The ETUC Executive Committee agreed a resolution on collective bargaining at the beginning of December that warns of the dangers of “excessive flexibility”. The ETUC argues that employers appear to be putting the emphasis on getting more flexible working arrangements rather than on increasing working time. It is calling on affiliates to raise the issue of precarious employment in their negotiations in 2006, to challenge flexibility that is only in the employers' interest and to report back to the Collective Bargaining Committee next May. The resolution also suggests that more should be done through collective bargaining to tackle the gender pay gap and warns of the need to resist employers' pressures to decentralise bargaining. As background to the resolution the ETUC has also published its annual report on collective bargaining which points to a further decline in average pay increases over the year compared to 2004 and 2003 but that in the majority of cases the trend was still in favour of real increases in negotiated pay.
Read more at > ETUC
And the annual report at > ETUC
ETUC focuses on excessive flexibility
More like this
Waste company accused of excessive working time
The municipal union Fagforbundet reports that the Ragn-Sells waste company is again in the news for poor working conditions. The company was at the centre of a scandal involving the Adecco employment agency and sacked migrant workers from Poland (see [epsucobanews 02 January 2011->http://www.epsu.org/cob/398]. Now the company has been investigated by the Labour Inspection service and found to be infringing working time legislation with employees working 11-14 hours a day. The inspectors also discovered that the company had not dealt properly with the hiring of workers by a sub-contractor and
Survey reveals excessive working hours of hospital doctors
A new survey of over 4000 of its members by the Marburger Bund doctors' union reveals the immense pressure faced by hospital doctors. More than half (59%) report frequent mental stress and more than two thirds (69%) complain that they don't have enough time to treat patients. Nearly three quarters (72%) feel that their own health is being affected by working time arrangements that lead to disturbed sleep patterns and regular tiredness. Inadequate staffing means that many work excessive hours with more than two-thirds working on average more than the 48-hour limit set by working time