Europe
EPSU’s collective bargaining and social dialogue conference will this year focus on the impact of pay cuts and pay freezes across the public services and union strategies to resist and reverse them. A research project looking at eight countries in particular will provide useful background information for conference participants. A draft agenda for the conference is available in 10 languages
Read more at > EPSU
A series of pay freezes have seen civil servants' salaries eroded by inflation since 2010. Pay is based on an index figure which was frozen between 2010 and 2016 and increased by only 0.6% in both 2016 and 2017 but frozen again this year. This means a loss of purchasing power of 6.79%. This translates into a monthly loss of pay of anything between EUR 117 and EUR 404 a month depending on the job. Increases in pensions contributions have meant a further cut in take-home pay. This is a longer term problem for civil servants as increases in the index point fell behind inflation in the period 2000
This year’s collective bargaining conference will have a special session on the pay cuts and their impact on public sector workers in the Baltic States, Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Romania and Spain. Participants will be able to discuss the findings of research from the Labour Research Department commissioned by EPSU as part of the conference project funded by the European Commission. TO REGISTER VISIT > EPSU
Public services union UNISON has called on local government employers to withdraw their demand for a pay freeze. The union argues that women will be most affected by a freeze as three out of four local government workers are women and two-thirds of them earn less £18,000 (€20,000) a year. Read more at > UNISON (EN)
