U.K., Norway

The Fagforbundet trade union reports that the outcome of negotiations in the industrial sector which delivered a central pay rise of 5.2% and extra benefits for the lower paid, provides a good basis for negotiations in the public sector. Fagforbundet is particularly focused on ensuring that all workers in the public sector get a good increase and that those with the least receive the most. The industry deal marks the end of a trend of several years of declining real wages in manufacturing. The 5.2% increase is ahead of the expected rise in prices of 4.1%. Industrial unions have also won an

Health workers around the country, many of them employed by private contractors and among the lowest paid, have had to resort to strike action to ensure they get a £1600+ (€1870) lump sum payment that was paid to most directly employed staff last year. Action has just paid off for members of UNISON and Unite in Dudley in the West Midlands where until recently their employer, Mitie, had refused the payment. UNISON members were also successful following their action in the South West against the contractor Sodexo and Wiltshire Health and Care, a company jointly owned by three NHS trusts. UNISON

Employees of HC-One – the UK’s biggest private care provider – have accepted a pay deal negotiated by the GMB trade union that gives them the contractual right to at least statutory sick pay from day one of any absence. Previously, sick pay only kicked in after three days of sickness. The union points out that this created a perverse incentive for workers to spread germs among the elderly people they care for. The deal comes after a GMB survey of HC-One care workers revealed one in four were considering quitting over ‘poverty pay’. The GMB says that this is a landmark shift in culture for the

Following the article on Iceland, the latest in the series of articles on working time commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department focuses on developments in the other Nordic countries. While several unions in Sweden have put shorter working time on the bargaining agenda (see also article on Sweden in this newsletter), there are only a few cases in social care where a shorter working week has been implemented. In Norway and Denmark the priority has been more to ensure that workers in health and care and other services have the right to full-time working although there are some

The PCS trade union is set to launch a ballot for industrial action on 18 March as a first step in a renewed campaign around pay, jobs and working conditions. The union has around 150,000 members in over 200 bargaining units across the civil service and has been successful in recent years in securing support for targeted strike action despite the strict UK ballot rules covering public services. The ballot will close on 13 May and there will be a special meeting of the PCS national executive on 15 May to consider the results. The union’s key demands include: a cost-of-living rise, with an

The UNISON, Unite and GMB trade unions have been mobilising their members in the NHS and private contractors to secure unpaid COVID bonuses and pay rises. UNISON and Unite members are taking on Mitie, the large private contractor, which has refused to pay a COVID bonus despite the company being signed up to the national Agenda for Change agreement which requires the payment. Meanwhile, Unite members formerly employed by the contractor Serco but now directly employed by the NHS at Bart’s Hospital in London are also claiming their COVID payment which the hospital management have so far refused

The Unite trade union has welcomed a 7% pay increase in the salaries of clergy working for the Church of England after submitting a pay claim for the first time in history. This was a 2% improvement on the offer originally proposed by church leaders. Unite said the increase was a step towards tackling the financial hardship faced by many in the profession. The national minimum salary will now increase to £28,670 (€33,600) from 1 April 2024 and the national benchmark be increased to £30,638 (€35900). The figures are then used by the church’s dioceses to set individual salaries for their clergy

Public service unions have organised one of the biggest strikes and mobilisations in Northern Ireland for many years as they try to put pressure on the UK government to stop delaying a pay offer for public service workers. The government claims that its hands are tied by the political stalemate in the province and the lack of a functioning Assembly. The unions argue that this is an excuse and that the money is available to make a pay offer immediately. EPSU affiliates UNISON, Unite, GMB and RCN are involved in the action, along with NIPSA, RCM, CSP, SoR, BDA as well as the teaching unions

In a long-running dispute over pay, the BMA doctors’ union has launched a six-day strike involving junior doctors – the occupational category that covers a wide range of qualified doctors and consultants. The union is seeking a deal which will compensate for the 26% decline in real pay for junior doctors since 2008. The strike began on 3 January and will be the single, longest strike action in the history of the National Health Service. Meanwhile, the RCN nurses’ union is maintaining its dispute over pay from last year and has strongly criticised the health ministry for a delay in beginning

On 9 December, the TUC trade union confederation organised its first special congress since 1982 to discuss its strategy to fight the government’s attack on the right to strike. EPSU affiliates in the UK are particularly affected by the new minimum services level legislation which could mean that workers who lawfully vote to strike, could be forced to attend work and even sacked if they don’t comply. The TUC says that one in five workers in Britain – 5.5 million people – the vast majority in public services, are at risk of losing their right to strike as a result of the Strikes Act. In a

Fagforbundet and other trade unions in local government have negotiated a new framework agreement which updates the rules and processes regulating the relations between local government unions and employers. The agreement covers continuing discussions about the need to develop the rights of employee representatives and the framework conditions in which they operate, a review of the main agreement to identify provisions that may be out of date or no longer relevant, consideration of how the provisions are applied in practice and to assess the need for amendments. There is also a specific

The Fagforbundet trade union has secured another legal victory against a care company cutting employment costs by misclassifying workers as self-employed. Three of the union's members in the private care company Recoveryakademiet have been awarded NOK 7 million (€600,000) in back pay (salary, overtime and holiday pay). The three, classified as “consultants” by the company, worked for several weeks without a legal working hours scheme being established, and were therefore paid much less than they were entitled to. They were also denied their right to holiday pay and sick pay. This follows a

The UNISON trade union has secured upgrading and back pay for 60 healthcare assistants employed in accident and emergency services at the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust in North East England. This is part of the union’s national campaign to secure the appropriate grading for workers on band two of the national pay scale, but who have been undertaking clinical duties falling under band three. In this case the workers are set to receive around £3,000 (€3.500 in back pay). Managers at the Trust have also agreed to enter negotiations with UNISON in the new year aimed at re