Social Services, Remunicipalisation, Privatisation, Portugal, France

The SINTAP trade union has negotiated a new collective agreement with Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (IPSS) which provide care services to children and the elderly among others. The agreement includes a pay increase which works out around 3.75% on average. There is also a service-related increase of €21.00, for every five years of service, up to a limit of six seniority periods. SINTAP sees this as a very positive outcome but is committed to continue to work to secure IPSS workers the same salary and career development conditions as those in public administration.

Eight public service trade unions – CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FA, FO, FSU, Solidaires and UNSA – met on 24 January and issued a joint communique condemning the absence of any measures to increase public service pay, particularly in context of sustained inflation. The unions are calling for immediate negotiations to address issues around careers and salaries and have rejected President Emmanual Macron’s talk of better recognizing "merit" as a tactic to avoid the urgent need to improve pay and conditions. The unions have set 19 March as a national day of action, including strikes and other protests

Eight public service federations – CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT, FA, FO, FSU, Solidaires and UNSA – have issued a joint statement on the need for urgent action to improve pay for civil servants and public sector employees. The unions argue that the five index-point increase for public sector workers implemented this year was already foreseen in 2023 and that no further increase is planned for 2024. The government has given no indication that any negotiations will take place to cover 2024 and in the light of this the unions were due to meet this month to consider what action to take, with the prospect of

Independent unions at the scandal-hit care multinational Orpea, have managed to make positive gains in annual negotiations. The CGT reports that the situation has now changed significantly since the position of the in-house union was challenged with the CGT, CFDT and FO winning their case against the company for rigging workplace elections. The CGT says that pay increases this year for non-management staff range from 3% to 7% depending on length of service while management staff get 1%-4% again depending on length of service and whether they benefited from salary adjustments in 2022 or 2023

The SINTAP public service union has signed an agreement with the government that will see pay increase by €52.11 a month in each of the years 2023 to 2026. The agreement also includes an increase in the food allowance and a range of pay improvements for selected occupations as well as commitments on career development. Meanwhile, the STAL local government union and other unions in the Frente Comum are planning a national strike on 18 November as they believe the proposed pay increases are inadequate.

The CGT and FO confederations organised demonstrations across France on 18 October calling for action to increase pay across all sectors, including an increase in the minimum wage. Their demands also covered pensions and social security and defence of the right to strike. The unions estimate that around 300,000 people joined the 180 actions around the country with 70,000 participating in the main demonstration in Paris. Also on the 18th, the CFDT organised strike action in the private health and care sector in protest at stagnating salaries in the face of increased profits for the big private

Trade unions in several sectors have planned action this autumn over jobs, pay and pensions. The CGT has called for protests and strikes across France on 29 September in response to the cost-of-living crisis with calls to increase pay, a minimum wage of €2000 a month and moves towards a 32-hour working week. Meanwhile, energy unions, including FNME-CGT, FO-FNEM and CFE Énergies have rejected the latest pay offer from the electricity employers and are planning action on 6 October. In the care sector, FO mobilised workers in residential elderly care on 27 September to demand recognition of

On 18 January unions (UNSA, FO and CFDT) representing technical and administrative staff in health and social care organised national strike action over pay, with union leaders meeting representatives of the health ministry on the following day. The unions are angry that commitments to review pay were not met by the end of 2021 and that a meeting of unions and employers planned for January was further postponed. The unions are concerned that a range of professions working in health, eldercare and disabled care in the public and private sectors have yet to benefit from the major “Ségur”

A national strike and local demonstrations by psychologists took place on 28 September following earlier action in June. The workers’ trade unions have a range of demands related to pay, jobs and the statutory/contractual position of psychologists and government proposals on their status, independence and payment for consultations. Psychologists have seen demands for their services increase significantly during the pandemic and the unions argue that this needs to be recognised in terms of more jobs, better employment conditions and similar pay improvements as awarded to other health and social