2014 September epsucob@NEWS 16

Ver.di has broken new ground by signing a collective agreement covering around 37000 workers employed by the social welfare organisations of the Protestant church in Lower Saxony. Until now the various church and religious organisations that provide much of Germany's health and social care have refused to sign collective agreements. Instead pay and conditions have been determined by special committees rather than by negotiations between employers and trade unions. Although the issue of the right to strike for employees the sector is still up for debate, ver.di sees the agreement in Lower

Health workers will be taking four hours of strike action on Monday 13 October followed by action short of a strike on the following four days. The strike is in protest at the government's refusal to endorse a 1% pay increase for all staff recommended by the health service pay review body. Instead the government has offered the minority of health workers a lump sum worth 1% of pay. This comes after five years where pay has failed to rise in line with inflation. The protest is being supported by the RCM midwives' union - the first time in 133 years that RCM members have backed strike action

The three trade union confederations came together on 23 September in a demonstration in central Brussels against the austerity policies threatened by the political parties discussing a coalition government. The unions warn of a threat to purchasing power, cuts to public sector pensions as well as cuts to health and social services spending. [Read more at > FGTB (FR)->http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/news-fr/-/article/2651700/;jsessionid=Rt1uVE-TJaW8JjX_qpaOgFp&p_l_id=10624] [And at > ABVV (NL)->http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/news-nl/-/article/2652390/&p_l_id=10187] [And at > CSC (FR)->http://www

Public service federations FSC-CCOO and FSP-UGT have criticised the government for announcing a further public sector pay freeze for 2015, making it five years since the last pay increase. The unions have attacked the government for failing to undertake and real bargaining over pay. The government has made a small concession on paying back part of the Christmas bonus that it denied workers in 2012 but this is only implementing a series of court rulings that went against the government in 2013 and 2014. The government has also announced a relaxation of the rule that only one in 10 workers who

Federations from right across the public services will be united in national demonstration in Rome on 8 November over the continuing freeze of collective bargaining and the refusal of the government of any social dialogue about reform of public administration. The federations represent workers in education, health, safety and rescue services, universities, research bodies, public administration, social services and local government. In the lead up to the demonstration all the federations will be active in workplaces building for the march and making the arguments for the funding, training and

The FOA has joined with disability campaigning organisations to challenge the government and municipalities on cuts to the pay and conditions of workers providing support to people with disabilities. Some workers directly employed by the people they care for are losing out on night and weekend allowances while seeing their maternity leave cut and losing their sixth week of paid leave. The funding is provided by municipalities who are no longer the direct employers of these staff but the level of funding is inadequate to maintain the pay and conditions the workers would have had under direct

Civil service confederation ADEDY and its health sector organisations are organising a day of demonstrations on 1 October and a 24-hour strike on 2 October in protest at the desperate situation in the health sector, arising from the policies imposed by the Troika. The union says that over 20000 staff have left the service and recruitment has not even reached the one in 10 replacement level that was supposed to be the rule. Those remaining in the service are working excessive hours and are not receiving pay for overtime. Whole departments and small hospitals are being closed down to reach the

The three unions that organise in the residential care sector - IMPACT, SIPTU and Unite - have won a significant victory in the Labour Court. In a recent ruling the Court recommended that all sleepover time should, in line with legislation, be recognised as working time and so paid at least the minimum wage hourly rate. This means an increase from €3.27 to €8.65 for some workers. The unions will now follow this up to ensure employers apply the ruling. [Read more at > IMPACT->http://www.impact.ie/14/09/18/Unions-say-Labour-Court-recommendation-a-major-breakthrough-for-residential-care-staff-

A new working paper from the ETUI trade union research institute looks at the situation facing women and men at work in the run-up to retirement. It considers issues like financial security and the career paths of older workers. The paper also looks at how arduous work has a different impact on women and men, with a particular focus on the long-term effects. Other aspects covered by the report include self-fulfilment in work when approaching retirement and the influence of unpaid work and the unequal division of gender roles on ageing at work. [Read more at > ETUI (EN)->http://www.etui.org/en

Strike action in the energy sector has been avoided following arbitration to resolve a dispute over pay and pensions. The new agreement sees pay generally rise by NOK 2195 (€270) with a 3.3% increase on the minimum wage in the sector. The main issue in the dispute was pensions and the question as to whether local arrangements could be agreed on pensions. The agreement involves setting up a committee to look into how this will be incorporated into the sector agreement. [Read more at > EL&IT (NO)->http://www.elogit.no/id/16065.0] [And at > Fagforbundet (NO)->http://www.fagforbundet.no/?article