Netherlands
A recent court ruling in the Hague has confirmed a European Court of Justice judgement that health workers' holiday pay should include some compensation for payment for any irregular shift work. The ruling is good news for all nurses and carers who work irregular shifts but who have only received basic pay during their annual leave. They can now claim any for any underpayments going back five years.
Read more at > NU'91 (NL)
(March 2017) The Supreme Court has ruled that energy company British Gas can no longer appeal against a European Court ruling that holiday pay should take account of earnings based on commission. The case has been supported by public services union Unison and is based on the Working Time Directive. The union challenged British Gas because it restricted holiday pay only to basic pay which penalised workers who received a lot of commission pay. Unison is concerned about the impact of Brexit on this important legislation.
Health unions in Bulgaria signed a new collective agreement on 8 November which includes substantial pay increases for workers across the sector. Compared to the pay rates set in the 2016 collective agreement, the minimum wage for nurses, midwives and laboratory technicians will increase by 22% from 900 lev (EUR 460) to 1100 lev (EUR 560) a month. The basic rate for doctors and pharmacists will increase by just under 30% from 1200 lev (EUR 615) to 1550 lev (EUR 790). Higher increases of up to 50% will be paid to medical specialists.
(October 2016) After six months of negotiations the health unions from the CITUB and Podkrepa confederations have negotiated a new collective agreement with the Mnistry of Health and health employers that includes pay increases of between 15% and 40% for healthworkers. The increases are part of an attempt to stem the flow of trained staff out of the country and include a 30% increase on the minimum wage in the sector.
