Latvia
Health union warns of government failure to fund wage increases
The LVSADA health union is extremely concerned that the state budget for 2019 will not include promised funding to cover pay increases for health workers. The union has called for rises of around 20% as an essential step to try to stem the loss of workers to other sectors or to other countries. LVSADA believes that the outgoing government made the promise as an election ploy and is now saying it has no responsibility for the budget. Following elections in October negotiations are underway to form a new government.
Union pickets ministry over pay and conditions of bus workers
EPSU affiliate LAKRS organised a picket of the ministry of transport on 4 October calling for better pay and conditions and a collective agreement covering bus workers. The union wants to see a minimum wage of EUR 7 an hour for drivers and action to tackle the widespread problem of long working hours.
Health union tackles ambulance restructuring problems
The LVSADA health union has managed to negotiate an agreement to tackle problems arising from a restructuring of the ambulance service. A reduction of night shifts meant an increase in waiting times particularly in the Latgale, Vidzeme and Zemgale regions, creating problems for staff and difficulties for patients. The union formally announced a dispute with the ambulance service management, highlighting the constitutional commitment to emergency medical care as a human right. However, it was possible to resolve the situation before the union took any action.
North East European constituency addresses Congress, gender equality and European integration
The changes to the labour codes, reform of social protection and health systems and the experience with privatization were some of the issues addressed by the union leaders of the constituency.
East-West pay convergence stalls
Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Latvia Lithuania Poland Romania Slovak Republic Slovenia
An analysis by the European Trade Union Institute shows that wage convergence between East and West in Europe was steady up until 2008. However, since then the trend has either stalled or gone into reverse. Taking national average pay as a percentage of the average across the pre-2004 EU15, Croatia and Hungary show the largest increase in the pay gap since 2008. There were also increases in Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.Most progress was made in Bulgaria but from a very low level (11.8%) to 17.7%, still less than a fifth of average pay in the West.
Health unions take action on pay and jobs
(July 2017) The LVSADA health union is taking a month-long action throughout July with members working only to normal hours (168 per month). The union wants to highlight the severe shortage of staff in the sector and the need to increase pay to recruit more workers. Meanwhile, he Association of General Practitoners is taking strike action as part of a campaign to secure a pay rise.
Health workers get pay rise after strike action
Salaries for healthcare workers will increase by between 7% and 10% early next year following an agreement between the LVSADA union and the Ministry of Health. The two sides finally agreed the deal after strike action by health workers and with the government allocating an extra €10 million to finance the increases. Read more at > news website (EN) And at > LVSADA (LV)
Report exposes failure of austerity
A new report from the ETUI reveals the holes in the arguments of those who maintain that Latvia proves that austerity can get an economy out of recession. This policy brief argues the opposite and shows that what actually happened in Latvia is that policymakers decided not to continue but to break with the policy of austerity. This made it possible for Latvia to get out of a vicious spiral of austerity causing a depression and thereby leading to even more austerity. [Read more at > ETUI (EN)->http://www.etui.org/Publications2/Policy-Briefs/European-Economic-Employment-and-Social-Policy/Does
Wages in decline in Baltic states
The latest official statistics show the impact of the recession in the Baltic states. In Latvia average wages fell by 1.8% but the fall was much sharper in the public sector (-9.5%) where a cut in salary is part of a government deal with the International Monetary Fund. In Lithuania national average earnings were down by 0.9% although the fall in public sector earnings was lower (-0.1%) than in the private sector. In Estonia average earnings fell by 4.4% according to the latest figures, the first fall in 16 years. [Read more at < Latvia statistics (EN)->http://www.csb.gov.lv/csp/content/?cat
Protests over public sector pay cuts continue
Teachers have followed medical workers and police in organising protests against cuts in public sector pay. The government has imposed cuts of 15% across the public sector as part of a deal on a loan package with the IMF and European Union. Read more at > pr-inside (EN)
Trade unions protest against Latvian government policies
Police in Latvia estimated that 10,000 people joined the demonstration earlier this month against government economic policies making it the biggest since the country’s independence in 1991. Public sector trade unions supported the march and the ETUC called for a new social deal across Europe that would provide an alternative to the neo-liberal policies being proposed by governments in Latvia and Lithuania. The ETUC wants to see more of a focus on decent work rather than policies that resort to cuts in pay and reliance on precarious employment. [Read more at > Associated Press (EN)->http://www