2012 February epsucob@NEWS 03
Two-day general strike against latest austerity measures
The ADEDY civil service and GSEE private sector confederations organised another general strike on 7 and 8 February in protest against the latest austerity proposals to come from the troika of the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank. The new measures include a 22% cut in the minimum wage, 15% cut to supplementary pensions and a further cut of 15,000 public sector jobs. The attacks on workers’ rights and social dialogue have been taken up by the ETUC and the ITUC global confederation. [Read more at > ADEDY (GR)->http://www.adedy.gr/adedy/site/home/ws.csp]
Over 150,000 demonstrate in Madrid over cuts and attacks on collective bargaining
The FSC-CCOO, FSP-UGT and other trade unions mobilised over 150,000 people on the streets of Madrid to protest against the cuts being imposed by the regional government. The unions are particularly angry about the increase in the working week from 35 to 37.5 hours and cuts to sick pay. Unions estimate that the increase in hours could lead to 8000 job cuts. They say the imposed measures are also an attack on their collective bargaining rights. [Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)->http://www.fspugt.es/l_rechazo_a_los_recortes_pblicos_congrega_a_miles_de_personas_en_el_cnetro_de_Madrid_4f32228922dba.htm
Agreement over restructuring at E.ON in Germany
Ver.di and the IGBCE trade union have negotiated an agreement with the E.ON energy company over restructuring in Germany. The agreement runs until 2016 and covers issues such as early retirement, severance payments and the setting up of a company to deal with employment and training. The aim of the agreement is to avoid compulsory redundancies. The E.ON 2.0 restructuring programme will involve around 6,000 job cuts in Germany out of a worldwide total of 11,000. Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Conflict at E.ON in Italy over restructuring
The Italian unions organizing workers in EON have officially informed management that there is a conflict with the company as a first step in what could escalate in full blown industrial action. No overall social plan exists for the company, nor at Italian level. The company is violating the agreements to invest and upgrade its production capacity. Concretely workers are threatened with forced dismissal in its operation in Sardinia. The unions have also informed the European Works Council. EPSU supports the Italian unions in their demands for a just solution. EPSU affiliates involved are CGIL
Unions target employers' negotiating team in support of pay claim
Following a day of action on 1 February, involving over 6,000 protesters in four cities, the vida and GPA-DJP service trade unions are planning other activities in support of their pay claim for the 100,000 workers in the private health sector. The actions will target the head offices of the employers who make up the negotiating team. The unions understand that the employers are, to a certain extent, restrained by the amount of funding they get from the authorities but the unions believe they could be doing more to increase the level of funding. [Read more at > vida (DE)->http://www.vida.at
Municipality angers unions with response to legal challenge
Trade unions involved in the long-running dispute over pay cuts at Southampton City Council in the south of England are taking legal action over the authority’s failure to consult properly over redundancies and over the unfair dismissal of 1,000 workers. The response of the Council was to allocate £600000 (€715000) from the money it has saved on salaries to a fund to pay compensation. The unions are planning a demonstration on 15 February outside the Council and a major demonstration in the City on 10 April. [Read more at > Unison (EN)->http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=7584]
Union sets deadline for local government employers
The FNV Abvakabo trade union has called on local government employers to respond to its claims by 13th February. The union wants a job security agreement, a pay increase to protect purchasing power and more investment in permanent staff rather than temporary workers. It has rejected an offer from the employers that would mean a pay increase of only 1% over 31 months. Abvakabo argues that initiatives to retrain workers and find them alternative jobs will end up saving the authorities millions in the cost of unemployment benefit. CNV Publieke Zaak has also rejected the employers’ offer and is
EPSU Collective Bargaining Seminar and Conference
EPSU, with support from the ETUI training institute, will be organising a seminar on collective bargaining on 23-25 May in Brussels. The aim of the seminar will be to discuss the need to improve the coordination of collective bargaining policy and information in response to the introduction of the system of economic governance across the EU. The meeting is also seen as the first meeting of a collective bargaining network within EPSU. There will also be a collective bargaining conference this year on 13-14 December. Further information on the seminar will be available soon. For further
Equal pay victory for council workers in north west England
Around 1000 women workers at Bury council in north west England are set to benefit from an equal pay deal negotiated with the unions. The women, working mainly in care, cleaning and catering jobs, have been paid less than the predominantly male workforce in comparable jobs. The council has decided to agree to the long-running claim before it was due to go the Court of Appeal. Read more at > Unison (EN)
Firefighters' unions plan strike over breakdown in social dialogue
Following a 10,000-strong demonstration last November, four firefighters’ unions are continuing to coordinate action against proposals to reorganise the fire service. The unions argue that there has been no real social dialogue over the changes and they have announced 24-hour strike action and are mobilising for another national demonstration on 15 February. [Read more at > CGT Services Publics (FR)->http://www.spterritoriaux.cgt.fr/spip.php?article5227] [And at > CFDT Interco (FR)->http://www.cfdt.fr/rewrite/article/38090/secteur-professionnel/sdis/communique-sapeurs-pompiers:l-intersyndicale
Union rejects lower pay for young workers
The Kommunal local government union has rejected a proposal by the mayor of Stockholm that workers under the age of 25 should be offered jobs on pay rates at 75% of the minimum of the collective agreement. The union argues that there is a high demand for workers, particularly in the social care sector, but these workers need to be properly trained. It says it is willing to negotiate about the provision of training for young workers and also calls for more funding from central government. [Read more at > Kommunal (SV)->http://www.kommunal.se/Kommunal/Nyheter/2012/Ungdomsloner-ger-inga-nya-jobb/
Unions to negotiate on changes to allowances for new workers
The Impact public services union is calling for overtime rates to be maintained and low-paid workers to be protected in advance of negotiations over cuts to allowances. Workers newly recruited to the public sector or those promoted to new jobs are set to lose some allowances. The government has said that certain allowances – such as those for arduous work or unsocial hours – will be maintained but others will be cut. The unions have underlined the need to keep to the consultation requirements of the Croke Park national agreement and argue that while overtime hours have been cut there should be
National strike over rights of subcontracted workers
On 8 February the Histradut trade union confederation organised a nationwide strike over the government’s use of subcontracted workers in different sectors. Unions have been calling for better pay and conditions and full employment rights for around 400000 subcontractors’ employees. While the government has indicated it will improve pay and conditions it has not agreed on full employment rights. Read more at > CNN news website (EN)
Study supports positive role of general applicability of collective agreements
Researchers at the Hans Böckler Foundation have provided evidence to a parliamentary committee on employment and social affairs to show the importance of the general applicability of collective agreements to stabilising the coverage of collective bargaining. Currently around 60% of workers in Germany are covered by collective agreements, down from 75% at the end of the 1990s. In contrast, the coverage rate in other western European countries is higher where collective agreements are applied across the sector, even where employers are not direct signatories to the agreement. [Read more at >
Pay deal for council workers in Carinthia
The GDG-KMSfB union has negotiated a pay deal for employees of local authorities in the Carinthia region. There is a 2.56% increase plus a flat-rate rise of €11,10 a month. This is the same as the main agreement negotiated at federal level but applies from 1.4.2012 rather than 1.2.2012. There will be further negotiations in 2013 in contrast to the arrangements covering employees of the regional government in Carinthia who get the same increase in 2012 but a pay freeze in 2013 and in 2014 the increase will be the same as at federal level. [Read more at > GDG-KMSfB (DE)->http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at
Welcome for legal change on sickness while on holiday
The FOA public services union has congratulated the government on changing working time legislation to ensure that workers who fall ill while on paid leave are entitled to take more paid leave to cover this period of sickness. This should have been implemented as long ago as 2004 but the law only applied when workers fell ill before the paid leave started. The union criticised previous governments for failing to deal with the issue to the detriment of thousands of workers. Read more at > FOA (DK)
Unions meet employers over private waste agreement
After two days of strike action on 16-17 January, the four main trade unions in the private waste sector – FP-CGIL, Fit-CISL, UIL Transport and Fiadel – met the ANCI employers’ association on 26 January. The unions have been in dispute over a long delay in re-negotiating a collective agreement for the sector and are concerned about pressure to liberalise waste services. The ANCI has agreed to further talks. Read more at > FP-CGIL (IT)
Workers reject pay offer in waste sector
Members of both the FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak trade unions have overwhelmingly rejected the pay offer from employers in the environmental and waste sector. During the negotiations the employers had proposed a 24-month deal with an overall increase of 3.5% but then came up with a last-minute offer of 2.5% over 19 months. Negotiators in both trade unions had recommended rejection of the offer. The two unions are now seeking to re-open negotiations. [Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/werknemers-wijzen-nieuwe-cao-afval-milieu-af] [And at > CNV
Union sets out its main demands in negotiations covering church employees
The Vision white-collar trade union has listed the main demands in upcoming negotiations with the Swedish Church covering 4,300 employees. The union is looking for a minimum increase of 3.6% and changes to pay to ensure that church workers are paid at the same level as workers doing similar jobs in other organisations. Vision also wants better pay and conditions for temporary workers and for younger employees. Read more at > Vision (SV)
Union federation highlights fall in real wages
The FP-CISL public services federation has highlighted recent data from the ISTAT statistics agency showing that public sector pay fell by 1.9% in real terms last year, the biggest drop since 1995. The government has frozen public sector pay for 2012 and 2013 but FP-CISL is calling for pay negotiations and argues that it is possible to fund pay rises through reorganisation and restructuring of public services. [Read more at > FP-CISL (IT)->http://www.fp.cisl.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2691:dati-istat-i-salari-pubblici-perdono-potere-dacquisto-faverin-pronti-a-dare