U.K., Europe

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

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has highlighted that the combination of inflation and pay trends means that the living standards of European workers have still not recovered from the cost-of-living crisis. Data from the European Trade Union Institute’s Benchmarking Working Europe 2024 shows that pay, after inflation is taken into account, fell by 0.7% in 2023. Workers in Hungary (-3.8%), Czechia (-3.8%), and Italy (-2.6%) faced the biggest falls in purchasing power last year. Germany (-0.9%) and France (-0.6%) were also among the 10 member states where wages failed to catch up

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

New research from the European Trade Union Institute looks at the role that institutional and economic factors play in shaping wage floors and protecting workers at the low end of the wage distribution. Using data for the period 2007 to 2021, it shows that wage inequality has on average declined across the EU, primarily due to convergence between countries. In line with expectations, strong institutional support, such as statutory minimum wages with greater bite and a higher collective bargaining coverage rate, are associated with lower inequality and a better position for vulnerable workers

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

In its latest briefing on the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) finds that the legislation is already having an impact even before it is fully transposed in all member states. According to the ETUI, the Directive’s double decency threshold for adequate minimum wages of 60% of the gross median wage and 50% of the gross average wage has already influenced developments at national level. The briefing cites examples from Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Netherlands where the double threshold or at least one element of it is being taken

Labour movement lobbying helped secure a platform work directive that should provide new rights for millions of workers across Europe. The ETUC and EPSU welcomed the outcome of lengthy negotiations and in particular the inclusion of the presumption of employment in the legislation. This means that Instead of individuals going through lengthy court action to prove they are workers, it will be up to the platforms to prove they are not employees. The directive also recognises the role of trade unions in all aspects of the platform economy, including on issues such as algorithm management. Workers

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

The European Union’s industrial relations research body, Eurofound, has published a report analysing hundreds of collective agreements across 24 low-paying sectors to try to determine the role of collectively-bargained minimum wage rates in protecting the low paid. The 24 sectors include residential and non-residential social care. The analysis of all the sectors found that agreements in central and eastern European Member States refer relatively frequently and explicitly to statutory minimum wages as the minimum payable rates, rather than including higher collectively agreed rates. The report

The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has published research covering all EU member states which warns of the impact of computerised systems on work. Potential negative effects include more unpredictable, hectic and intense work rhythms, the encroachment of paid work beyond its boundaries, longer working hours and a poorer work-life balance. The report also explores the differences in terms of job demands and resources between digitalised and non-digitalised work environments in similar jobs. The ETUI says that while the digital revolution tends to be associated with various positive

A policy brief published by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) looks at the role of collective bargaining in providing protection for the low-paid and the important role of government in setting a framework that protects and promotes collective bargaining. The authors found that over time, statutory minimum wages have become increasingly important, while state support for collective bargaining has declined. This is despite the fact that the report finds that state support for collective bargaining appears most successful in containing low-wage employment. The policy brief highlights

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

EPSU has commissioned the UK-based Labour Research Department to produce a series of articles analysing recent examples of working time reduction. The first article looks at Austria where public service unions in both private and public sectors have taken action to cut weekly working time, particularly in the large private sector agreement covering health and social care workers. The next article, to be published in February, will provide an update on the situation in Iceland and in March the focus will be on other Nordic countries. IndustriAll Europe has also produced a series of briefings

The ETUCLEX newsletter, produced by the ETUC’s legal team, provides a regular update on key legal developments across Europe and in the latest issue includes reports on the right to strike. In a long-running case involving the right to strike of civil servants in Germany, the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that disciplinary action taken against teachers who took industrial action in 2009 and 2010 did not involve a breach of their human right to freedom of association. The Court found that the particular circumstances of civil servants in Germany in relation to their pay and