Backing for collective agreements

The ETUC has welcomed the European Parliament’s vote last month in support of a report drafted by Jan Andersson (European Socialist Party) on challenges to collective agreements in the European Union. There was a large majority favour, including votes from the European People’s Party. Andersson’s report outlines the deep concerns about the rulings of the European Court of Justice in the Viking, Laval, Rüffert and Commission versus Luxembourg cases and emphasises that economic freedoms, such as the freedom to provide services, are not superior to fundamental rights, such as the right of trade

New legislation will come into effect next month that will impose tougher sanctions on employers who fail to pay the minimum wage that has been negotiated in their sector. Restrictions on migration to Austria from the EU Member States in central and Eastern Europe will end at the beginning of May and the ÖGB trade union confederation argued for the new law on minimum wages to ensure that neither domestic nor foreign employers could exploit the opening of the labour market to avoid paying collectively agreed minimum wage rates. [Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)->http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet

Members of public sector unions have voted by a large majority to accept the pay agreement negotiated earlier this year. The agreement runs from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2026 and provides for pay improvements worth 9.25% but because of flat-rate elements this rises to 17.3% for lower paid workers. This agreement also provides specific provisions for local bargaining, which will give trade unions the scope to negotiate up to an additional 3% of pay costs, inclusive of allowances, for particular grades, groups or categories of employee. The agreement also sees the full and final unwinding of