10 epsucob@NEWS 15 May 2006

The long strike by sections of public sector workers across Germany has achieved an initial success in getting the regional employers back to the negotiating table. Talks are set to resume on 18 May but the union plans to keep up the pressure until then. Members are being encouraged to support continuing strike action and any other campaigning initiatives to ensure that their message gets across - no to longer working hours. EPSU and its Belgian affiliates organised a solidarity vigil on 17 May outside the Brussels offices of the Lower Saxony region. Hartmut Mollring, the region's finance

The SGB Swiss union federation is running an intersectoral campaign for higher wages and equal pay. It has published a briefing document covering 12 key questions which looks at recent developments in pay - increasing inequality, stagnation of pay in comparison to other countries and, for the public services, a period of lower pay increases in comparison to those in the private sector. There will be a national day of action focussing on equal pay on 14 June and a national demonstration over pay in Bern on 23 September. [Read more at > SGB->http://www.sgb.ch/lohn-kampagne/downloads/06-38d_doe

The social partners in Spain have signed an agreement to tackle the increasing problem of temporary employment. The ETUC summarises the key points as: a contract becomes permanent if a worker has been on a fixed-term contract in the same enterprise and doing the same job for over 24 months; employer bonuses for four years when target groups (women, youngsters, longer-term unemployed) are offered an open-ended contract and precise definition of and action against illegal posting of workers between firms. [Read more at > ETUC (en)->http://www.etuc.org/a/2356] [Read more at > ETUC (fr)->http:/

The two-and-a-half-year national pay agreement signed at the end of 2004 includes a provision for pay increases in 2006 to benefit the low paid and women workers in particular. On average rises for all workers should work out at 2.5% in 2005 and 2.1% in 2006. But higher increases for the low paid in 2005 and the 0.3% equality supplement for 2006 mean that over the course of the agreement workers in the cleaning sector, for example, should see pay rise by 5.1% while increases in the technology sector will be around 4.5%. EIRO also reports that around two-thirds of public sector workers are now

The industrial relations observatory EIRO has published a report looking at the extent of temporary agency work throughout the European Union and the extent to which it is regulated through legislation or collective agreements. The survey found that temporary agency workers were used in the public sector mainly in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. In contrast, there were restrictions on their use in the public sector in Spain and Belgium while in France there is very little use of temporary agency workers in the public sector as cheaper forms of temporary labour are used. Temporary