Central government

Trade unions have negotiated improvements for workers in social services and public services. The new collective agreement in social services will see minimum monthly pay increased significantly from €642 to €730 while working hours will be cut by one hour a week. Trade union members covered by the agreement will get an extra day’s leave after 10 years’ service. Meanwhile, across public services there will be a 2.2% increase in the basis salary on which specific salary amounts are calculated. Trade union members covered by the collective agreements will get two additional days’ leave for

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT trade union federations, along with other unions, are taking strike action on 3 December across the ministry of justice. The unions argue that the government has reneged on two key elements of an agreement reached in September that set out to ensure that pay levels across the ministry were the same as for staff employed by the autonomous regions. The agreement also included a commitment to payments of between €80 and €190 a month (backdated to 1 January 2021) as compensation to those on the lower pay levels. A demonstration of several thousand ministry of justice

Following the large demonstration in October in support of a pay rise for public service workers, unions are angry and disappointed that the government has failed to respond. Marián Magdoška, president of the KOZ trade union confederation said that unions were presented with the budget for 2022 a day before a tripartite meeting and realised that, despite promises from last year, it didn’t include any provisions to cover even a pay rise to compensate for inflation. The health union is also angry that in negotiations at the end of October the government was effectively blackmailing unions by

The KOZ trade union confederation organised a national demonstration in Bratislava on 27 October in support of the 13% pay claim by public service trade unions. The government has not offered any pay rise at all for 2022 and the unions are looking to ensure that workers are compensated for inflation, as energy and other prices soar, and for recent years when pay in the public sector has lagged behind increases in the minimum wage. KOZ also used the demonstration to draw attention to the impact of prices rises across the economy and to call for increases in pensions and other social benefits.

The FSC-CCOO public services federation organised a protest outside the General Directorate of Public Administration on 15 October in anticipation of a series of one-day strikes by theatre and museum staff. The dispute is over two issues. The first is the demand that museum security staff should be on the E2 pay grade and not the only group of workers stuck on the E1 grade. The second issue relates to access to technical jobs at the INAEM cultural agency and the failure to recognise certain training and qualification. FSC-CCOO argues that the INAEM should be fully integrated into the IV

The ver.di services union has called for the new parliament, meeting for the first time on 26 October, and eventually the new government to set an example by supporting a collective agreement for the parliament’s drivers. The union says that the workers are paid less, work longer hours and have poorer pension entitlement than colleagues who are covered by the public sector agreement that covers federal employees. While ver.di is positive about the signs of support from social democratic MPs, it has made clear that the drivers are willing to fight for a collective agreement and further strike

The government’s initial offer of a pay increase of 0.9% for public service workers for 2022 is well below the demands of the main trade unions. Trade unions in the Frente Comum federation are calling for a minimum EUR 90 a month increase from 1 January 2022 with a minimum wage set at EUR 850. The SINTAP trade union has claimed an increase of 2.5%. The unions have a range of other demands relating to meal allowances, the pay structure and career development, arduous work, precarious employment, changes to the performance management system and working time.

The three public service federations – Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Pa – organised two days of protests on 13 and 14 October in Naples, Milan and Rome. The mobilisation was about the crisis facing the justice sector with serious staffing shortages and excessive workloads, compounded by inadequate facilities and equipment. The unions argue that workers have been left out of the justice debate as politicians focus on legal reform while ignoring the situation facing the staff who are supposed to uphold and implement the law. Further mobilisations are planned if there is no response from the minister

A new collective agreement covering state workers is now subject to a vote by members. The FNV trade union is pleased with elements of the agreement which it says is better than the previous offer but argues that the final pay offer from the employers is too low. The main elements of the deal include: a 2% wage increase as of 1 July 2021; a one-off payment of €300 in December; a one-off and structural work-from-home allowance; the integration of cleaners into the pay structure and an extra amount for employees on irregular shifts. Union members will now have until the end of the month to

The public service federations in the CCOO and UGT have been angered by the government’s decision to call a meeting at short notice on 5 October rather than initiate a proper process of collective bargaining. The unions argues that the government simply wanted union endorsement for next year’s budget without taking account of key trade union demands relating to the recovery of purchasing power, the 35-hour working week and elimination of the replacement rate that is hampering efforts to reduce temporary employment. The unions also reject the government pay offer of 2% for 2022 which they say