Gas, Work-life balance
Pan-European Conference on Public Utilities
EPSU’s Pan-European Conference on Public Utilities is back! Join us online on Tuesday, 10 May 2022 for the opening proceedings and a panel discussion on an issue that is only becoming more important: rising energy prices, and how unions can take action.
EPSU and 44 civil society actors call on EU to deliver on Renovation Wave commitment to tackle energy poverty
Over 45 NGOs, trade unions and social justice groups have sent an open letter to the EU Commission today, urging them to start tackling energy poverty by delivering on its commitment to deep renovate over 35 million homes.
Union ends long-running dispute with gas company
The GMB energy and general union declared an end to the long and bitter dispute with British Gas over its aggressive policy of firing and rehiring workers. GMB members voted three to one to accept a new deal. Around 7,000 British Gas engineers staged 44 days of strike action after the company threatened to sack them if they didn’t sign up to detrimental changes to their terms and conditions. The new deal offers improvements to overtime rates and unsocial hours payments, places limits on the amount of unsocial working undertaken, reverses the decision to close the defined benefit pension scheme
Health union attacks employers’ failure to sign agreements
The CNE/CSC trade union has strongly criticised health sector employers for failing to sign five key collective agreements to improve working conditions. The agreements have been negotiated following the major social agreement signed last year which allocated more than EUR 1 billion to the sector. A new salary structure has been in place since 1 July in the federal health sectors and many health staff have seen a significant increase in pay, some over 10%. However, the employers have since failed to sign agreements covering stabilisation of work schedules and employment contracts (including
Telework and work-life balance
After the surge in remote working as a result of the pandemic, trade unions in Ireland, Russia and Spain have welcomed new initiatives, including legislation and collective agreements, that regulate telework. Research by the Eurofound research agency also looks into the negative and positive implications of telework for workers’ autonomy and work-life balance raising again the challenges to ensure that workers have control over their working time and underlining the importance of current discussions at European level on the right to disconnect.
Ensuring a Just Transition to climate neutrality
Last week, the European Social Partners in the gas sector held a joint webinar, hosted by MEPs Agnes Jongerius (S&D) and Dennis Radtke (EPP), on the transition to climate neutrality and the need to ensure that is just for the workers in the gas sector.