Gas, Early Childhood Education and Care, Spain, Italy

Members of the CCOO trade union in early years education have taken three days of strike action with a fourth planned for 15 November. They also came from all regions of Spain to join a national demonstration in Madrid on 2 November as part of their campaign to secure improvements to pay and secure real progress after over two years of negotiations with private sector employers. The union wants action to address precarious employment conditions and has had to resort to industrial action to put pressure on the employers to negotiate on the issue. The union argues that pay and working conditions

Following a national day of action on 18 June, workers in childcare, playgroups and after-school care will begin a campaign of industrial action in the Netherlands from 23 June. Different workplaces will be targeted at different times and various forms of strikes and other industrial action will be organised. The action is over excessive workloads and has been launched following the failure of the BMK and BK employer organisations to respond to an ultimatum from the FNV trade union. The union is warning that employees’ wellbeing is under threat and the quality of service will be compromised if

Trade unions representing workers in the electricity, gas and water sectors organised a day of strike action on 17 December. The unions are concerned that changes to procurement rules will lead to more outsourcing and so threaten jobs, pay and conditions and the quality of services. Meanwhile, unions organising in the private health sector began a series of regional actions with a strike in Lazio on 14 December as part of a campaign to secure a new sector agreement covering 150000 workers. It is 12 years since the last agreement was negotiated.