002 epsucob@NEWS January 2008
Ver.di rejects employers' pay offer
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
Hundreds of thousands back day of action on 24 January
Public service federations were delighted by the level of support across the country for the strikes and demonstrations over pay and collective bargaining. In response the government has offered to meet for talks on 18 February. But unions are also concerned that at the same time the government is talking about restricting the right to strike in the education sector. Unions want proper negotiations to begin in the first week of February and are calling on members to maintain pressure on the government through local actions and in particular during the “week for public services” organised by
Union concern over benchmarking report
The SIPTU general workers' union has expressed its concern about a developing trend in the benchmarking reports that compare public and private sector pay. The latest report endorsed higher increases for higher level civil servants to keep them in line with the higher than average pay increases for private sector executives. The union warns that the government is not addressing the issue of pay in the private sector where employers are using agency and migrant workers to undermine pay levels. The union argues that this will then have an impact on public sector pay through the benchmarking
Unions continue demonstrations while negotiating over pensions
Energy and transport sector federations in the CGT confederation continue to mobilise their members over their special retirement rights while negotiating with the government over proposed changes. Over 50,000 are estimated to have joined the national demonstration on 22 February, maintaining the momentum of the strikes and demonstrations that unions have been organising since last October when the planned reforms were first announced. Read more at > FNME-CGT (FR)
Public sector unions secure €1,000 minimum salary
The FSP-UGT and FSAP-CCOO public service federations have just secured a minimum €1,000-a-month salary for workers on pay band 5 in the general state administration. The lowest annual salary (14 monthly payments) will now be €14,000, an increase of 13.8% and significantly higher than the 5.41% and 6.3% increases for workers on the higher scales 4-1. Read more at > FSAP-CCOO (ES) And at > FSP-UGT (ES)
Unions still demonstrating over 2006-2007 pay awards
Public service unions have been forced to mobilise their members once again in order to secure the pay increases they negotiated for their members for the years 2006-2007. The public sector pay agreements are re-negotiated every two years although often with long delays. The various agreements on pay for 2006-2007 for public sector workers for were finally signed in May 2007 but have still not been implemented. A national mobilisation of workers in the local and regional government sector was called for 28 January while health workers will demonstrate on 4 February. [Read more at > FPCGIL (IT)
Large increases in minimum wages across Central and Eastern Europe
The latest study on minimum wages from the WSI trade union research institute in Germany finds that several countries across Central and Eastern Europe have increased their minimum wages well above the rate of inflation. The highest increases (33%) were in Latvia and Lithuania, followed by Romania (28%). There were also increases of 20% or more in Bulgaria (22%), Poland (20%) and Estonia (20%). These increases were all well ahead of inflation, with the highest inflation rates in Latvia (14%) and Bulgaria (11.6%). [Read more at > WSI/Hans Boeckler (DE)->http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID
Public service union leaders meeting finance minister over pay
Public service unions are maintaining a common front over pay this year and earlier this month eight senior union officials along with the TUC confederation general secretary Brendan Barber met Alistair Darling, finance minister (chancellor) of the Labour government. The unions argue that their members won't accept an imposed 2% ceiling on pay increases. They did say that they would be willing to consider longer term deals as long as public sector employers and the government were willing to discuss issues about pay structures and how to tackle low pay. [Read more at > TUC (EN)->http://www.tuc
Demand for higher pay in public sector
Federations covering all the main sectors within the Solidarnosc confederation came together this month to demand higher pay for public sector workers. With food and energy price rises exceeding pay increases for many public sector workers, Solidarnosc leader Janusz Sniadek talked about the importance of solidarity to support the protests of individual groups of workers for higher pay. Read more at > Solidarnosc (EN)
Case study investigates impact of liberalisation on energy company
A case study of EON Sverige (formerly Sydkraft) the Swedish energy company examines the impact of market liberalisation and foreign takeover on a major electricity company. The study highlights in particular the important role of the trade unions in negotiating over restructuring and the extensive use of outsourcing across a range of different services within the company. The study was carried out for the European Monitoring Centre for Change part of the European Foundation. Read more at > EMCC (EN)
Utilities report shows pressures on pay and conditions in waste sector
The latest issue of ver.di's Report magazine for the energy and waste sector includes two articles highlighting the massive challenges facing the union in the waste sector. A story on page 6 outlines the privatisation of the waste business of Cottbus council with the contractors Alba looking for cuts of up to 50% in pay. This follows a series of pay cuts conceded by the union in an attempt to defend jobs. The broader picture on collective bargaining at sectoral level is reviewed on page 7 with ver.di trying to negotiate a new framework agreement with the BDE employers' association. The BDE
Justice ministry workers set for strike from 4 February
The CCOO, UGT, CSI-CSIF and STAJ unions have called for an indefinite strike among Ministry of Justice workers from 4 February. The strike is over differential pay rates of up to €200 a month between workers centrally employed by the Ministry of Justice and those workers who have been transferred to the regions. Read more at > FSAP-CCOO (ES)
Studies demonstrate pension portability problems
Two new studies commissioned by DG Employment show the extent to which many workers lose out in terms of pensions as a result of changing jobs. The first study looks at supplementary pension scheme rules in major organisations from nine EU countries. It found that many pension schemes do not impose any vesting period - the amount of time required for workers to accumulate pension rights - although there are still 32% of Defined Benefit (DB) schemes requiring workers to contribute to a pension scheme for more than two years before they acquire a right to a pension in retirement. The study also
Regional perspective on collective bargaining and social dialogue
This year, thanks to European Commission funding, EPSU has organised three regional conferences on social dialogue and collective bargaining. The aim is to provide an alternative forum to the annual collective bargaining to enable affiliates to discuss in more detail the potential to work together on developing collective bargaining policy. The first of these regional events will take place in London on 3-4 March. EPSU affiliates from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and the UK, along with Norwegian and Icelandic members. Other countries will be invited to the