Union Rights, Information & consultation
Patent office workers plan industrial action
Members of the SUEPO trade union at the European Patent Office (EPO) have voted for industrial action, including a “work to rule”, “go slow” and a strike on 22 March. The union is calling for the restoration of fundamental rights at the EPO and the suspension or reversal of major reforms that have been detrimental to working conditions and wellbeing of staff. There have been longstanding problems with asserting trade union rights at the EPO with a former director intervening in the trade union’s internal affairs and blocking the right to strike. The International Labour Organisation has ruled
Legal news round-up
The latest edition of the ETUCLEX newsletter has just been published with news on labour reforms in Spain and a key legal case about trade union representation on company supervisory boards among others. ETUCLEX is the human rights, legal and strategic litigation network of the European Trade Union Confederation and its affiliates and last year established a website and database that provides information on legal developments at European and national level. By signing up affiliates can benefit from and contribute to the early identification of and communication on important pending cases
Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions
The Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive (TPWCD) was adopted in December 2017 and the deadline for transposition at national level is 1 August 2022. EPSU is concerned that the new rights in the directive might be denied to may public service workers.
Court rules against university’s anti-union actions
The Davar news website reports that last month the Regional Labour Court ordered Tel Aviv University to pay 150,000 shekels (€42,500) to the research laboratory workers’ union in compensation for obstructing its efforts to unionize. The Court said the university tried to fire the chair of the union and dock the salary of another union member. It ordered the university to rescind the dismissal of the union chair, Dr Moti Ronen, and bring him back to work under the same contractual agreements that preceded his dismissal. The university is also required to pay back in full the salary it docked
Confederations mobilise over pay, negotiations and trade union rights
The two main trade union confederations – FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV – are jointly organising a national demonstration on 6 December. They want to raise the problem of defending living standards as inflation increases, particularly driven by soaring energy prices. The confederations want to ensure that there is real space for proper negotiations and are challenging the provisions of the 1996 law that restricts the scope for pay increases. In the recent biennial negotiations the margin for increasing pay above inflation was limited to 0.4%. The confederations also want to defend trade union rights