USA, Estonia

The EAKL trade union confederation reports that health sector trade unions have negotiated pay rises of around 10% for health workers, due to be paid from 1 April. There are some variations across occupations with 10.01% for doctors; 10.03% for specialists; 10.07% for clinical psychologists; 10.09% for nurses and health care support specialists; 14.22% for specialty nurses and midwives; 9.89% for emergency technicians; 10.11% for emergency medical technicians 10.11%; and 10.14% for maintenance workers.

The EAKL trade union confederation reports that the state wants to give additional pay to carers from July, which requires trade unions and employers to negotiate an agreement. Monthly pay in nursing homes varies from €725 to €1300 per month, depending on the region. EAKL says that trade unions want to negotiate a minimum wage for care workers in a sector collective agreement with a view to achieving the same level as that in the collective agreement for health workers where the minimum wage for care workers in health care institutions is set to reach €1160. With staff shortages reaching

The Economic Policy Institute in the US has just published research that reveals the impact of declining union density and collective bargaining on wages. It finds, for example, that falling union membership translates to a loss of $1.56 (€1.47) per hour worked for the average worker, the equivalent of $3,250 (€3,070) for a full-time, full-year worker. Meanwhile, the erosion of collective bargaining lowered the median hourly wage also by $1.56 (€1.47), a 7.9% decline (0.2% annually), from 1979 to 2017. An analysis of wage distribution found that declining unionisation had widened inequality

The US government has set out 70 recommendations to encourage collective bargaining and union membership making it easier for many federal employees to join unions and eliminating barriers for union organizers to talk with workers. A report by the administration’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, says, “it is our administration’s belief that unions benefit all of us.” The report notes that union households earn up to 20% more than non-union households, with an even greater union advantage for workers with less formal education and workers of colour. The report calls for

The ROTAL state and local government employees’ union has signed an agreement with the ministry of finance on recommended principles for maintaining mental health in the work environment. The agreement recognises that a large proportion of civil servants are exposed to intellectual and psychological challenges in their daily work, and that maintaining mental health in the work environment is therefore a key occupational safety issue. The agreement will allow for a range of measures to be taken to mitigate psycho-social risk factors such as making work organization and the workplace suitable

The EAKL trade union confederation has called for real wage increases for frontline workers, particularly in the light of all their efforts during the pandemic. Negotiations on health workers’ pay are now continuing through a national conciliator and EAKL is particularly concerned that the pressures on the service need to be addressed and particularly the low levels of pay that is driving workers away from the sector. Meanwhile the confederation reports that negotiations on the salaries of emergency service and police officers have not even started and is concerned that the state budget is not