23 epsucob@NEWS November 2009
Federation takes strike action over trade union rights
KESK, one of the Turkish trade union federations in the public sector, organised a national strike on 25 November in protest at the government’s continued failure to reform the labour laws and provide proper rights to strike, organise and collectively bargain in the public sector. Read more at > EPSU (EN) Read more at > KESK (TK)
Public sector unions plan further action after national strike
Public sector unions have called on the government to negotiate or face another national strike on 3 December. The unions’ action on 24 November was widely supported and was in protest at government proposals to make further cuts in public spending and public sector pay, despite already implementing cuts and imposing a 7% pension levy on all public sector workers. [Read more at > IMPACT (EN)-> http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/second-oneday-strike-thursday-december-renewed-talks-fail-n-287.html] [And at > SIPTU (EN)->http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2009/Name,11289,en.html] [Read more at
Public sector unions plan national action in December
The three main public sector union federations are all planning to protest against government policy on funding public sector pay. On 2 December the CISL FP and UIL FPL federations have called for a day of action demanding that the government honour agreements negotiated for the 2008-2009 period and ensure that funding will be available for the next bargaining round that will cover the three years 2010-2012. The FP-CGIL federation has called a national public sector strike on 11 December with a specific demand of a €150 a month increase over 2010-2012. The union has several other key demands
Ver.di calls on Chancellor to honour commitment to waste minimum wage
The ver.di services union has called on Chancellor Merkel to honour a commitment made by the previous Grand Coalition government to introduce a minimum wage in the waste sector. Following elections the new centre-right coalition now looks less like to endorse the sectoral minimum wage because of the influence of the FDP liberal party. Ver.di says that many workers in the waste industry face poverty wages of €4-€6 an hour whereas the initial target for the minimum wage in the sector would guarantee them €8.02 an hour. Wage dumping was one of a number of pay and conditions issues discussed at a
Federation takes strike action over trade union rights
KESK, one of the Turkish trade union federations in the public sector, organised a national strike on 25 November in protest at the government’s continued failure to reform the labour laws and provide proper rights to strike, organise and collectively bargain in the public sector. Read more at > EPSU (EN) Read more at > KESK (TK)
Unions demonstrate over plan to increase retirement age
On Saturday 21 November thousands of people joined union-organised demonstrations in Rotterdam, Assen, Deventer and Eindhoven against the government’s proposals to increase the state pension age from 65 to 67. A survey commissioned by the FNV trade union confederation found three quarters of people opposed to the increase and wanting the unions to campaign to stop it. Read more at > Abvakabo
Unions pleased with support for waste sector strike
The Italian unions organizing in the waste sector achieved a major success in their protest against the reforms of the government in the waste sector, 18 November 2009. With total or near stoppages of work in all regions, the unions are giving a strong signal to the government that the restructuring and privatization of the waste sector and companies does not have the support of workers. Unions are concerned about the impact on pay and conditions as well as quality of service if private companies took control of a larger share of the sector. [Read more at > FP-CGIL (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it
Unions disagree over EDF pay offer
The CGT, FO and CFTC unions have refused to sign a new pay agreement with EDF although the agreement is being implemented following the decision by the CFDT and CFE-CGC unions to sign. The deal involves a 1.2% general increase from January 2010, based on the predicted level of inflation next year. There is also 0.7% for individual increases, 0.3% related to changes to the pension system and 0.6% linked to seniority increases in the pay scale. During energy sector campaigning and strike action earlier this year unions had been looking for a 5% increase to compensate for a loss in purchasing
Strike action secures higher pay increase
Church employers, providing mainly health and social services, have finally conceded the first increase to pay rates since 2004 following several actions by members of ver.di in October 2008, May 2009 and again in September 2009. There are three elements to the pay increases. There is a flat-rate rise that benefits the lowest paid workers in particular, following the example of the public sector agreement negotiated in 2008. Then there are two percentage increases of 4% (backdated to 1 June 2009) and 1.5% in March 2010 (or from December 2009 for hospital workers covered by the agreement).
Trade unions call for big rise in minimum wage
Trade unions joined forces in a major demonstration in Lljubljana with two key demands. One was for a large increase in the national minimum wage from €430 to €600 and the other was for the government to withdraw its plans to increase the retirement age. Read more at > euronews (EN)
Gender pay gap widens in federal government
The VPÖD public service union has expressed concern about the latest statistics that show a widening of the gender pay gap among lower pay federal government workers. While there is some evidence of the pay gap narrowing among higher pay workers, the gap at lower levels rose from 6.7% in 2006 to 9.3% in 2008. Figures for local and cantonal (regional) government are not yet available but there past evidence has revealed a wider pay gap than at federal level. [Read more at > VPÖD (DE)->http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/lohnschere-oeffnet-sich-im-unteren-bereich.html?tx
No progress after fourth round of pay negotiations
The GDG and GÖD public sector unions have rejected the employers’ latest offer of a 0.5% pay increase. The unions have written a joint letter to the chancellor (prime minister) vice-chancellor arguing that they should immediately get involved in the negotiations as the current negotiators do not have a full mandate. At the moment the employers are even refusing to offer a rise in line with inflation (0.9%). [Read more at > GDG (DE)->http://www.gdg.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01/Page/Index&n=C01_0.b.a&cid=1256844887523] [And at > GÖD (DE)->http://www.goed.at/files/877/Information-4
Provincial pay negotiations collapse
Negotiations over the collective agreement covering provincial (regional) councils broke down as unions rejected the latest offer from the IPO employers’ organisation. The negotiations began over six months ago with the unions looking for a pay increase of around 1.5% but employers rejected both this and a job security agreement. The IPO has offered 1.2% but over 19 months, so effectively a 0.75% increase over 12 months and only 0.15% more than the previous offer. Read more at > Abvakabo (NL)
Council waste workers win pay dispute
After 12 weeks on strike, 300 workers at Leeds City Council’s refuse collection department have decided to return to work following guarantees by the council that their pay would not be cut. The council had threatened to cut pay by up to £6,000 a year for some employees. This was the council’s response to an equal pay claim and rather than increase pay rates for women, the council had wanted to cut the pay of the male dominated refuse collection service. [Read more at > UNISON (EN)->http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1657] [And at > GMB (EN)->http://www.gmb.org.uk
Call for workers to be protected whenever new energy providers win contracts
The public services union ver.di is arguing that local authorities should take responsibility for ensuring that workers’ pay and conditions are protected in the event of a change in energy provider. In many areas the 20-year concessions for electricity distribution are ending and local authorities have the opportunity to change provider. Ver.di points out that past evidence shows even small councils are capable of running local energy companies but that any change in provider has to take account of the employees affected and that they shouldn’t suffer any disadvantage from the transfer. [Read