2010 January epsucob@NEWS 01
Government agrees to waste sector minimum wage
Ver.di has welcomed the government’s decision to implement a minimum wage of €8.02 an hour in the waste sector. The union had been concerned that the new coalition, involving the FDP liberal party, that came to power last year would not fulfil the commitment of the previous government to introduce a minimum wage for the sector. However, federal employment minister Ursula von der Leyen signed the regulation in December so that it would come into effect in January. Ver.di estimates that around 20,000 workers are likely to be better off with some having been employed on wages as low as €4 an hour
Low paid civil servants benefit from equal pay deal
The NIPSA public service union in Northern Ireland has negotiated an equal pay deal that will benefit around 13,000 low paid civil servants. Workers in three main grades will move on to new pay structures with the changes adding around £25 million to the civil service pay bill. Administrative workers in the AA grade, for example, will move from a pay structure with a range of £13,130-£14,420 a year to one where the salaries start at £13,280 and rise to £17,108. [Read more at > NIPSA (EN)->http://www.nipsa.org.uk/Sectors/Civil-Service/News/NICS--EQUAL-PAY-OFFER-BALLOT-RESULTS] [And at > NIPSA
Municipal union calls for higher pay, greater equality and stronger agreements
Municipal union Kommunal is looking for a pay increase of at least 620 SKr (€61) (2.6%) this year along with higher pay increases (745 SKr (€73)) in sectors where women predominate to help close the gender pay gap. The union also wants to see a strong central agreement backed up with local collective agreements to ensure that there is a clear link between the main pay negotiations and bargaining at local level. The other main bargaining issues include the need to reduce the use of temporary workers, improvements to working conditions and greater equality in terms of gender, race, age, religion
Unions challenge outsourcing claims
The FOA and OAO trade union organisations have questioned the conclusions of a report that claims municipalities can achieve 15%-20% cost savings if they outsource local care services. FOA and OAO undertook a review of the report that was published in November by the Procurement Council. The unions challenge the savings achieved and suggest that this is normally because private firms used staff with lower levels of training than in the municipal sector and rely more on part-time workers and pay no overtime. [Read more at > FOA (DK)->http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse.aspx?newsid={50A05217-B080
Government attacked over nurses' pay
Trade unions have criticised health minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin for what they see as misleading statements about proposed increases to nurses’ pay. The unions say that her claims that nurses will see their pay rise by €2500 only applies to a small proportion of specialist nurses and that this will only be from 2016. For new starters nurses’ pay will be worth 20% more than the minimum wage from 2016. In contrast, at the beginning of the 1980s starting salaries for nurses were worth 50% more than the minimum wage. Unions are particularly angry about proposals to remove the right to retire
Unions co-ordinate action in four cities over health sector pay
Negotiations over pay for 80,000 health and social services workers in the private sector were broken off on 21 December. Union members are seriously disappointed with the employers’ latest offer of a 1.17% pay increase. The increase on some pay rates and allowances would only be 0.9% and the employers also want to abolish the 50% additional payment for working the 39th and 40th hours each week. Works council members are being co-ordinated in demonstrations taking place in four cities on 14 January before negotiations reconvene on 21 January. [Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)->http://www.gpa-djp.at
Referendum reveals massive majority against pay freeze
Municipal workers voted overwhelmingly against a two-year pay freeze in a referendum organised by the trade unions. The VNG employers’ organisation rejected the result. It argued that there was only an 18% turnout and assumed that those who didn’t vote supported the pay freeze. The unions pointed out that the turnout would have been higher had the employers not refused to facilitate the referendum. [Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/abvakabo-fnv-vindt-reactie-vng-bizar] [And at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)->http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/VNG_slaat_plank_mis_met
Unions sign equality agreement with water company
The FSC-CCOO and FIA-UGT trade union federations have signed a new agreement on gender equality with Aqualia, one of the biggest water companies in Spain that provides services for 850 municipalities. The agreement requires the unions and employer to work together on a range of issues, including employment, training, promotion and pay. It also covers sexual harassment, one issue on which the company already had an agreement. Read more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)
Union disputes claims about pay cuts in the private sector
The IMPACT trade union has criticised the government for pushing ahead with plans for pay cuts in the public sector on the basis of claims that this was a trend in the private sector. However, a survey by consultants Mercer found only 9% of companies cutting pay while the majority of employers looking to reduce salary costs implemented pay freezes or used other methods such as unpaid leave. Read more at > IMPACT (EN)
Blue-collar unions highlight opposition to employers using more agency staff
EPSU affiliates SEKO and Transport are among a group of six trade unions in the LO confederation that is calling on employers not to dismiss workers and take on agency staff instead. A survey commissioned by the six unions shows that over 80% of workers would expect the unions to take action to stop employers replacing permanent staff with agency workers. The issue will be an important one in this year’s collective bargaining. [Read more at > SEKO (SV)->http://www.seko.se/default.asp?url=%2Fsearch%2Easp?pub%3Dwebbnyheter%26pid%3D12457%26query%3Dkfs] [And at > Transport (SV)->http://www
Call for better pay offer or better employment conditions
The vida trade union is demanding an improved pay offer for the 15,000 employees in private and non-profit health institutions. The union says that the current offer of 0.9% does not recognise the contribution made by employees but vida also wants to see improvements to employment conditions. It says that employers make excessive demands on employees both at work and being on-call and that there needs to be a much firmer arrangements for employees’ working time and time off. [Read more at > vida (DE)->http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03/Page/Index&n=S03_0.a&cid=1261480613105]
Hospital workers want to plug gaps in collective agreement
With negotiations set to begin over the main public sector agreement (federal and local government) members of ver.di in the hospital sector want to make sure their demands are dealt with. The union has been getting members involved in discussing the key demands by sending out questionnaires about the main issues. For example, unlike the rest of federal and local government, hospitals and old people’s homes are not covered by rules that take account of breaks in working time. This is the equivalent of 14 days a year and this extra time off would help hospital workers cope with increasing
Confederations criticise minimum wage increase
The CCOO and UGT trade union confederations have criticised the government for increasing the minimum wage by only 1.5% in 2010. They believe this calls into question the government’s commitment to achieve a €800 minimum wage by 2012. The rate will have to be increased by nearly 28% in just two years in order for the €800 target to be reached. The confederations support the idea that the level of the minimum wage should be at least 60% of average earnings. [Read more at > CCOO ES)->http://www.fsc.ccoo.es/webfsc/menu.do?Inicio:70476] [And at > UGT (ES)->http://www.ugt.es/actualidad/2009
Hospital workers strike to get nationally agreed pay
Cleaners, porters, cooks and other workers employed by the Sodexo company at North Devon District Hospital in the South West of England were due to take two days’ strike action on 4 January. They are protesting about the failure of the company and the hospital to ensure that the workers are paid in line with the national health sector agreement (Agenda for Change). Higher pay rates should have been introduced in as long ago as 2006. Read more at > UNISON (EN)