Pay settlements

Around 55000 will benefit from pay increases in a new 29-month collective agreement negotiated between the Kommunal public services union and the Almega employer’s organisation. Kommunal had threatened to take industrial action when the employers said that they would meet the union’s demand for higher pay for vocationally trained employees but not for other lower paid workers. Following mediation, the union’s demands have been met and the agreement keeps private care workers in line with public sector deals. The union also pushed back the employers’ attempt to increase part-time employment.

Following three rounds of bargaining, services union ver.di has negotiated a new 25-month agreement with the RWE energy company. The agreement covers 20000 workers and provides for a 2% pay rise from 1 March this year and a further 1.7% from 1 April next year. There will also be a EUR 1000 lump sum for full-time workers and proportionate amount for part timers. Apprentices will get EUR 600. In addition, ver.di members only will get an extra two days’ holiday a year.

Public service trade unions have negotiated a new two-year agreement which will now be considered by each union’s national executive and put out to ballot of all individual members. The national executive of the Fórsa trade union has already decided to recommend the agreement to its members. The two-year agreement will run from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2022 and there will be a general pay increase of 1% or EUR 500, whichever is higher, in October of both years. In February 2022, an additional 1% will be available in sector bargaining funds. The agreement also provides for progress in

Public services union ver.di reports on a new agreement covering 6000 workers employed by energy companies in the Hesse region in central Germany. The union says that the employers were aiming for an agreement below that negotiated in the public sector but the union resisted this and negotiated a 2.6% pay increase which will be paid in two stages (2.1% in June 2021 and 0.5% in June 2022). The payment for trainees will be increased by EUR 50. In addition, there will be a Corona bonus of EUR 900 for those in pay scales 1-9 and EUR 700 for those in 10-14 while trainees will get EUR 350. The

Public sector workers are set to get a 1.45% increase in pay and allowances from 1 January following what trade unions describe as quick and responsible negotiations and bearing in mind the very challenging circumstances. The increase will protect purchasing power and unions see this as some recognition by the government of the contribution of public sector workers to fighting the pandemic. younion (DE) GÖD (DE)

Public sector workers will get a 4% pay rise in January 2021 along with a HRK 1500 (EUR 200) Christmas bonus. This was confirmed in negotiations in November and reflects a success for the trade unions in the face of an attempt by the government back in the summer to freeze public sector pay. SDLSN (HR)

Following mediation, trade unions ELogIT and Fagforbundet have negotiated a new energy sector agreement that delivers a 5.6% pay increase on all pay rates plus a NOK 27000 (EUR 2480) increase on the minimum wage rate for occupations requiring technical/vocational training taking it to NOK 460000 (EUR 42250). The agreement includes several other improvements to working conditions relating to changing and toilet facilities (particularly for women), standards for accommodation when working away from home and compensation for extra long shifts. A framework for home work is being developed in

The Kommunal municipal services union believes that the recent deal in local and regional government – the largest collective agreement in the country – will deliver real benefits for the women-dominated sector and help address the recruitment challenge in health and social care. The 41-month agreement will run until 31 March 2024 and includes general pay rises of 2% in 2020 (worth on average SEK 520 (EUR 50), a further 2% (SEK 530 (EUR 51)) in 2021 and 1.4% (SEK 380 (EUR 37)) in 2022. There will be an additional 0.6% in each of the three years for vocationally trained occupations and a lump

Ver.di and other public service unions have negotiated what is seen as respectable deal in a challenging bargaining environment that delivers a 1.4% pay rise for all workers on 1 April 2021 with a further 1.8% increase in April 2022. The agreement runs until 21 December 2022. The pay increase in 2021 is backed with a 50 Euro a month minimum which means that the lowest paid workers will see pay increase by 2.59%. Meanwhile, nursing staff will get 70 Euros a month additional payment from March 2021, rising to 120 Euros in 2022. Other payments for health and care workers include an increase in

The employer organisations in private healthcare - Aris and Aiop - have finally ratified the sector agreement covering 100000 workers. After three years of negotiations an agreement was finalised in June but the employers suddenly stepped back from ratification. Following demonstrations and a national strike on 16 September along with pressure from the health minister and regional authorities, Aris and Aiop confirmed that they would ratify the agreement. This is the first renewal for 14 years. The unions have said that they will ensure that the agreement is fully implemented company by company

The ver.di service union has negotiated a new collective agreement covering 8500 employees of the Sana private healthcare group. The 24-month agreement will run until 31 May 2022 and will mean pay increases of 6%-18% as workers are moved on to new pay scales that bring them in line with pay in public sector hospitals. The deal includes a EUR 650 lump sum to cover the period June to December 2020 and then from 1 January 2021 employees in acute hospitals will move onto the new pay structure while other workers will get a 3.5% rise. From 1 January 2022 a new pay structure will apply in

Trade unions coordinated by the LO confederation have secured a NOK 975 (EUR 93) increase on monthly pay for all workers covered by the negotiations with the Spekter employers' organisation. Spekter covers major companies providing public services, particularly in health, culture and transport/infrastructure. On top of this general rise local negotiations should deliver further increases. LO Stat, the coordinating body, emphasises that the local negotiations should take account of the low pay, gender equality and the situation of skilled workers and graduates. Low pay in this context is anyone

This newsletter aims to report on the latest news about public service collective bargaining. Articles are stored on the EPSU website and can be searched by country and theme here. However, it is going to be particularly important to follow the latest developments as EPSU affiliates negotiate on pay in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. EPSU has therefore put together a country-by-country overview that gives the state of play of bargaining in each country. It will be updated at least once a month and information on more countries and sectors will be added. The link to the article is below but

The Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl public service federations have finalised a new collective agreement covering around 15000 managers in local and regional government and the health service. The agreement covers the period 2016-2018 and includes a pay rise of 3.48% which follows the other public sector agreements for that period. Apart from pay, there are provisions covering trade union relations, work-life balance and leave arrangements, including support for women who are victims of violence. The agreement also establishes a joint body to look at innovation and service improvement and there