Slovenia, Latvia

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.

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

A change in legislation means that the national minimum wage is now set by an annual formula rather than as the result of tripartite consultation. The increase each year will be determined by the level of inflation and the nationally agreed pay rises for the public and private sectors. This year's increase is 2% for the year from 1 August to 31 July 2007. Trade unions had wanted a change in the law to establish the national minimum wage more firmly and not have it called into question in the annual negotiations. However, they did not want the annual increase to be removed from the tripartite

The Trade Union of Health and Social Care Employees of Latvia (LVSADA) organised a picket in the capital, Riga, on 8 March, calling for an increase in salaries and improvement of working conditions for social workers and women working in social care and assistance. The LVSADA has been negotiating with Riga City Council since November 2006 and has tried to reach a solution on decent salaries in the social care sector from January 2007. Unfortunately all the union's efforts of the union have been unsuccessful. A survey by the LVSADA revealed that 98% of employees in the social care sector in

The industrial relations observatory EIRO reports that a new public sector agreement should be in place by the beginning of 2008 after five years of negotiations between the government and trade unions. The public sector will be covered by this general collective agreement and then specific agreements will be negotiated in different sectors. The main provisions of the agreement allow for four pay increases between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2010 with one official estimate forecasting real increases in pay of 4.2% in 2008, 3.3% in 2009 and 4.8% in 2010. The agreement will also bring pay rates

The six union confederations in Slovenia organised a demonstration over pay, arguing that workers deserve higher pay increases in the light of rising company profits and higher inflation. An estimated 70,000 joined the march - the biggest demonstration in Slovenia for 15 years. The unions say that strike action could follow in January if the employers don't increase their pay offer. [Read more at > Slovenia government news site (EN)->http://www.ukom.gov.si/eng/slovenia/publications/slovenia-news/5663/5675/] [And at > eux news site (EN)->http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=17870] [And for

After lengthy negotiations a new salary system was introduced across the public sector this year. One of the aims of the reform was to establish a fairer and clearer salary structure for public sector workers, recognising that some groups were particularly worse off. The agreement included provisions to make some of the bigger wage adjustments over a longer period – up to 2011. However, the new system has been subject to criticism by several different groups of workers and is now the subject of a constitutional court case taken by a trade union representing child care, education and research

Police in Latvia estimated that 10,000 people joined the demonstration earlier this month against government economic policies making it the biggest since the country’s independence in 1991. Public sector trade unions supported the march and the ETUC called for a new social deal across Europe that would provide an alternative to the neo-liberal policies being proposed by governments in Latvia and Lithuania. The ETUC wants to see more of a focus on decent work rather than policies that resort to cuts in pay and reliance on precarious employment. [Read more at > Associated Press (EN)->http://www