Union criticises government position on church employers

President Viktor Yanukovych met with the FPU trade union confederation and other trade union representatives on 19 March to discuss a range of issues related to tackling the economic crisis. He underlined the importance of consultation with the unions, particularly over key social and economic issues and said he would personally promote adoption of the law on social dialogue by the Parliament. Yanukovych also affirmed the need for consultation with unions over setting state and local government budgets and to achieve a decent wage as an increase in purchasing power was vital for economic

Next month in the Lower Saxony region, the ver.di services union and Marburger Bund doctors' union will begin negotiations over a collective agreement with church organisations. This marks a breakthrough after courts cases have established union rights in the face of claims by church bodies that they should be able to maintain their special arrangements of joint committees that determine workers' pay and conditions. The collective agreement will, however, be negotiated with a process of arbitration and both sides have agreed to cooperate in this new approach which might provide a model for

The ver.di services union is planning for a further stage of strike action against church employers in September. Around 250 ver.di members in several different church institutions in three different regions took strike action back in May. The union says that church bodies that provide health and social care are trying to use their special constitutional status to pay employees below the sector pay norm. In a specific cases five old people’s homes in Hannover have been sold to a religious foundation that has cut pay to run the homes at a higher profit. So far the religious authorities have