2014 October epsucob@NEWS 18

The public service federations of the Cgil, Csil and Uil confederations are jointly mobilising for a national demonstration on 8 November in protest at the government's austerity measures. Over 12 federations are coming together right across the public services to challenge the government on the continuing block on collective bargaining - lasting four years and set to continue. The unions argue that there needs to be investment in workers' training and skills in order to maintain and improve the quality of services. [Read more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php

Unions have welcomed the announcement that the emergency FEMPI legislation is being repealed. This legislation gave public sector employers the power to make unilaterial changes to workers' pay and conditions and was in force at the time of the last public sector negotiations. With the FEMPI law in the background unions were left with little room to maneouvre in negotiating the Haddington Road agreement. Other legal changes mean that civil servants will be covered by the same industrial relations machinery as other public sector workers. [Read more at > SIPTU->http://www.siptu.ie/media

The vpod public services union and its confederation, the SGB, have welcomed proposals by the federal government to require companies to report on gender pay. However, the unions are concerned that the legislation is too weak and fails to include any obligation to tackle the gender pay gap and nothing in the way of an effective monitoring and investigatory body. The unions also want to ensure that public administration will also be covered by the legislation. [Read more at > vpod (DE)->http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/lohngleichheit-freiwilligkeit-reicht-nicht-aus.html?tx

IMPACT has welcomed the announcement that there are to be no further reductions to public service jobs and that new posts are to be created for special needs assistants (SNAs), community and mental health staff and in the civil service. While there will be 365 new SNA posts, the union is concerned about the trend towards reduced hours. Some SNAs work only a few hours a week which creates problems not just in getting a decent income but also in having time to maintain a good relationship with the children they work with. [Read more at > IMPACT->http://www.impact.ie/impact-welcomes-resumption

Following their strike and work-to-rule in the week beginning 13 October, Unison, GMB, Unite and the Royal College of Midwives will be taking further action on 24 November. Meanwhile members of the Society of Radiographers (20 October) and the POA prison staff union (24 October) took action on different days. The POA members, who are also covered by the health service agreement, took action at three psychiatric hospitals. The British Dietetic Association will join action short of a strike from 21 November. NHS workers in Wales (Unison and earlier Unite) have also voted for action but a date

The GPA-djp services union is running a new campaign over pay and conditions for the 160000 workers in the private health and social care sector. The union wants to see a sector minimum wage of €1500 and better conditions for in terms of working time, breaks and workplace conditions for the mainly female workforce. The union will be concentrating on five themes and getting works councils and trade union officials to mobilise members around these issues, to find out what their problems are and suggestions for how to negotiate improvements. Issues include ensuring workers can take breaks and

The three unions - FNV Abvakabo, CNV Publieke Zaak and NU'91 - have negotiated a new collective agreement covering 450,000 workers in the care sector. The agreement runs from 1 September 2014 to 1 April 2016 and includes an overall 2.05% increase in pay. There is a lump sum payment on 1 January 2015 worth 0.25% of 12 times the monthly salary of January 2015, a general wage increase of 1.5% on 1 March 2015 and a second general wage increase of 0.3% on 1 January 2016. A major improvement in the agreement relates to working time with a better balance of flexibility for workers as well as a

Firefighters in England are escalating their strike action with four days of strikes commencing on 31 October until 4 November. After two months of negotiations, the union had anticipated a revised offer from the local government minister but unlike in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the English minister failed to come up with new proposals. The FBU firefighters' union has presented large quantities of professional evidence to demonstrate the government proposals do not take account of the real operational demands or standards in a firefighter’s role. [Read more at > FBU->http://www.fbu

The FOA public services is drawing up proposals for the next round of bargaining in the public sector. It is concerned that lower paid workers did not benefit as much as higher paid workers from the last collective agreement and notes in particularly that higher paid workers appear to have done better out of local pay negotiations. The union is discussing the possibility of putting forward a pay claim based on a specific amount rather than as a percentage. It will also include claims on training and education and for paid meal breaks for workers on shorter hours. [Read more at > FOA (DK)->http

Four public services federations- CGT Services Publics, FAFP, FSU and Solidaires - have signed an open letter to President Hollande complaining about the continuing attack on public sector workers and public services. They point out that has been frozen since July 2010 and the government wants to maintain this until 2017. The unions estimate that around a million public service workers are on pay rates just equivalent to the minimum wage and many are facing other precarious employment conditions. They are calling for an end to austerity and increased funding from progressive taxation and