2012 February epsucob@NEWS 04

The CCOO and UGT trade union confederations organised 60 demonstrations around the country on 19 February in protest at the labour reforms being introduced by the centre-right government. The reforms will make dismissals easier and will undermine collective bargaining allowing company-level agreements to undercut branch-level bargaining and giving employers more scope to impose changes unilaterally. [Read more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)->http://www.fsc.ccoo.es/webfsc/menu.do?Inicio:317933] [And at > FSP-UGT (ES)->http://www.fspugt.es/Cientos_de_miles_de_trabajadores_se_movilizan_contra_la_reforma

A new report from the ITUC global trade union confederation reveals that despite some changes to the constitution, trade unions and workers still face discrimination and severe limitations on their rights. The report says that the “law provides limited rights to organise, collective bargaining and strike…. The state and the employers make use of various anti-union practices that have weakened trade unions’ negotiating rights. Industrial action and protests are often treated with violence and threats. Unions also face increasing judicial harassment.” [Read more at > ITUC (EN)->http://www.ituc

In the upcoming negotiations covering workers in federal and local government, ver.di is calling for a 6.5% pay increase with a minimum guaranteed rise of €200 that would benefit lower paid employees. The union also wants to see apprentices offered permanent jobs and an increase of €100 to the apprentice allowance. Ver.di argues that public sector workers saw the value of their pay fall by 0.6% in real terms last year and they need a decent increase so that they don’t get left behind by the private sector. The union also maintains that the pay rise will be an important boost to the economy.

Ver.di general secretary Frank Bsirske has made a call for better pay and conditions for childcare workers and recognition of the very important role they play in early years education which can have a major impact on children’s future development. With around 60% of jobs in the sector part-time and with limited potential to increase earnings, ver.di is also demanding that more full-time jobs and a better salary structure, demands that will feature in the upcoming negotiations over the collective agreement covering federal and local government workers. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://www

Local government unions UNISON, GMB and Unite have attacked the municipal employers’ organisation for imposing a pay freeze for another year and again refusing to pay out the minimum £250 (€295) increase to the lowest paid, allowed for by the government. The unions estimate that taking account of inflation the three-year pay freeze will leave municipal workers 13% worse off. Local government workers in Scotland are also facing a second year of pay freeze. [Read more at > UNISON (EN)->http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2613] [And at > GMB (EN)->http://www.gmb.org.uk

The vida and GPA-DJP services unions have negotiated pay increases for a range of workers in private and non-profit health and social care. Pay will increase by 3.4% in both the main BAGS private health agreement covering 90,000 employees and the agreement covering 12,000 workers employed by the Caritas social welfare organisation. The increase for the 6,000 employees of the Vienna Red Cross is slightly lower at 3.3%. In all three cases changes to the treatment of parental and other leave will mean protect pay and will benefit women workers in particular. [Read more at > vida (DE)->http://www

The FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak public service unions have given provincial government employers until 2 March to make a better offer or they will consult with their members and consider industrial action. After lengthy negotiations the employers have offered a basic pay increase of only 0.69% over 19 months and nothing in respect of the unions’ calls for employment guarantees, disability benefit and a cut in the use of contract staff. The unions want a 1.5% pay increase over 12 months and are also calling on the employers to implement unfulfilled commitments included in the last

On February 15 over 100 representatives of trade unions, employers' organizations, national executive bodies, scientific institutions and public organizations took part in a round table devoted to the question of health and safety. The participants agreed to call on the public authorities to improve labour inspection services, to work with social partners to agree new norms on health and safety and to ensure proper implementation of relevant ILO Conventions (particularly 81 on labour inspection) and articles 3 and 22 of the Council of Europe’s European Social Charter on health and safety and

Local government union Kommunal is pleased by the decision of the parliamentary social affairs committee to call for guidelines and minimum levels of staffing in nursing homes. However, the union emphasises that the important thing is to ensure that these standards will be applied in practice in both municipal and private care homes. It also wants to ensure that employees in private homes have the right to blow the whistle if they find companies failing to meet the standards. [Read more at > Kommunal (SV)->http://www.kommunal.se/Kommunal/press/Pressmeddelanden/Kommunal-valkomnar-riksdagsbeslut

The FO Fonctionnaires civil service federation is calling for action to deal with gender inequality in the public sector and in particular the very low percentage of women in senior positions. The federation wants negotiations with the government on direct and indirect discrimination in pay, on childcare and work-life balance and on training and recruitment. It points out that while women make up 60% of the public sector workforce they account for only 22.2% of managerial staff and only 10.8% of the most senior appointments. The union has criticised the government for failing to come up with

Services union ver.di has joined with other organisations in the social care sector to campaign for decent care. As well as calling for increased funding for the sector, the campaign will also focus on the need for decent pay for care workers and proper professional recognition of the work they do. Ver.di has criticised the federal health minister for failing to include in the new bill on care institutions any measures to make care professions more attractive. The union is also concerned that there will be continual pressure to keep pay low with the only protection the minimum wage for the

The IMPACT public services union says that a new report reveals the effect of austerity measures on voluntary and community service organisations. With 11000 jobs already cut and a further 5500 expected to go by 2015, these organisations are struggling to maintain important services to a range of vulnerable people including the homeless, the unemployed and those suffering drug addition. A side-effect of the austerity measures is that many workers are on short-time working or have taken pay cuts in order to compensate for the reductions in funding. [Read more at > IMPACT (EN)->http://www.impact

The ETUC has criticised the European Commission’s white paper on pensions for failing to focus on what it needed to ensure adequate pensions and putting the emphasis on increasing retirement ages as part of its obsession with fiscal consolidation. The ETUC is also concerned that the white paper talks about expanding the role of private pensions without considering the urgent need to put in place guarantees that protect individual workers from investment risks. [Read more at > ETUC (EN)->http://www.etuc.org/a/9670] [And in French at > CES->http://www.etuc.org/a/9669] [And at DG Employment->http

The CSC public services union called for strike action in provincial offices of the national pensions service from 21 February. The union is responding to excessive pressure on staff arising from a number of factors including the rise in the numbers claiming pensions, the increase in enquiries resulting from the national debate over pensions reform, difficulties arising from poor communications from the service and a transfer of responsibilities to the provincial offices without any appropriate allocation of additional resources. [Read more at > CSC (FR)->http://csc-services-publics.csc-en

Seven trade unions with members in the public sector have launched a legal challenge to the government’s decision to change the way that public sector pensions are protected against inflation. The change from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was introduced without consultation or negotiation last year and the unions estimate that the difference in the two indices mean that public sector workers could lose £15000 (€17700) over the course of an average period of retirement as their pensions will be uprated by lower amounts. [Read more at > PCS (EN)->http://www.pcs

Workers in the private energy sector will see their basic pay rise by 3.8%-4.2% with lower paid workers getting the higher percentage increase. The agreement covers 21,000 employees and runs for 12 months from 1 February 2012. The GPA-DJP services union thanked members and works council members for their work in support of the claim. The agreement also includes arrangements for the unions and employers to look at age-related issues around pay, shift work and arduous employment as well as analysing gender equality aspects of the collective agreement. [Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)->http://www.gpa

The Vision public services union quotes a recent opinion poll showing that most people support the idea of increased funding from the government as a necessary part of the solution to the gender pay gap. The structural difference in the labour market can be partly overcome through education and training to create more balanced workforces but this is a long-term aim. More immediate and also as part of the solution to the urgent recruitment needs in the social services, wages in the sector need to be increased and there is public support for additional funding to do this. [Read more at > Vision

EPSU, with the support of the ETUI education institute, will be organising a seminar on collective bargaining in Elewijt near Brussels on 23-25 May. Speakers from the ETUC will examine the impact of economic governance on wage determination and new proposals from the ETUC to step up coordination of collective bargaining. The seminar will discuss, in particular, the potential role and activity of an ESPU collective bargaining network. Official invitations will be sent out shortly but you can contact [Richard Pond->[email protected] ] for further information and to indicate if you wish to