Staffing levels, Pay settlements, Lithuania, France

The health unions CGT Santé et Action Sociale, FO Santé and UNSA Santé et Sociaux organised protests and strike action on 16 November in support of a range of demands for better pay and conditions, action on staffing and other issues. The unions are demanding measures to improve training and recruitment; a general pay rise; gender equality; increased funding for facilities and staff and a halt to all closures of establishments, services and beds. Better early retirement pension provision for arduous work and withdrawal of the new law on pensions were also part of the demands. EPSU sent a

Independent unions at the scandal-hit care multinational Orpea, have managed to make positive gains in annual negotiations. The CGT reports that the situation has now changed significantly since the position of the in-house union was challenged with the CGT, CFDT and FO winning their case against the company for rigging workplace elections. The CGT says that pay increases this year for non-management staff range from 3% to 7% depending on length of service while management staff get 1%-4% again depending on length of service and whether they benefited from salary adjustments in 2022 or 2023

The LSADPS health workers’ union reports that its members in public health will benefit from pay rises of around 14% from the beginning of this month. This is based on the collective agreement negotiated by the LSADPS and eight other health sector trade unions in 2021 and updated in October of last year. Along with higher basic pay there are increases to the coefficients on which salaries are based and these will apply to the members of the trade unions that have signed the agreement. The average increase for all health staff will be around 8%.

After six weeks of strike action the CGT trade union has secured a monthly increase of €200 for workers in the GRDF gas distribution company. The first increases will be implemented in January with increases ranging from a minimum of €50 up to and €87. The CGT is concerned about any attempt to intimidate strikers and has warned GRDF's management against any action that could be taken against striking employees, whether in terms of disciplinary

In the main (IEG) electricity and gas sector negotiations the CGT, CFDT and FO unions have agreed a 2.3% increase on the basic national salary for 2023 with a minimum guaranteed increase of €1040 for the year (€80 on the monthly salary over 13 months), along with individualised increases worth 1%. The CFE-CGC union refused to sign arguing that the increase was inadequate. The negotiations followed mobilisations by the unions earlier in the autumn demanding pay negotiations to address the cost of living crisis and the increases come in addition to the extra bonuses paid this year in response to

Public service federations are highlighting the sustained loss of purchasing power suffered by public sector workers as the government has again decided to freeze the index point on which salary calculations are based. There will be a small increase for the lowest paid workers but this is only to ensure that the lowest pay rates do not fall below the national minimum wage. The loss of purchasing power is estimated at over 20% over the course of the past 20 years, with the index frozen since for 10 years apart from a small increase in 2016-17.

EPSU affiliate the LSADPS and eight other medical trade unions organisations have negotiated a new three-year collective agreement that runs from 1 January 2022 and covers workers from the entire health sector, who are members of the trade union organisations involved in the negotiations. This is the first time all trade unions have come together to sign one sectoral collective agreement. A combination of factors mean that wages are set to increase by an average of 10.9% in 2022. There is also a commitment to ensure funding for wage increases to prevent a recurrence of the delay in wage rises

Health and social care unions have reacted differently to the government's €7.5 billion package on pay and jobs. The CFDT has welcomed the proposals that it says will mean a €90 net increase a month for most health workers from September with a further €93 increase from March 2021. On top of this a working group will be set up to look at revaluating pay for certain occupations which will be implemented in January 2022. The lowest paid workers in the sector, currently on the minimum wage should see their pay increase by 15%. Around 8000 jobs will be created and 7300 vacancies filled. The FO

Thirteen trade union organisations and health campaigning groups came together on 14 February to strike and join demonstrations calling for urgent action on the funding and provision of health and social services. This follows the previous national action on 17 December (EPSU CB News 24, December 2019). The key demands are for an increase in funding, action on recruitment and training, recognition of the arduousness of work in the sector, a stop on closures of facilities, opening up governance of hospitals to workers and patients and ensuring equal access to quality services.

A series of pay freezes have seen civil servants' salaries eroded by inflation since 2010. Pay is based on an index figure which was frozen between 2010 and 2016 and increased by only 0.6% in both 2016 and 2017 but frozen again this year. This means a loss of purchasing power of 6.79%. This translates into a monthly loss of pay of anything between EUR 117 and EUR 404 a month depending on the job. Increases in pensions contributions have meant a further cut in take-home pay. This is a longer term problem for civil servants as increases in the index point fell behind inflation in the period 2000

Public service unions have made a major breakthrough after three years of negotiations following the signing of a sector collective agreement covering workers in social services. Around 1000 social workers, social worker assistants and home care employees will see a range of improvements to pay and conditions, including a 4.3% rise in the minimum coefficient used to calculate salaries along with further increases for specific groups of workers. There are other measures to compensate workers covering for absent colleagues and for using private cars. The agreement will only apply to union

In a joint statement the CGT, FO and Solidaires trade unions have criticised the government's decision to freeze public sector pay again in 2018 and to introduce a waiting day before civil servants can claim sick pay. The unions are also concerned about career development in the public services and are angry that civil servants are the target of cuts in the government's attempts to reduce public spending. The CFDT trade union has raised similar objections.