(24th September 2021) Workers and families are suffering under sky-rocketing energy prices, as a result of which energy poverty will only grow across Europe. Europe’s energy ministers met to discuss this pressing matter on 23 September.
Yesterday, in the framework of the EU-OSHA campaign, Healthy Workplaces – Lighten the Load, EPSU and the Federation of European Social Employers held a webinar on the prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) in social services.
Public service trade unionists from across the Mediterranean region met online last week (14-15 September) to discuss the challenges they face in asserting their fundamental rights to organise, negotiate and take strike action.
On 14 September 660 childcare facilities across the country were hit by national strike action coordinated by the FNV trade union. This is part of a campaign, running since July, that has involved regional stoppages as well as an earlier day of national strike action. The union wants the employers to negotiate a collective agreement that includes concrete measures to tackle excessive workloads and unpredictable working hours. The FNV says that the employers are looking to the government for solutions but argues that there are practical measures that the employers could take such as hiring
EPSU is supporting the call by the international and European trade union confederations – ITUC and ETUC – for parliament to suspend the current discussion on labour law reform. The international trade union movement is backing the Ukrainian unions in their long-running campaign to block the reforms and to start a proper process of consultation with trade unions. Analysis of a number of draft laws shows that they are incompatible with International Labour Organisation conventions and EU social legislation, undermining workers’ basic employment rights as well as working time and health and
On 27 August the KESK public services confederation organised a national strike in protest at the collective agreement signed by the government and the Memur Sen trade union. KESK has a range of key demands which the agreement fails to address and is angry that it was shut out of the negotiations. The confederation argues that the pay rises foreseen in the agreement are inadequate to ensure protection against inflation and it doesn’t include any measures to deal with employment security, workplace democracy or the right to proper collective bargaining. EPSU sent a solidarity message.
The GPA services union is determined to hold the government to account over the EUR 500 Corona bonus promised to nurses in June. The union joined with other trade unions in successfully calling for the bonus to be extended to other workers but is still concerned that it will not be available to all in the social care sector. However, the GPA is angry that three months on the bonus has not been paid and there is still lack of clarity over who is entitled. The union complains of the lack of respect for the workers who have been exposed to extreme stress and heavy workloads for months and deserve
The International Trade Union Confederation has welcomed the decision by the president of Kyrgyzstan to veto a new law on trade unions. The law was drafted by the Parliament without properly consulting unions or the International Labour Organization (ILO). It flies in the face of core labour standards, including ILO Conventions 87 and 98 covering freedom of association, freedom to organise and the right to collective bargaining. The ITUC says that it is the third time in two years that they have had to ask the president to veto a draft anti-worker law and its now insisting that unions and the
The four main unions in the waste sector - Fp Cgil, Fit Cisl, Uiltrasporti and Fiadel – will be consulting with their activists on 16 September in the lead up to the next sector negotiations due on 20 September. The unions will discuss mobilisation across the sector if the employers fail to respond to the unions’ key demands for the renewal of the collective agreement that expired 26 months ago. The unions are looking for a number of key improvements including extension of the sector agreement to cover recycling plants, strengthening of the industrial relations system, better health and safety
