Norway
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)
The public services federation FSP-UGT has launched a campaign to re-establish the 35-hour week across the public sector and win back other rights lost a result of austerity policies. The union believes that in the context of economic and political changes it is a good time to try to win back lost rights and negotiate improvements for public sector workers who have seen four years of pay freezes and a loss of more than 9% in purchasing power. Meanwhile the FSC-CCOO federation has attacked the government for failing to begin a process of collective bargaining to negotiate over lost rights to
Trade union confederations and employer organisations are set to negotiate about moves to local bargaining in response to pressure from the government. The government wants to see a greater role for local bargaining with an implication that this might allow scope for non-union deals or terms and conditions not guaranteed by sector agreements. The government warns that it may introduce legislation if employers and trade unions can't come up with a suitable deal. [Read more at > Trade Union News (EN)->http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/975-rules-on-local-bargaining-under
Public sector unions mobilised for a series of demonstrations around the country in protest at the government’s unilateral decision to cut ill-health early retirement pension rights for many public sector workers. In Madrid the trade unions demonstrated outside the finance ministry and expressed their anger that the pension changes had been imposed, an action that clearly contravened the basic agreement that requires such changes to be negotiated. Read more at > FSAP-CCOO (ES)
