Gas, Electricity
Pan-European Conference on Public Utilities
EPSU’s Pan-European Conference on Public Utilities is back! Join us online on Tuesday, 10 May 2022 for the opening proceedings and a panel discussion on an issue that is only becoming more important: rising energy prices, and how unions can take action.
Pay deal in electricity industry
The GPA and PRO-GE trade unions have negotiated a new collective agreement that provides an annual pay increase from 1 February of at least 3.6% with lower paid workers getting up to 4.0%. This takes the minimum monthly salary in the sector to €2,069.52. Allowances will increase by 3.85% while pay for apprentices will go up by an average of just over 6%. Other elements in the agreement include how previous periods of services are credited when workers are transferred to other employers and an increase of the overtime supplement to 50% for part-time workers.
EPSU and 44 civil society actors call on EU to deliver on Renovation Wave commitment to tackle energy poverty
Over 45 NGOs, trade unions and social justice groups have sent an open letter to the EU Commission today, urging them to start tackling energy poverty by delivering on its commitment to deep renovate over 35 million homes.
Building skills in the electricity sector: final steps for the joint European social partner’s project
The Skills2Power project (‘Strengthen the Role of National Social Partners and VET Providers to Build Skills Intelligence in the Electricity Sector’) concludes after four years of successful activities.
Union ends long-running dispute with gas company
The GMB energy and general union declared an end to the long and bitter dispute with British Gas over its aggressive policy of firing and rehiring workers. GMB members voted three to one to accept a new deal. Around 7,000 British Gas engineers staged 44 days of strike action after the company threatened to sack them if they didn’t sign up to detrimental changes to their terms and conditions. The new deal offers improvements to overtime rates and unsocial hours payments, places limits on the amount of unsocial working undertaken, reverses the decision to close the defined benefit pension scheme
Unions mobilise over outsourcing and the recovery
Trade unions in the electricity and waste sectors reported very high levels of support for their industrial action and protests on 30 June. The unions want article 177 of the procurement code to be deleted as they argue that it requires widespread outsourcing across their sectors, posing a major threat to jobs and working conditions. They say that if the article is not deleted there will be increasing fragmentation of these industries and it will undermine initiatives towards a circular economy and low carbon energy sector. Meanwhile, the three main confederations have also been mobilising to