5% and 6% pay increases in public sector

Public service unions took to the streets on 6 December with a clear message demanding a 5% pay increase or HUF 10000 (€32). It has been six years since the last salary increase, leaving public sector workers 30% worse off in real terms. The government’s proposed budget for 2015 clearly shows that it is not considering a change in policy. The unions are calling for proper social dialogue and for a staged increase in wages over the next three years just to recoup the decline in purchasing power since 2008. [Read more at > KDSZSZ (HU)->http://kkdsz.hu/?p=2044] [And at > EPSU->http://www.epsu.org

Negotiations over the 2007 pay increase for the Austrian public sector - at federal, regional and local level, were completed earlier this month and salaries and allowances will increase by 2.35% from 1 January 2007. This is above the current level of inflation (the latest figure is 1.4% in the year to September). The pay increase from 1 January 2006 was 2.7% and from 1 January 2005 2.3% which exactly matched the inflation figure for that year. The negotiated pay increase in 2004 at 1.85% was below inflation for that year (2.1%). [Read more at > GdG (EN)->http://www.gdg.at/servlet

The HSSMS-MT healthcare union reports that following the third round of public sector pay negotiations, unions have accepted a pay increase of 5%, an improvement on the 3% offer made in the second round of bargaining. The unions have also secured the €300 Christmas bonus that they were looking for and an Easter bonus of €100, less than they wanted but a €30 improvement on the previous offer. There is also a commitment that, should the new pay system not be in place by 1 March 2024, then negotiations would open for a general pay increase.