Iceland
Nurses, police and other public sector workers are in the process of confirming new collective agreements following strike action. The workers concerned were trying to ensure that they weren't left behind other parts of the public sector where pay increases had already been negotiated. Part of the deal involves new arrangements to ensure some consistency in pay across the public sector.
Read more at > BSRG (IS)
And at > Iceland Review (EN)
After lengthy and difficult negotiations a new two-year agreement in the hospital sector will be put to union members for their approval. The deal includes pay increases of 1% from 1 July 2009 and again from 1 July 2010. A lump sum payment worth 0.3% of salary will be paid on 1 September 2009 while the year-end bonus will rise to 6% in 2009, to 6.73% in 2010 and then 7.33% in 2011. Abvakabo sees this as a small step towards the goal of a 13th month payment. The agreement also included a new lifetime work-life balance policy that gives workers a yearly allocation of 35 hours that they can carry
After the general strike on 14 November and the final journey of the caravan of protest, local government union STAL will continue to organise actions and protests against the austerity measures aimed at public sector workers and public services. The caravan covered 9000 kilometres and organised public meetings up and down the country. The next actions are planned for parliament on 27 November, followed by demonstrations on 8 and 15 December. Read more at > STAL (PT)
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
