Working Time, Culture, Norway, Hungary

Following the article on Iceland, the latest in the series of articles on working time commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department focuses on developments in the other Nordic countries. While several unions in Sweden have put shorter working time on the bargaining agenda (see also article on Sweden in this newsletter), there are only a few cases in social care where a shorter working week has been implemented. In Norway and Denmark the priority has been more to ensure that workers in health and care and other services have the right to full-time working although there are some

Public services union Delta has welcomed implementation of the amended Working Environment Act that ensures that employers give priority to full-time employment. The law requires that employers document any decision to hire workers on a part-time basis and to discuss issues relating to part-time employees with trade union representatives. The Labour Inspection Authority has powers to enforce compliance with the new regulations. The legislation means that part-time employees get preferential access to any extra shifts and to extend their hours before employers hire new employees or take on

Trade unions Fagforbundet, NTL and Creo working with the LO confederation are in negotiations over a pension scheme for the culture sector. This follows last year’s strike where the unions achieved a commitment from the employers for a hybrid scheme that ensured payments for life and equal treatment of men and women. The main sticking point is that the Spekter employers’ organisation is talking about a defined contribution scheme but the unions argue that this will make it impossible to determine what individuals will actually get at retirement. The negotiations will form part of the spring

The Delta public services union is pleased that the government has come forward with a legislative proposal to make full-time work the norm. The union has been monitoring the situation closely and says that less than 20% of health professional jobs advertised since 2019 have been full-time positions. Delta will look in detail at the draft but says that the main provisions will mean that full-time work is prioritised and that employers will have to provide a justification for offering part-time work and discuss this with elected representatives. The proposals will also mean that extra hours

The continuing demands imposed by the COVID pandemic are being addressed by municipal trade unions and employers through a new agreement setting out rules on overtime. The agreement will be applied locally if agreed between the local union and employer and provides for higher overtime rates and limits on overtime hours. Overtime rates are increased to 200% on normal days and 300% on weekends and holidays. The rates also apply to part-time workers above 20 hours a week. The agreement sets a range of daily, weekly and monthly limits to overtime hours.

The Fagforbundet and Delta trade unions have negotiated pay increases for workers in early years education in the private sector. The pay rise is around 4% varying according to skill level with the minimum annual salary for assistants rising by NOK 13000 (€1325) to NOK 325800 (€33265). The trade unions and the PBL employers’ organisation also agreed to continue negotiations over pensions. In contrast, pensions are at the heart of a dispute in the culture sector with theatre, opera, ballet and orchestral workers on strike since 3 September. Temporary pension arrangements were agreed in 2016 but

Public services union Fagforbundet has warned that a dispute over pensions could end in strike action unless the Spekter employer organisation delivers a solution in upcoming mediation. The dispute covers workers in the culture sector, including orchestras, theatres and opera. A temporary pension arrangement involving defined contributions was agreed in 2016 in response to the final challenges facing the sector. The union now wants to negotiate a long-term solution that delivers a hybrid and gender-neutral pension scheme but Spekter has not come up with a proposal and has effectively abandoned

Negotiations are underway in local government and while unions are aiming for a real pay increase they are also setting their sights on improvements in other working conditions. They want more investment in competence development and training during working time. However, a key demand is for more full-time work. Around two thirds of health and social care workers and 40% of those in childcare and education work part-time. Unions argue that this does not make the sector attractive and that full-time hours are needed to deliver decent pay. They also point to the benefits to the quality of

EPSU has sent letters to the prime minister and leaders of political groups in parliament protesting at legislation that will remove public service status from over 20000 workers in libraries, museums, archives, culture centres, theatres and orchestras. This is a group of workers that is mainly low paid and whose pay has been frozen for over 10 years. The additional employment protection of public service status is one of their few main benefits. The government is using its emergency to push through the change at breakneck speed without the usual parliamentary process or consultation with

The KKDSZ culture workers' union has launched a petition highlighting low pay in the sector and plans to hand it to the minister of human resources on 22 January, the national day of culture. The union will highlight the contradiction of government claims that national culture is important while failing to increase pay for museum, library and other culture workers for over 10 years or engage in proper collective bargaining. The union is planning a number of events in Budapest and other cities. EPSU send a message of solidarity.

Three unions - Fagforbundet, NSF and Delta - with a combined total membership of 560000, are joining forces to address the continuing problem of part-time work in health and social care. The unions say that around two-thirds of workers in the sector, employed mainly by municipalities - are on part-time contracts. This is a problem for many workers, making it difficult to make ends meet. The unions argue that the problem has been recognised at national level and some municipalities have taken action but they say the government needs to ensure that municipalities have the funding so that they

In the latest stage of the trade union campaign against the "slave" law that allows employers to signficantly increase overtime work, the MASZSZ confederation has asked the European Commission to intervene. The confederation believes that the increase on the overtime limit to 400 hours a year and the possibility for compensation for additional hours to be spread over 36 months could be in contravention of the Working Time Directive and it wants the European Commission to investigate.