Central government

While action in the health service has been paused as trade unions consult members of the government’s pay offer, the campaign of strikes and industrial action across central government continues. The PCS trade union has called its third day of national action for 28 April following the strikes on 1 and 15 March. In the meantime its targeted campaign across different government departments continues. The union is also balloting more than 120000 workers across 186 government employers to join the action. Members UNISON at the Environment Agency are also maintaining their campaign of industrial

The Publisind federation organised a national protest on 24 March over a range of issues related to pay, allowances and pensions. It argues that the government should address aspects of pay that haven’t been revised for 13 years, deliver on salary arrears and ensure the updating and indexation of pensions for police and prison staff. The union says urgent action is needed to support workers who are attempting to maintain services despite the risks they face and the staff shortages reaching 25%, leading to high levels of overtime and burnout.

Public service trade unions, including SDLSN and HSMSS-MT, have expressed major concerns at the attempt by the government to rush to set up a new pay system covering the 240,000 workers in the public sector. The unions argue that there are many factors at play covering different groups of workers that make it impossible to complete negotiations by the end of June. The government says that the changes are needed as part of the reforms required by the European Union for Croatia to access funds from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. The unions are worried that legislation will be put

The three public service federations – FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA – continue to mobilise their members in both the Ministry of Justice and the INAIL institute that provides compensation for workplace accidents. While progress has been made at the Ministry of Justice and some agreements signed the unions are concerned that there is no further commitment to negotiate on a new collective agreement and on some specific issues such as smart working. Meanwhile, at the INAIL members of FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA have organized actions around the country, including an occupation of the main offices

The FSC-CCOO public services federation is continuing to challenge the management of the ITSS Labour and Social Security Inspectorate over its failure to properly implement an agreement signed in July 2021 and the block on the agreement imposed by the Ministry of Finance. The union is planning further mobilisations over the coming weeks with a new call for strike action likely in May, including a threat to take indefinite action if the management and government fail to react. The federation is conscious of the impact of industrial action on those dependent on the ITSS’s services but argues

The PCS civil service union has been running a targeted campaign of industrial action to support its claim for higher pay and in defence of pensions and jobs. A nationwide action was organised on 1 March and then again on 15 March another national strike took place to coincide with the announcement of the government’s budget. The campaign of industrial action continues with various government agencies targeted with a series of one- and two-day strikes until the end of March. Meanwhile, some health service unions have suspended strike action during talks with the government over pay. However

Nurses in Portugal have been involved in strike action in both private and public sectors. The SEP trade union organised a one-day strike on 16 March over pay, hours and other conditions in the private sector and it joined a larger strike across public services on 17 March with similar demands and involving other public service trade unions, including STAL.

After seven years with no update to the main public sector framework agreement the Histradut trade union organisation reports that negotiations have delivered a salary increase of 11% over the next four years up to April 2027 along with a lump sum of NIS 6,000 (€1575) designed to help cope with the cost of living. Workers will get a two-hour cut in working week from 42 to 41 hours in June 2023 and from 41 to 40 hours in January 2025. There will also be special salary adjustments for a range of occupations, particularly in health and social care. Meanwhile, the union has negotiated an agreement

The ver.di trade union is organising further warning strikes following what it regards as a wholly inadequate pay offer from employers in federal and local government. The union is seeking a 10.5% pay increase with a minimum of €500 a month for the 2.5 million workers covered by the agreement. The employers, however, have offered only 3% by the end of 2023 and 2% in mid-2024 in what would be a 27-month agreement. There would also be lump sum payments of €1000 and €1500. The next steps in the campaign of warning strikes involve trainees and local transport workers. The third round of bargaining

The government has initiated pay talks with the RCN nursing union in England which has suspended strike action for the time being. However, the government has not engaged with other health unions that are currently involved in industrial action. Members of the UNISON trade union across the ambulance service and other parts of the health service are taking action on 8 March, including several workplaces where a re-ballot of members delivered the required majority for strike action. Health workers have also been taking action in Northern Ireland. Ambulance workers represented by the GMB union

The three main federations in the public services – ACV/CSC, CGSP/ACOD and SLPF/VSOA – have called for a week of action from 6 to 10 March to highlight the staffing and funding crisis facing all parts of the sector. The federations will be coordinating a series of actions with calls to strengthen public services with more public investment and funding and end the push for privatisation. They also want to see improvements to pay and conditions to make public services more attractive to work in and especially to stop the attacks on public service pensions. Finally, the federations want to see

The FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA trade union federations are coordinating a national protest of workers in the Ministry of Justice on 10 March in order to put pressure on the ministry to negotiate with the unions over a range of measures essential to improve services. The unions highlight the need to increase staffing through an emergency recruitment plan along with action on pay and conditions, career development and initiatives to reduce precarious work. The unions have been raising all these issues for months but have received no response or indication of a willingness to negotiate.

The SEP nurses’ union has called for a day of strike action on 16 March in the private hospitals that are part of the APHP employers’ organisation. The main demands include a 35-hour week for all, a pay increase of 10% and similar increases on allowances, 25 days’ paid leave a year, improved unsocial hours payments and a higher meal allowance. Public sector unions in the Frente Comum are also continuing their campaign for better pay with a strike in public administration on 17 March and national demonstration on the 18th.

With the UK government still refusing to negotiate on pay, the RCN nursing union is planning its biggest strike action so far for 48 hours from the morning of 1 March to the morning of 3 March. It will impact 128 NHS employers across England and involve all members in workplaces with a mandate to strike. This follows the two days of strikes on 6-7 February which were already a step up from the level of action in December. In the same week ambulance workers also maintained their campaign over pay with action spread over several days involving UNISON, Unite and the GMB and with more areas voting

A one-day strike by ver.di members at airports around the country took place on 17 February partly in support of the negotiations in federal and municipal government and partly in support of separate negotiations in ground handling services and aviation security. On 13 February, ver.di members around the country submitted early years education plans to local archives and museums as a gesture to highlight that they are currently impossible to implement. The union estimates that childcare services currently lack of 170,000 trained staff. Ver.di has also negotiated an agreement on staffing at the