector which covers 32000 workers expired in November and
Report tracks latest minimum wage trends
A review of minimum wage developments by the Eurofound research agency found that rates were raised cautiously in most Member States from 2020 to 2021, with a median increase of 3%. Some Member States stuck to previously announced commitments (Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Portugal and Slovenia) while only a few decided to freeze the minimum wage into 2021, including Belgium, Estonia, Greece and Spain, as well as Cyprus for the occupational rates. There were few crisis-related adaptations of minimum wage regulations, confined to the postponement of procedures (Greece and Poland), the renunciation
Joint review underlines value of crisis agreement
Trade unions and employer organisations in public services have reviewed the impact of the crisis agreement that was negotiated to regulate pay and conditions of employees working during critical events such as natural disasters, fires and floods, pandemics or acts of terrorism. It covers approximately 1.2 million employees in municipalities, regions and municipal companies, including healthcare, care, school, infrastructure and emergency services. Initially, negotiated following major forest fires, the agreement has also been implemented during the COVID pandemic. The review found it was
Care workers are employees – final court victory
After a three-year legal dispute, the Fagforbundet public services union has secured a major victory when the Supreme Court's Appeals Committee refused to consider an appeal by the Stendi care company over its claim that 22 workers were self-employed and not employees. Now the 22 members of the union are set to get an average pay out of more than NOK 1 million (€100000) and the company faces further legal claims from another 50 workers. Fagforbundet general secretary and EPSU president Mette Nord said: "Our 22 members have fought a tough battle in three courts. They have been poorly treated