France
Energy workers are facing another year with a loss of purchasing power following the imposition of a 1.1% pay rise in 2011. With inflation forecast at 1.5% for the year this means a 0.4% fall in real terms. The employers had initially offered 1.2% but then reduced it to 1.1% when the trade unions refused to sign the agreement.
Read more at > FNEM-FO (FR)
Following a second round of pay negotiations covering federal and local government workers, ver.di has rejected the employers' latest offer. The employers claim the deal is the equivalent of a 5% increase on pay but ver.di argues that in fact by the end of 2009 workers would be worse off than they are today. The employers want a two-year deal with increases of 2.5% from 1 February 2008, 1.0% from 1 October 2008 and 0.5% from 1 March 2009. A further 0.5% in each year would be performance-related and so not available to all workers. Ver.di also criticises the offer because the employers want
The third round of bargaining in the public sector has ended without a clear pay offer from the employers. Trade unions are looking to ensure an increase that at least compensates for inflation on the basis of the 3.45% inflation rate recorded in the year to September. The employers have so far not even confirmed this as the basis of a possible offer. Read more at > GÖD (DE)
The second round of bargaining over the AVE sectoral agreement failed to produce a result. The employers, dominated by EON, offered a 2.3% increase. However, the union wants a 5.5% over 12 months for the 30,000 employees covered by the agreement. Ver.di argues that the employers remain highly profitable and have not suffered as much from the crisis as other sectors. Bargaining resumes on 5 May. Read more at > ver.di (DE)
