Latvia, EPSU Collective Bargaining News

The LVSADA health workers’ union reached an agreement with the Ministry of Health on 18 October that will deliver pay increases for doctors (10.6%), nurses (6.5%) and assistant nurses (6.9%) in 2024. This means that medical personnel will have seen pay rises of around 23-24% for the three-year period 2022-24. There will also be an additional €40 per month (gross, average) for non-medical personnel in 2024. The agreement was negotiated with the new health minister and resolves a long-standing dispute over pay.

EPSU sent a letter to the Ministry of Health in support of demands by the LVSADA trade union that promised pay increases for health workers should be honoured. The union says that in April this year the Ministry made a commitment to award doctors a 4.5% pay increase this year along with pay rises for other medical staff. The union called for the increases to be applied from 1 July and then conceded 1 September as a fall-back date. However, the Ministry is now claiming that funding is not available for pay increases as the priority is to focus on increasing services. LVSADA is clear that unless

After lengthy negotiations the LVSADA health workers’ union has secured an increase to the pay rises offered by the ministry of health. The agreement stipulates that the average monthly salary for medical practitioners will be increased by €120 from 1 April which equates to 6.1%, that is 2.4% higher than the initial offer. Nurses, midwives, physician assistants will see a 10.1% increase (an improvement of 3.9% on the initial offer) and junior staff, including nursing assistants, will benefit from a 16.1% pay rise (an improvement of 6.3%).

The LVSADA health workers’ union organised two further warning strikes on 27 and 28 September following an initial action on 27 July. The union is pressing the government to agree to pay increases for all health workers in recognition of the work they continue to do under difficult circumstances. LVSADA says that both the European Commission and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have acknowledged the need for action, including improvements to pay, to help tackle staff shortages. The union is angry that the government has unilaterally put forward a new pay system which

The LVSADA health workers’ union, supported by associations representing doctors and nurses, organised a warning strike and protest on 27 July, arguing that the government had failed to meet commitments to increase pay. The union says that a 10% increase should have been paid on 1 July on the current salaries of €1963 for doctors, €1183 for nurses, midwives and other professionals and €745 for support staff. LVSADA further argues that the government has also failed to meet a commitment from 2017 that would have seen these salaries reach €2327, €1396 and €931 respectively. Depending on the

The LVSADA health workers’ union was planning to take strike action to put pressure on the government to deliver pay increases that were promised last year. The union had called for a 10% pay rise for health staff from the beginning of January this year but the Ministry of Health has failed to deliver. LVSADA argues that an increase is vital if health sector wages are to keep pace with rapidly rising inflation and average earnings. The union underlines how important protecting purchasing power is as part of the strategy to tackle the major staff shortages across the sector.

The LVSADA health union is extremely concerned that the state budget for 2019 will not include promised funding to cover pay increases for health workers. The union has called for rises of around 20% as an essential step to try to stem the loss of workers to other sectors or to other countries. LVSADA believes that the outgoing government made the promise as an election ploy and is now saying it has no responsibility for the budget. Following elections in October negotiations are underway to form a new government.

EPSU affiliate LAKRS organised a picket of the ministry of transport on 4 October calling for better pay and conditions and a collective agreement covering bus workers. The union wants to see a minimum wage of EUR 7 an hour for drivers and action to tackle the widespread problem of long working hours.

The LVSADA health union has managed to negotiate an agreement to tackle problems arising from a restructuring of the ambulance service. A reduction of night shifts meant an increase in waiting times particularly in the Latgale, Vidzeme and Zemgale regions, creating problems for staff and difficulties for patients. The union formally announced a dispute with the ambulance service management, highlighting the constitutional commitment to emergency medical care as a human right. However, it was possible to resolve the situation before the union took any action.

An analysis by the European Trade Union Institute shows that wage convergence between East and West in Europe was steady up until 2008. However, since then the trend has either stalled or gone into reverse. Taking national average pay as a percentage of the average across the pre-2004 EU15, Croatia and Hungary show the largest increase in the pay gap since 2008. There were also increases in Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.Most progress was made in Bulgaria but from a very low level (11.8%) to 17.7%, still less than a fifth of average pay in the West.

(July 2017) The LVSADA health union is taking a month-long action throughout July with members working only to normal hours (168 per month). The union wants to highlight the severe shortage of staff in the sector and the need to increase pay to recruit more workers. Meanwhile, he Association of General Practitoners is taking strike action as part of a campaign to secure a pay rise.

A new report from the ETUI reveals the holes in the arguments of those who maintain that Latvia proves that austerity can get an economy out of recession. This policy brief argues the opposite and shows that what actually happened in Latvia is that policymakers decided not to continue but to break with the policy of austerity. This made it possible for Latvia to get out of a vicious spiral of austerity causing a depression and thereby leading to even more austerity. [Read more at > ETUI (EN)->http://www.etui.org/Publications2/Policy-Briefs/European-Economic-Employment-and-Social-Policy/Does

The latest official statistics show the impact of the recession in the Baltic states. In Latvia average wages fell by 1.8% but the fall was much sharper in the public sector (-9.5%) where a cut in salary is part of a government deal with the International Monetary Fund. In Lithuania national average earnings were down by 0.9% although the fall in public sector earnings was lower (-0.1%) than in the private sector. In Estonia average earnings fell by 4.4% according to the latest figures, the first fall in 16 years. [Read more at < Latvia statistics (EN)->http://www.csb.gov.lv/csp/content/?cat