2014 June epsucob@NEWS 12
Local government strike on 10 July
Members of UNISON in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted to take strike action on 10 July in protest at the employers' failure to raise their 1% pay offer. Local government employees suffered three consecutive years of pay freezes, followed by below-inflation rises in 2013 and 2014. Overall the union estimates that real pay has been cut by almost 20% since 2010. Other unions are also balloting and so may join the action. Read more at > UNISON
Municipal and health workers in dispute
Members of the IMPACT union in local government have taken strike action over pay while members of the SIPTU union in the ambulance service are being balloted for strike action over redeployment. In both cases employers appear to be failing to comply with the provisions of the national public sector agreement (the Haddington Road agreement) that was negotiated last year. In the ambulance service there are clear provisions for how to handle service closures and any resulting redeployment but these are being ignored by management. Meanwhile in South Dublin staff have seen their pay cut again in
Call for minimum wage increase for doctors' employees
The GPA-djp is campaigning for employees of doctors' (GP) practices in Lower Austria to get a minimum wage of €1300 a month. Regional collective agreements cover the 40000 employees of GP practices across the country, but the agreement in Lower Austria is the only one with a minimum wage below €1300 - currently €1091. The union is also working with the ÖGB confederation to gradually negotiate minimum wages of at least €1500 across all their collective agreements. The GPA-djp believes that achieving this will be an important contribution to closing the gender pay gap. [Read more at > GPA-djp
Gender pay gap in public sector
The vpod/ssp public service union reports that the gender pay gap in the public sector is 13.6% on average but rises to 18.6% when comparing lower paid occupations. In the health sector the size of the pay gap is reversed with women higher up the pay scale getting 13.7% less than men while the pay gap at the bottom of the pay scale is 5.4%. The union concedes that public sector employers have shown more willingness to discuss pay inequality than private sector employers, however, they have generally failed to undertake a proper examination of the extent of the pay gap. [Read more at > vpod (DE
Unions mobilise to re-establish collective bargaining
The main public administration unions - FSC-CCOO and FSP-UGT along with CSIF - are launching a campaign to re-establish collective bargaining. Over the last four years the government has repeatedly rejected calls to convene the national bargaining committee in public administration. The campaign will begin on 11 July with a series of protests at national and regional level and will be stepped up in the autumn if there is no response from the government. The unions are committed to maintaining the campaign until the government agrees to negotiations. [Read more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)->http://www
Joint union statement on alternative reforms
The main public sector federations - Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp, Uil-Fpl and Uil-Pa - have issued a joint response on the government's plans for reforms of public administration. The unions challenge the government to have a proper strategic view of public services and adopt a different approach to workers in the sector. The unions want to see initiatives to improve skills development, properly reward increased productivity and action to increase recruitment, particularly of young people while allowing those working in arduous occupations to retire. [Read more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)->http://www.fpcgil.it
New agreement in non-profit education sector
The Kommunal municipal workers' union has negotiated a new collective agreement with the Employers' Alliance that covers the non-profit education sector. The agreement is very similar to that negotiated recently in the non-profit health sector. There are flat-rate pay increases to ensure as part of a strategy not to increase the gender pay gap. The increase in 2014 is SEK 500 (€60.5) and SEK 600 (€66) in 2015. Unsocial hours payments increase by 3% and there is an extra month of parental leave. [Read more at > Kommunal (SV)->http://www.kommunal.se/Kommunal/Medlem/Avtalsrorelse/Avtalsnyheter
Union protests over staffing levels in health and social care
Ver.di the main union for healthworkers is organising a demonstration in Hamburg on 26 June to coincide with the meeting of federal and regional health ministers. The union argues that there is an urgent need for action to deal with massive staffing shortfalls across the sector - hospitals alone need an estimated 162000 extra staff to maintain services. Ver.di says that staff are doing their best to deliver quality services in health and social care but are increasingly overworked with three quarters coming to work even when sick and 80% saying that they don't expect to be able to continue
Action at EDF over pay and implementing agreement
Around 500 members of the Unite trade union working for EDF Energy in the London, South Eastern, South West and Eastern regions took strike action on 16 June. The dispute concerns both the below-inflation pay increase offered by the employers and the failure of EDF to implement a collective agreement. The union had already taken two days of strike action in May and industrial action short of a strike was planned following the 24-hour stoppage on 16 June. [Read more at > EPSU->http://www.epsu.org/a/10583] [And at > Unite->http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/edf-energy-pay-strike-today-prompts
Annual survey on working time
In 2013, the average collective agreed weekly working time in the European Union was 38.1 hours, the same as in 2012, according to the latest annual survey by the EIRO industrial relations observatory. The survey examined three sectors in detail and the civil service sector again recorded the shortest average agreed normal working week at 38 hours – although this represents an increase of 0.2 hours compared with 2012. There was a small decrease in working hours in the sector in Sweden while the government in Portugal imposed a five-hour increase from 35 to 40 hours although this is being
Survey reveals trend to decentralise collective bargaining
A new study by the EIRO industrial relations observatory has found significant changes to wage-setting systems across Europe following the crisis. There have been developments in relation to the main level of collective bargaining, the extent of coordination. the links between different levels of bargaining as well as changes to extension arrangements and procedures for continuing agreements. Not surprising the most dramatic changes have been in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Spain where the attacks on collective bargaining have been mainly imposed by national governments
GDF-Suez challenged over sub-contracting
European trade union federations, EPSU and industriAll - joined with national unions in the GDF-Suez energy multinational to raise serious concerns about the impact of sub-contracting by many of the group's subsidiary companies, particularly on health and safety. The unions argue that the resurgence of fatal accidents in subcontracting operations requires urgent action and that employee representatives, together with employees and their unions demand that subcontracted employees have working conditions, rights and social guarantees equivalent to those of the subsidiaries’ employees. [Read more
Health union in protests over pay
The Sanitas health union began a series of protests and pickets on 23 June calling for a 10% pay increase and for the government to implement the collective agreement for the sector that covers around 100000 workers. EPSU sent a message of support and affiliates gathering for the EPSU South East Europe constituency meeting in Sofia also agreed a message of support. Sanitas met with health ministry officials after the first protests on 23 June and further meetings are planned Read more at > EPSU (EN) And at > Sanitas (RO)
New agreement for youth workers
Members of FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak in the youth and child welfare sector are being consulted over a new collective agreement. If approved the agreement will give the 30000 workers in the sector a 2% pay increase plus a one-off payment equivalent to 0.5% of salary. It would run for 12 months to 30 April 2015, backdated to 1 May 2014. The unions are please with the deal but concerned about the future for jobs in the sector. [Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/over-ons/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/2014/06/nieuwe-cao-jeugdzorg/] [And at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)->https
Municipal employers targeted on 18 June
Thousands of members of FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak trade unions from local government joined a demonstration in the town of Hendrik Ido Andacht on 18 June. Their target was the congress of the VNG municipal employers' organisation. After 18 months without a renewed collective agreement and no progress in negotiations the unions are stepping up their campaign. There was also strike action by municipal workers in Amsterdam, Groningen and Utrecht on 16, 17 and 18 June and the unions say more industrial action may follow unless the employers return to the negotiating table. The unions are