The major topics in this week’s EPSU European Works Council (EWC) Coordinators meeting in Brussels have been firstly the ongoing work on gender equality in the two EWCs ENGIE and Suez-Environment
Public service unions, including Fórsa and SIPTU, have met with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for discussions on dealing more rapidly with the problem of pay equity for new entrants to the public service. In the pay changes implemented as part of austerity measures in 2011, two additional points were added to the first two pay grades for new starters. This means that they need two more years to reach the top of their pay grades compared to higher grades. The unions argue that with economic growth and higher tax revenues, it should be possible to tackle this issue in advance
The FOA public services union has very much welcomed the significant increases to pay for health and social care assistants and trainees as a result of the recently negotiated public sector collective agreements. While all workers will benefit from the the overall 8.1% increase over three years, specific increases set out in the agreements will mean that health and social service assistants will see increases of 13% over the period and trainees will get pay rises of between 14% and 19%. The union believes these are important steps in revaluing low paid jobs in the sector and also making the
The French multinational company ORPEA specialising in elderly care, psychiatry, rehabilitation, home care and other assistance to dependent people is massively violating trade union rights of workers in the clinics of Celenus, one of its subsidiaries in Germany.
On 4 September, more than 40 trade union representatives from 15 European countries met in Brussels to discuss how to coordinate their activities in multinational enterprises in the health and social care sectors.
This article summarises the main topics addressed at the meeting of the EPSU Working Group Social Services on 26 February, with one focus on the transition from institutional care to community-based care and how to make this transition also work for the social care and health workforce.
