003 epsucob@NEWS February 2008
ETUC launches pay campaign
Following a decision at its Congress in Sevilla last year, the ETUC is launching campaign on fair pay with a major demonstration in Ljubljana in Slovenia on 5 April to coincide with a meeting of European finance ministers. In recent months the ETUC has responded to continuing comments, particularly from the European Central Bank (ECB), that wage moderation needs to continue and that current pay claims, particularly in the public sector, risk fuelling inflation. The ETUC campaign will highlight the declining share of wages in economic output and the fact that company profits and executive pay
Warning strikes around the country in the lead up to new negotiations
The next round of pay negotiations for central and local government workers will get underway on 25 February following a series of warning strikes organised by ver.di. From 14 February thousands of council workers, federal employees and health workers in different cities and regions began taking strike action to show their disgust at the failure of the employers to make any significant improvement to their earlier pay offer. Ver.di reports high levels of support for strike action and a rise in union membership in some areas. Ver.di has set up a “Strike TV” website where you can follow progress
Government proposals don't answer all union demands
The results of negotiations between the public service trade unions and the Public Service Minister have fallen short of union expectations. The pay increase offered for this year will be 0.5% from 1 March and 0.3% from 1 October, unlikely to provide protection against inflation this year. The unions are also still waiting for a clear response from the government on full renegotiation of the public sector pay scale that covers around five million workers in the three main areas of the public sector - regional and local authorities, health and the ministries. The Public Service Ministry has
Union builds pay co-ordination campaign
Public services union UNISON is building a co-ordinated collective bargaining campaign - Pay Matters - in response to the government's policy of trying to limit public sector pay increases to 2%. The union's national executive met recently to discuss progress and review in particular developments in local government where it wants to see pressure from the bottom up to secure a pay increase of more than 2% in 2008 in the national agreement and in the various local negotiations with specific councils. The union has also rejected a three-year pay offer covering local authorities in Scotland. The
Federations maintain solid strike in justice ministry
The main public service federations - FSP-UGT and FSAP-CCOO - along with the CSI-CSIF and STAJ trade unions have secured very high levels of support for an indefinite strike in the ministry of justice over pay inequality. The cause of the problem is large differentials in pay between staff employed at national level and those transferred to regional government. The indefinite strike began on 4 February with only a minimum service provided. The unions report 90% support for the strike among 9,000 workers affected. [Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)->http://www.fspugt.es/index.php/mod.noticias/mem
Union challenges planned legal changes on social care
The GÖD public services federation has won some initial concessions from the government over planned changes to legislation covering 24-hour home care. The union was worried that the Bill would lead to widespread use of untrained staff and had planned a national demonstration and potential strike action in response to the government's plans. However, representatives from GÖD were called to a meeting at the health ministry and got a positive response from their demands that the draft legislation should place a higher value on trained healthcare staff and not leave home care in the hands of
Public service union criticises employers for undermining collective bargaining
JHL the main public sector union has joined with three other trade unions in attacking employers who use outsourcing to get workers transferred to different and inferior collective agreements. The union says that municipal employers and hospitals are guilty of this practice and the consequences are that workers often lose out in terms of both pay and levels of annual leave. Read more at > SAK (EN)
Warning strikes win higher offer from Vattenfall
Over 7,500 employees of the Vattenfall energy company took part in a warning strike on 1 February in protest at a poor pay offer from the company and threats to undermine existing pay and conditions agreements. Following the strike ver.di and the other unions managed to secure a 3.9% pay increase backdated to 1 January 2008 and a commitment from the company not to attack any existing negotiated rights and entitlements. The unions also secured a preferred 12-month agreement rather than a longer term deal. [Read more at > ver.di-Vattenfall (DE)->https://vattenfall-bb.verdi.de/data/tarifinfo_ve
Unions secure 3.7% increase in private sector electricity companies
The EPSU affiliate GDP-DJP, representing workers in the private electricity industry, negotiated a 3.7% increase on pay and other allowances in a 12-month deal from 1 February 2008. The agreement also includes a €250 lump sum. Read more at > GDP-DJP (DE)
Commission issues warning over workplace discrimination
The European Commission has warned 14 Member States that they have failed to implement properly European legislation dating from 2000 that prohibits discrimination in employment on the grounds of religion and belief, age, disability and sexual orientation. The Commission says that the main shortfalls included national legislation that is too narrow, definitions of discrimination and harassment that differ from the EU's, and failure to oblige employers to provide fully for disabled workers. Read more at > eubusiness.com (EN)
Municipal dispute finally over
The collective agreement covering municipal workers looks set to be signed by the unions after several months of dispute over one element of the negotiations - compensation for emergency service workers who lose out from new early retirement rules. Although this was only a small element of the overall cost of the deal, the employers refused to budge. Partial compensation of up to €500 a year will be available to those workers affected, some of whom could lose up to €200 a month. Overall the agreement includes pay increases of 2.2% from 1 June 2007 and 1 June 2008 with increases of 0.5% and 1.5
Government wants pension cuts
Unions in the public and private sector are gearing up for negotiations with the government next month over changes to the pension system. The current retirement age is 67 with the possibility of retirement from 62. The government wants to reduce the level of benefits paid out between 62 and 67 to discourage early retirement. An opinion poll indicates high levels of support for the current system. Read more at > Aftenposten (EN)
Solidarnosc calls for national negotiations over health service pay
Solidarnosc wants the government to take a different approach to pay in the health service. The union argues that the pay of professional groups should be set more systematically and linked in some way to average earnings. At the moment there are widespread disputes over pay and, according to the union, the government is making matters worse by dealing with each professional group separately rather than negotiating across the whole of the health service. Read more at > Solidarnosc (EN)
Commission publishes report and manual on gender mainstreaming
The European Commission has published a new report and manual on gender mainstreaming in employment policies. This stresses the need for clear analysis of the current situation in terms of gender (in)equality in order to assess what needs to be done to tackle discrimination. The manual in particular includes a checklist on pay and career policies. However, the report concludes that a lot more needs to be done across Europe to ensure that gender equality is at the centre of employment policy. [Read more at > DG Employment (EN)->http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/emplweb/news/news_en.cfm?id
Social partners meet in response to threat to collective agreements
Trade unions, employers and the government have begun discussions over what legislative changes might be necessary in response to the recent European Court judgement in the Laval case ([See > ETUC information on this->http://www.etuc.org/r/847]). A commission of inquiry has been established that will consult with unions and employers. The key issue is how to ensure that foreign workers benefit from the same collectively agreed pay and conditions as domestic workers and this many involve changes to posted workers legislation. [Read more at > LO (SE)->http://www.lo.se/home/lo/home.nsf/unidView
First regional collective bargaining meeting
Over 30 participants are due to meet in London on 3-4 March in a new initiative to discuss social dialogue and collective bargaining issues among smaller groups of EPSU affiliates. There will be three meetings in 2008 funded from the European Commission's social dialogue budget and the first will bring together affiliates from UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Affiliates from Norway and Iceland have also been invited. The meeting will discuss current challenges to effective sectoral social dialogue and look at how to improve co-ordination over key collective