Ireland
Workers at the FAS state employment and training authority have voted for strike action in protest at the employer's failure to follow consultation procedures. The union is angry that the Authority is trying to get more head office staff to relocate by linking relocation to future promotion. A two and a half hour stoppage on 5 April will be the first stage in the action.
Read more at > SIPTU
Public service unions are still concerned about the implications of a major decentralisation of staff. Thousands of civil servants currently directly employed by the public works ministry are set to be transferred to regional and local authority employment. Unions are worried about the failure to guarantee pay rates, career development and civil service status. A national demonstration has been organised for 7 September. Read more at > FO
The IMPACT civil service union is balloting members in a number of government departments over possible industrial action. The union's decision is in response to the government's failure to guarantee jobs, pay and conditions and career progression to staff affected by decentralisation. Workers in seven departments, including the Department of the Environment and the Prison Service, will be asked to support a range of measures including non-co-operation with the decentralisation plans. Ballots in other departments may follow if no guarantees from the government are forthcoming. [Read more at >
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
