Equality, Local government, Portugal, Finland

(September 2016) Despite the national reform to revert to the 35-hour week across the public sector, trade unions are still having to fight to ensure all workers see their hours reduced from 40 a week. The STAL local government union organised a demonstration outside the Braga town hall on 19 September in protest at the mayor's decision to maintain the 40-hour week for workers employed by private contractors. The union plans further action if the local authority fails to implement the cut in hours. Meanwhile the SEP nurses' union is continuing its local actions around the country to secure the

(October 2016) Public service union JHL has written to local authority members across the country warning of many of the problems created by outsourcing. It quotes survey evidence indicating threats to service quality coming from cuts to jobs and working time as well as trends towards using less skilled staff. While noting that over 100 municipalities have brought services back in-house, JHL says there is still a trend towards outsourcing which, in healthcare, is now dominated by a small number of big companies.

(November 2016) On 18 November, local government union STAL and other trade unions in the CGTP confederation will mobilise for a national march calling for a reversal of the austerity measures imposed on public service workers. The key demands include restoration of pay for workers with salaries above EUR 1500, unblocking of career progression and a return to the 35-hour week for those groups of workers who remain on the 40-hour week imposed as part of austerity. Unions in the UGT confederation, with similar demands took their protests to the prime minister on 17 November.

(January 2017) There was strong support for a health workers' strike on 20 January with unions calling for action on pay, career development and the application of the 35-hour week for all public service workers. On 3 February non-teaching staff in schools and kindergartens plan a 24-hour strike with demands to tackle precarious employment, to increase recruitment and create a proper career structure.

(March 2017) Public services union JHL is calling for an extra pay increase for sectors dominated by women. The union chair Päivi Niemi-Laine said:"We need a separate round on top of the general increase. Women-dominated sectors have been kept in check and now we have to ensure that purchasing power remains strong in women-led fields." The union argues that action needs to be taken to address the persistent gender pay gap and that public salaries are being effectively cut by a decision to reduce holiday pay as part of the competitiveness deal negotiated last year.

(May 2017) The STAL local government union has called on the government to allow local authorities to take immediate action to tackle precarious employment in the sector. The union says that an ordinance aimed at the state sector doesn't go far enough and that local authorities should be allowed to take the initiative now to reduce various forms of temporary work and provide permanent contracts to workers who are doing permanent tasks but have been appointed on short-term contracts.

(May 2017) The STAL local government union is calling for an immediate pay increase of 4% (minimum EUR 50) to address the loss of purchasing power of local government workers. The union says that pay levels remain lower than they were in 2010. The union has a number of other demands in including unfreezing career progression. Meanwhile the FNSTFPS civil service federation called a national strike on 26 May with similar demands including a guarantee that all workers in the public service have a right to the 35-hour week.

The STAL trade union reports a high level of support for strike action at the RESIESTRELA waste company part of the EGF multinational. The strike is over pay, a pay structure and the right to collective bargaining. The union says that workers at RESIESTRELA are the lowest paid in the EGF group with no developed pay or career structure. STAL has been raising these issues with EGF for many years but the company has refused to negotiate.

Trade unions representing over 430,000 municipal workers have come together to call for a significant pay rise for their members. The unions argue that public sector workers were negatively affected by the competitiveness pact agreed in 2016 with cuts to holiday entitlement. The sector has also seen massive cuts, including job losses, and that a pay freeze would be totally unacceptable. The unions argue that a pay rise is necessary and would mean a major boost for the economy.

The JHL public sector union is preparing for the upcoming round of collective bargaining by surveying members and activists over the key elements for negotiation across the 60 agreements that it covers, most of which expire in January 2018. This time there will be not be a framework agreement negotiated with employers but the union will be in discussion with other members of the SAK confederation with a view to setting some common demands.

The two groups of public sector unions organised in the Frente Comum and FESAP federations have agreed their main collective bargaining demands for 2018. There are several common issues with unions calling for measures to tackle precarious employment, to unblock opportunities for career progression and confirm a 35-hour week for all public sector workers. The unions want to see a pay rise in 2018 that will begin to compensate workers for the loss of purchasing power since 2009, with the Frente Comum calling for at least 4% while the FESAP demand is for at least 2.5%. The federations also want

A national strike in local government and municipal companies has been called for 27 October by the Frente Comum group of unions, including the STAL local government union. The strike is in support of improved pay and conditions with unions calling for a 4% pay rise (minimum 60 EUR a month) to start to compensate for the pay freeze since 2009. The unions also want to see the 35-hour week guaranteed for all workers. Earlier in the month unions organising in the ASAE food inspection agency took strike action over career development, working time, pensions and a range of other issues.

The JHL public services union says that it will aim for a flat-rate rather than a percentage pay rise in the upcoming bargaining round as a step towards closing the pay gap between the low and high paid. Another priority for the union is more control for workers over working time and shift work, seen as crucial to improve well-being at work. JHL will also be looking at initiatives to address the cut in holiday bonus in the public sector and action on zero-hours contracts.

The STAL local government union reports that there was strong and widespread support for the strike organised on 27 October by the Frente Comum group of unions. Many administrative, waste and other municipal services were affected by the action which was called to put pressure on the government to agree to unfreeze pay and career development in the sector and act more quickly to reverse other measures taken during the period of austerity.