Strike, Spain, Norway

Care workers in the Basque region are engaged in long-term struggles to secure better pay and conditions and higher quality services for the elderly. Members of the ELA trade union working in residential care in Gipuzkoa province are set to take another 31 days of strike action from 11 November to 11 December, taking the total number of days to 149. Meanwhile the ELA, LAB, UGT and USO unions in Bizkaia province are coordinating action in home care. This follows 27 days of strike action in 2018 and a dozen days in 2017 in a campaign to end a seven-year pay freeze, improve health and safety and

After three weeks of selective strike action in hospitals involving several public service unions, the government has used its powers to force an end to the action and refer the matter to a national labour tribunal which will meet in October. The strike was over pensions and ensuring that all hospital workers have a right to a pension from the first Krone earned. The government claimed a threat to health when the unions decided to step up the action. It has intervened in this way in the past, most recently in November 2018 in a dispute involving the NSF nurses' union (see epsucob@NEWS 22, 2018

The FSC-CCOO public services federation is organising a series of two-hour strikes in state museums and theatres in October and November. The union is protesting against the fact that workers in the sector are not properly covered by the collective agreement for the state sector. In particular, the union wants to ensure professional status for these workers and reduce the extent of temporary contracts. The strikes will begin on 25 October and will take place on 10 different dates up to 24 November with specific dates for different institutions.

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT have taken the government to task over the failure to implement a series of agreements. Around 200 FSC-CCOO activists protested outside the public services directorate on 9 July over employment, equality and, pay and other issues. The union wants action over jobs to make up some of the 43,000 that have been cut over the past 10 years. They also highlight the failure to properly implement equality plans and are calling for last year's agreement on pay to be put into effect to partially compensate for the 14% fall in purchasing power since austerity measures were in

FSC-CCOO, FeSP-UGT and the other unions involved in strike action at the Ministry of Justice made sure their claims were heard at EU level when they organised a demonstration in Logroño to coincide with a meeting of justice ministers from across Europe. The protest was the latest action in the long-running dispute where the unions are demanding pay increases for the majority of workers in the ministry in line with increases already awarded specifically to lawyers. They also want measures to establish a fair salary system and improve career development. The next steps will depend on who forms

Public sector unions have negotiated a wage settlement with the Virke employers’ organisation that includes private and non-profit companies delivering public services. The deal is in line with the settlement in the government sector, with a 2.7% pay increase but with a flat rate payment of NOK 1,500 (EUR 145) at all salary levels, backdated to 1 May. In addition, there is NOK 4,000 (EUR 390) for the lower paid and an equal pay supplement starting at NOK 3,800 (EUR 370) and falling by NOK 200 (EUR 20) for each move up the salary scale. A further 1.8% is set aside for local negotiations, with

The FSC-CCOO public services federation organised a protest outside the General Directorate of Public Administration on 15 October in anticipation of a series of one-day strikes by theatre and museum staff. The dispute is over two issues. The first is the demand that museum security staff should be on the E2 pay grade and not the only group of workers stuck on the E1 grade. The second issue relates to access to technical jobs at the INAEM cultural agency and the failure to recognise certain training and qualification. FSC-CCOO argues that the INAEM should be fully integrated into the IV

On 3 September, employees in the opera, theatre and orchestras sector went on strike to demand a pension scheme that works equally for women and men and lasts a lifetime. On September 8, the strike escalated further and then more workers joined the strike after an unsuccessful mediation on 30 September. Another escalation occurred on 18 October before the dispute was finally resolved on 25 October. A new hybrid pension scheme will now be introduced ensuring equal treatment of men and women. In the employers’ original offer women would have lost out by as much as NOK 1000 (€100) a month and NOK

Six trade unions are coming together to take strike action over jobs and precarious employment in the public sector in the Basque region. The unions are responding to the failure of the regional government to address public employment and the persistently high levels of temporary contracts across the public sector. Action is planned for 22 April across all the main public services – municipalities, health, education, general administration, justice, public transport, public media and other sectors. The unions want to see the thousands of temporary workers who have been crucial to tackling the

The UNIO trade union confederation whose members cover workers with higher education has been pushing for higher pay deals in three negotiations – national local government, Oslo municipality and public companies represented by the employers’ organisation, Spekter. The NSF nurses’ union is one of UNIO’s members involved in the strikes and negotiations and they are calling for higher pay for nurses to tackle major staff shortages. The government has stepped in to end strikes in local government and the Oslo municipality on the grounds, rejected by the trade unions, that the actions pose a

Public service federations in the CCOO, FeSP-UGT along with ELA and other trade unions coordinated strike action across public services in the Navarra region on 15 February. The unions are calling for increased funding for regional government to guarantee quality, universal and free public services for all. They are also seeking an increase in pay to begin to recoup the 20% loss in purchasing power over the past decade. Other demands include a commitment by the regional authority to reach the long-standing target of having only 8% of all workers on temporary contracts as well as initiatives on

Following successful strike action in private childcare providers last autumn represented by the PBL employers’ organisation, the Fagforbundet trade union is again calling its members out on strike this time in the companies that are part of the NHO employers’ organisation. The aim is to ensure that workers in NHO companies are entitled to pensions on the same basis as municipal workers and those in the PBL agreement. This means a pension guaranteed for life and on a gender-equal basis and with some protection against the fluctuations of the stock market. Strikes began in a first group of

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

Trade unions, including FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT, are mobilising for what could be an indefinite strike of the 45,000 civil servants in the various bodies and agencies of the Ministry of Justice. The strike will begin on Monday, 17 April with partial stoppages from 10 am to 13 pm every day. On 19 April, a strike will be called for the whole day along with a national demonstration. The action follows the refusal of the Ministry to put forward a decent pay increase, in line with the demands on and responsibilities of workers. The unions say that the Ministry has recognised the need to adjust the

The FSS-CCOO, FeSP-UGT and other trade unions representing workers in the Ministry of Justice are stepping up their campaign of industrial action in what has become a long-running dispute over pay and restructuring. Partial stoppages of three hours a day earlier this month helped ensure a start to new negotiations with the Ministry but so far without positive results. Full day strike action is now planned for 4 May along with a national protest outside the Ministry. Further all-out action will then follow on 9-11 and 16-18 May.