COVID-19, Culture, Russia

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.

Latest data indicate that average salaries in healthcare across the country for the first six months of 2020 were 9% higher than for the same period in 2019.The healthworkers' union says that special payments for working with COVID-19 patients has contributed to this bearing in mind that many healthworkers would not be on full pay because of sickness or isolation measures. However, the union has made it clear to the government that there have been problems with ensuring the extra payments apply to all hours worked and that any change to the payments system has to guarantee the COVID bonus for

The health workers' union has raised serious concerns about the failure to ensure that medical workers get the appropriate compensation for the fight against COVID-19. The union has also had many reports from around the country about abuse of health workers' rights and argues that local institutions are failing to properly negotiate and consult with worker representatives. The union wants to see a much broader range of health workers who face risks of COVID-19 infection getting special payments and also appropriate support in terms of sickness insurance and provisions for recovery and