13 epsucob@NEWS July 2009
Minister makes no concessions to union demands on pay
Public service trade unions were very disappointed following a meeting with minister Eric Woerth on 25 June. Woerth simply reaffirmed the government’s commit to pay general salary increases of 0.5% (1.7.09) and 0.3% (1.10.09) this year with a further 0.5% next year. Unions have been looking for a much higher overall increase to compensate for several years when pay rises have fallen behind inflation. Woerth said bonuses and other payments would ensure higher increases for civil servants. The union response was to reiterate their call for a general, guaranteed increase rather than
Negotiations end with no progress for educational and social workers
Negotiations between services union ver.di and the VKA local government employers’ organisation broke down with no progress on two key issues. The union wanted a revaluation of jobs in childcare and education in particular, taking account of increased workloads and responsibilities. However, the employers offered only a small increase in salaries that would benefit only one in five workers, while rest would either get nothing or would actually lose out. The VKA also refused to support a new collective agreement that would address the health concerns of education and social workers arising from
Energy unions focus on directors' pay as strikes continue despite legal threats
Strike action in the energy sector is continuing despite legal threats from employers. Unions are looking for a 5% pay increase but the employers have not budged on the 0.3% paid at the beginning of the year. To highlight their arguments the unions have revealed salary details for directors at the ERdF and GRdF distribution companies where overall executive saw their pay increase by 14% between 2007 and 2008. Strike action at nuclear power stations has continued in the fact of legal threats by employers although EDF decided to withdraw its court action to try to block a call for strike action
Survey shows variation in training across EU
A study by the Eurostat statistics agency reveals the wide range in the level of adult education and training across Europe. The Nordic countries and the UK are those with the highest levels of adult participation in formal and informal education and training, most of which is provided by employers. The study also looks at levels of participation according to skill levels and the lowest levels of participation are found among low-skill jobs. Read more at > Eurostat (EN)
Union calls national strike over workers' rights
The STAL public sector union has called a national strike for 17 July in protest at the threat posed to workers’ rights in municipal companies and private contractors supplying services to local government. Some local authorities are refusing to comply with arrangements to protect workers’ rights when they transfer from municipal employment and the government has so far not taken action to clarify the situation. Read more at > STAL (PT)
New parental leave agreement signed
Following negotiations in the cross-sectoral social dialogue, a new agreement on parental leave has been signed by employment commissioner Vladimir Spidla. The original framework agreement was signed in 1995 and transposed into a directive in 1996. This is the first agreement to be re-negotiated and the main change means that workers are entitled to an extra month’s leave, up from three to four months. There will also be a new right to request flexible working arrangements. Read more at > ETUC (EN) And in French at > CES
Confederation pushes sexual equality up the agenda
Finland’s largest trade union confederation, SAK, is calling for more action to deal with the issue of equal treatment of sexual and gender minorities at work. The confederation argues for the need for wider acceptance of diversity at the workplace and within trade unions in order to achieve real equality. An important part of SAK’s campaign will be to monitor collective agreements and to use the forthcoming bargaining round in the autumn to eradicate any regulations in collective agreements that discriminate against sexual and gender minorities. [Read more at > SAK (EN)->http://www.sak.fi
Unions pleased by initial results of their precarious work campaign
Public service unions have welcome two key developments that mean that government plans to lay-off thousands of fixed-term workers will be delayed. The final date for discussing the legislation was set as 30 June but this has now been postponed while actual implementation of the measures will now be over the three-year period to 2012 rather than by December 2009. Unions will continue their campaign to protect precarious workers in the public sector and to get them transferred to permanent employment. [Read more at > FP-CGIL (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina
Unions criticise draft law on civil service mobility and careers
A draft law that would change the rules on civil servants’ job mobility and career progression is being debated in the National Assembly a year after being passed by the Senate. Unions are very worried about the implications of the legislation which they say will make it easier for public sector employers to make civil servants redundant during a restructuring and to make more use of fixed-term workers. The FO civil service trade union federation was planning to mobilise its members and take strike action in early July in protest at the proposals. [Read more at > CGT (FR)->http://www
Municipalities top pay rise league table
This year’s 4.5% pay increase for municipal workers is the highest of the main industrial sectors in Norway. The increase was actually negotiated last year as part of a two-year agreement. The next highest increases came in business (4.4%) and health (4.0%), followed by central government (3.8%). Read more at > LO trade union news (NO)
Latest on provincial and local government negotiations
There are a number of key issues that are the focus of collective bargaining in both provincial and municipal government – purchasing power, employment, violence at work, career development and employment policies that take account of personal circumstances – such as parental leave, telework etc. Negotiations with provincial employers have made progress on the last two while working groups have been set up in the municipal negotiations to discuss these issues. The issue of pay is likely to be the toughest to negotiate with employers claiming that they have little room to manoeuvre as a result
Heritage workers balloted for strike action
Over 400 members of the PCS civil service union are being balloted for strike action in response to employer plans for a new two-tier pay system. The workers are employed at heritage sites around the current, such as Stonehenge, and PCS is concerned about the employer’s plans not just to have two levels of pay at the same workplace but to introduce regional rates of pay as well. Read more at > PCS (EN)
Send us your collective bargaining news
We try to ensure that epsucob@NEWS keeps readers up-to-date with the latest developments in collective bargaining and social dialogue in the public services across Europe. In the last six months we have covered over 130 news items from more than 25 countries and you can check out the country-by-country index of stories on our website. However, there are still gaps in our coverage and we want to encourage readers to send us their collective bargaining news – details of agreements, developments in negotiations and strikes and reports and surveys that might be of interest to collective bargaining