Latvia, Finland

Latvian trade unions have organised nationwide protests culminating in a national demonstration in Riga on 1 October. The unions are protesting that poverty levels remain high. They are urging the government to increase salaries, pension entitlements and health care coverage to reflect cost of living increases.

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

Many workers in state services, particularly the low paid, should benefit from a new salary structure, according to the EIRO industrial relations observatory. The new system is being introduced to replace a wide range of different arrangements which had created large variations in pay rates for similar jobs across the state sector. Although trade unions were not directly involved in negotiations over the new system they welcome the impact it will have on lower pay rates. The employees affected are all those in services funded from the state budget - ministries, institutions under the control

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.