2022 September EPSU Collective Bargaining Newsletter No.18

Fórsa, SIPTU, INMO and other public service unions will be consulting their members over a pay offer from the government that has come following trade union insistence that the pay review clause in the existing collective agreement, Building Momentum, be invoked to address surging inflation. Building Momentum included a 1% pay increase (or €500, whichever is greater) from next month. The new proposal would see pay increases of 3% backdated to 2 February 2022, 2% from 1 March 2023 and 1.5% or €750 (whichever is greater) from 1 October 2023. Fórsa estimates that assuming the minimum payment of

The government’s offer of a £1,400 (€1620) annual pay increase for health workers has not convinced trade unions. Public services union UNISON has launched a campaign over pay in the health service with a ballot planned for October, while the GMB and Unite trade unions have already begun balloting their members in the health service. The historic ballot over possible strike action by nurses’ union RCN is due to begin on 15 September. Meanwhile, university employees, including non-teaching staff such as cleaners, catering and security workers and library and administration employees

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations representing forest firefighters say they will launch a campaign of strikes and protests unless the government and the autonomous regions deliver legislation that really protects the rights and conditions of this essential group of workers. The unions warn that action is needed urgently in the light of the surge in serious and large forest fires this summer. They argue that the legislation put forward on 25 August does not fully address the demands of the unions for homogenous working conditions covering training, salary structure

While welcoming progress on addressing health and care staffing issues, public services union ver.di is calling for major improvements to the hospital care relief bill. The union worked with the German Hospital Association and the German Nursing Council to develop the PPR 2.0 instrument for needs-based personnel assessment in nursing and argues that this should form the basis of the legislation and not be mentioned only in the explanatory memorandum. Ver.di says that the basis for staffing must be the care needs of patients and these should be clearly formulated in the law, with minimum

The TEHY and SuPer nurses’ unions are stepping up their campaign of industrial action to secure a better pay offer from the municipal employers. The two unions have maintained an ban on overtime and shift changes since before the summer but have now tightened up those restrictions and also announced a series of strike actions beginning with a one-day stoppage in Kanta-Häme in the South West on 2 September. So far three further strikes – each of four days – have been declared in Turku, Helsinki and Oulu with two running from 6-9 September and the Oulu action running from 13 to 16 September. The

An ETUC analysis reveals that European companies have paid inflation-busting dividends to their shareholders while workers have been struggling to cope with the cost of living crisis. The value of payouts to shareholders increased by 28.6% in Europe during the second quarter of this year, according to the newly-published Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index. That’s more than seven times faster than the rate at which wages are rising across the European Union. Dividend increases were particularly high in Spain (97.7%), Italy (72.2%), Germany (36.3%) and France (32.7%). The ETUC argues that the

The SOZZASS health workers’ union has expressed concern over the way that the health ministry is addressing health workers’ pay and its failure so far to undertake proper negotiations with the unions. In its latest announcement the ministry has indicated its willingness to increase pay for nurses and refers to bringing average nurses’ pay up from 89% to 100% of average earnings. While SOZZASS welcomes a commitment to increase pay for nurses it says that this should be as the result of collective bargaining and that all health workers deserve a pay rise.

New reports from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Eurofound research agency analyse developments in collective bargaining in the light of the pandemic and other important drivers of change. The ILO report provides an overview of developments in collective bargaining during the pandemic, focusing on seven countries – Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Belgium. The report argues that the role of strong sectoral collective bargaining institutions was particularly important, allowing sectoral actors to negotiate specific responses considering the impact and

The FNV trade union is warning that government funding plans for prison services will have a major negative impact on staff and inmates. A recent report by consultants PwC says that an additional €398 million is needed to adequately finance services over the next 10 years. In response the government says it does not want to invest more than €170 million and so is effectively proposing a cut of €200 million. The FNV argues that the government approach will have serious implications for work pressure and safety. The union says that there have been staff shortages and high workloads for years

The vpod/ssp public services union says that it is totally unacceptable that certain workers in the care sector are denied basic working time rights. At the moment they face long working days without breaks, double shifts and hours that are not properly registered. Socio-educational staff in care institutions are currently excluded from the working hours provisions in the labour code. The union argues that these workers perform difficult tasks that are often not recognized, although they are essential for the functioning of society and the quality of service to residents can suffer if

The debate over a shorter working week continues next month with a hybrid conference on 20-21 October – “A 4-day week in Europe: how to get real working time reduction”. Organised by the European Network for the Fair Sharing of Working Time, the conference will cover practical examples of working time reduction in both public and private sectors, including the major move to a shorter working week in Iceland. There will also be contributions from trade unionists from Switzerland and France. Another conference supported by the European Trade Union Institute will focus on the impact of labour

As European trade unions and employers gear up for the cross-sector negotiations on telework that are set to begin next month, the Eurofound research agency has published a new report that maps and analyses legislation and collective bargaining on telework in the 27 Member States and Norway. It covers the main differences and similarities in telework legislation and notes recent changes to these regulations. The report reveals some of the challenges of telework in relation to access, flexible working time, continuous availability/connectivity, isolation, occupational and health risk prevention