Portugal
Workers at the ECALMA municipal transport company in Almada near Lisbon planned strike action on 17 and 18 August to put pressure on management to negotiate a collective agreement on wages and career development and to implement promised improvements in working conditions. Meanwhile nurses at a number of hospitals across the country are taking strike action in order to secure their rights to career development which have been frozen for many years.
After a month of strike action, the Fagforbundet, Delta and education trade unions have been able to secure an agreement with the PBL private childcare employers’ organisation on new pension arrangements. Workers will be able to build up a lifetime contractual pension from 1 January 2025 which will be comparable to that available to municipal employees. In addition, the percentage rate paid by employees for their own occupational pension will be reduced from 3% to 2.5% per cent in 2023, then down to 2% per cent when the new scheme is established. The employer's share is increased accordingly.
A ballot of ver.di members in federal and local government produced a 76.5% majority in favour of the final pay offer from the employers. Around 189,000 members took part in the vote with 145,000 supporting the deal that will mean a 7.11% pay rise for the lowest paid workers. However, employees of the Berlin transport companies, BVG and BT, are taking strike action over the employers' failure to respond to ver.di's latest proposals. Ver.di members had already taken 12 days of strike action in February and March when the employers initially planned to offer no pay increase at all to current
The STAL trade union is mobilising members in three separate disputes involving workers in parks and gardens, waste and municipalities. A four-day strike began on 3 August at the publicly-owned PSML company that maintains major buildings, parks and gardens in Sintra. The dispute is over a range of issues including deregulation of work schedules, integration into the pay system and allowances for employees who work in remote areas. Employees of the EMARP public company that provides cleaning and waste services in Portimão began their four-day strike on 4 August with demands over pay, salary
