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In response to speculation about pay cuts and worsening employment conditions, state sector union Pardia has made it clear that cross-sector bargaining would be unacceptable on this basis. With an election due next spring, Pardia wants to see what the government programme will say about working life, the public sector, the position of state employees and any changes affecting the position of employees. For Pardia there is recognition that non-pay issues are increasingly important and that negotiations could focus on improvements in working lives. [Read more at > Pardia (EN)->http://www.pardia

The European Court of Justice has issued a ruling in favour of the AKT transport union that brought a case on the Temporary Agency Workers Directive. The ruling allows for collective agreement to regulate the use of temporary agency work. AKT brought an action against Shell Aviation for infringing a collective agreement that stipulates that employers should restrict the use of temporary agency workers to work peaks or other tasks restricted in time or in nature, which cannot be given to workers of their user company due to urgency, the limited duration of the work, required professional

The JHL public services union is calling for a new cross-sectoral framework agreement when the current local government agreement expires in February 2014. The union argues that a labour market framework with the participation of the government would best support economic growth and stability, as well as employment. It adds that the pay settlement should include a general pay increase and that it should take account of the need to maintain the economic situation of municipalities. Furthermore, JHL points out that structural changes in municipalities must be considered in collective bargaining

The three trade union confederations SAK, STTK and Akava reached a central agreement on wages and salaries with the employers’ organisations at the end of August. The agreement includes two increases in pay with a flat rate rise of €20 beginning four months after the agreement is valid and a 0.4% increase a year later. The agreement runs for two years with an option to extend it for a third year. This will be decided in June 2015, after the parliamentary elections in April 2015 and the formation of a new government. To support the settlement the Government has promised to cut income tax by 1.5

A new survey carried out for the Pardia state sector union shows the extent to which its members have faced restructuring and job cuts. In the past two years, reorganisation had been carried out at the workplaces of 84% of the respondents with the most common type of change being the merger of different units (49%). Employee numbers were reduced at 65% of workplaces, remained the same at 21% and increased at 14%. The nature of work itself is also reported as changing with 74% of respondents saying that their job duties had increased or their scope broadened, while 77% reported that

A new agreement has been signed covering central government workers. It is divided into two periods, from 1 April 2014 to 31 January 2016 and from 1 February to 31 January 2017. In the first period there will be a flat-rate increase of €20 a month from 1 August 2014 and then a 0.3% increase from 1 August 2015. Bonuses and additional pay given in euros will also be increased by 0.73% from 1 August 2014. For the second period, if the cross-sector social partners cannot agree on salary increases by 15 June 2015, then the agreement may be terminated with a four-month period of notice. The

The JHL public services union reports on consultations over job cuts and lay-offs during 2013. The union was consulted by 60 organisations in the sector who were looking for savings and in most cases permanent job cuts were avoided. Temporary lay-offs, work reorganisation and retirement were some of the alternatives use although there were also voluntary redundancies. The number of fixed-term contracts was reduced and overall the union reports actual dismissals in six municipalities and three municipal corporations. A survey by the local government employers' organisations indicates that

The government has drafted new legislation to make it compulsory for employers to report on gender pay gaps. This would cover jobs where women and men are performing the same work. Employers with more than 30 employees will have to report to their personnel on the company equality plan. The report will have to include information on classification, salaries and salary differences in respect of female and male jobs. Where there are differences, the employer is obliged to clarify to the employees the reasons for this. Although legislation on this already exists, the new law will make the rules