Finland, Estonia

In the light of the Vaxholm case in Sweden [read more at > EPSU->http://www.epsu.org/a/1489], the Finnish president has confirmed her support for the maintenance of an industrial relations system based on collective agreements. This comes shortly after an important court victory for the Finnish transport union, FSU, when a London court confirmed their right to take strike action to defend their pay and conditions. The union had taken action in protest at plans by the Viking Line shipping company to reflag its ferry Rosella to Estonia so it could employ an Estonian crew on much lower pay. The

According to the EIRO industrial relations observatory employers in the health sector claim they cannot afford to pay the 2006 salary increases that were agreed as part of the two-year deal signed in 2004. Unions are worried that failure to pay the increases and the action by the employers to undermine the collective bargaining system will lead to increase emigration by healthcare workers. The 2004 agreement allowed for pay increases of 50% doctors, 56% for nurses and 43.7% for medical carers over the two-year period. [Read more at > EIRO->http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2006/02/inbrief

At the beginning of March the council of ROTAL the main public administration union passed a resolution detailing a wide range of demands on pay, conditions and collective bargaining. It criticised the government for implementing decrees on the pay of state officials and workers in state institutions without taking account of any of the ROTAL's proposed revisions. The union is also unhappy that public sector pay has failed to keep up with inflation and government proposals to cut income tax will hit the funding of state organisations. The resolution contains a list of specific demands on

The two-and-a-half-year national pay agreement signed at the end of 2004 includes a provision for pay increases in 2006 to benefit the low paid and women workers in particular. On average rises for all workers should work out at 2.5% in 2005 and 2.1% in 2006. But higher increases for the low paid in 2005 and the 0.3% equality supplement for 2006 mean that over the course of the agreement workers in the cleaning sector, for example, should see pay rise by 5.1% while increases in the technology sector will be around 4.5%. EIRO also reports that around two-thirds of public sector workers are now

Prison guards and other personnel took three hours of strike action on 18 May in protest at government plans to cut personnel by over 10%. They are particularly concerned about the health and safety implications of the job cuts.

The emergency and related services in Estonia - the police, prisons and fire services - are finding very difficult to recruit staff because of low pay with many workers moving abroad. According to one survey 40% of police officers left the force because of low pay. Better pay for emergency service workers and other state employees is one of a number of demands called for by the ROTAL union and supported by EPSU in a letter to the Estonian Prime Minister. [Read more at > EIRO (EN)->http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2006/05/articles/ee0605029i.html] [And at > EPSU (EN)->http://www.epsu.org/a/2216