Work-life balance

Over 4,000 workers from Vienna's private kindergartens and day-care centres protested on October 2, 2024, demanding better working conditions and a nationwide uniform framework law in the childcare sector. Organized by the unions GPA and Vida , the protest aimed to send a strong message to future government officials. Key demands included reducing the number of children per group, improving the staff-child ratio, and ensuring sufficient preparation and follow-up time. Protesters also called for uniform training for assistants across Austria to address staff shortages and improve the quality of

Copenhagen Municipality has decided to extend its experiment with flexible working hours after successful trials across 17 workplaces. The initiative, which began in the spring of 2024, allows workers to organize their working time in various ways. Options include working longer days to gain an extra day off each week, an extra day off every other week, or a fixed monthly day off. The program, developed in close dialogue with the HK Kommunal union, aims to help workers achieve a better balance between work and family life. By testing different flexible schedules, the municipality seeks to find

For over 100 days, the workers of Hannover Medical School (MHH) have been demanding a collective agreement to improve working conditions and reduce their heavy workloads. Despite their efforts, the MHH presidium and the state government have refused to engage in collective bargaining. The 100-day deadline passed on August 15, 2024, with no progress, leading to continued protests and warning strikes. On August 28, a delegation of MHH workers gathered in front of the Lower Saxony state parliament to highlight the urgency of their demands. While state politicians expressed sympathy for the

On July 15, 2024, the new collective labour agreement for the Executive officials/managers in local authorities for the 2019-2021 period was finalized in Rome. This contract marks a significant step forward in enhancing the economic and regulatory protections for local authority managers, administrative, technical, and professional managers within the non-health sector of National Health Service companies, as well as for management on municipal and provincial level. The updated agreement builds on the improvements initiated with the 2016-2018 agreement. It includes wage adjustments and

Following the article on Iceland, the latest in the series of articles on working time commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department focuses on developments in the other Nordic countries. While several unions in Sweden have put shorter working time on the bargaining agenda (see also article on Sweden in this newsletter), there are only a few cases in social care where a shorter working week has been implemented. In Norway and Denmark the priority has been more to ensure that workers in health and care and other services have the right to full-time working although there are some

The FNV and other trade unions have suspended their industrial action and mobilisations in the youth care sector pending negotiations on the basis of an improved pay offer from the employers. This involves a pay increase of 8% on 1 January 2024 and 1.25% on 1 July 2024 with an additional lump sum of €400. There would then be a 3% increase for 2025 and inflation compensation to a maximum of 2.25%, if inflation is higher than 3%. The minimum wage will rise to €15 per hour and the working-from-home allowance to €3 per day. This compares to the previous offer of a 6.7% increase and additional 2%

The International Labour Organisation has published a new report on working time and work-life balance that reviews working hours and working time arrangements and their effects on workers' work-life balance. It finds that over one-third of all workers are regularly working more than 48 hours per week, while a fifth of the global workforce is at the opposite end of the spectrum working short (part-time) hours less than 35 per week. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings which suggest the need to promote reduced working time and offer flexible working time arrangements, such as

The results of a pilot project on the 4-day week involving a range of companies in Ireland show the potential for how a shorter working week can contribute to a better work-life balance and increased well-being for workers. The pilot was backed by the Fórsa public services union which welcomed the results and the fact that the employers in the project were all planning to continue the 4-day week arrangements. Alongside the benefits for workers, particularly women, there were also mainly positive results in terms of productivity, company revenues and some savings on energy costs. The 4-day week

A survey by the health and services union ver.di has revealed that the already high burden on employees in the emergency medical service has increased significantly since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Around 7,000 workers replied to the questionnaire with 39% saying they would change professions immediately if they had the opportunity. There are serious problems with working hours, work intensity, physical and psychological stress and risk of physical assaults. Almost all respondents reported problems balancing work and private life. Staff shortages mean that 61% of employees are (very)

The CNE/CSC trade union has strongly criticised health sector employers for failing to sign five key collective agreements to improve working conditions. The agreements have been negotiated following the major social agreement signed last year which allocated more than EUR 1 billion to the sector. A new salary structure has been in place since 1 July in the federal health sectors and many health staff have seen a significant increase in pay, some over 10%. However, the employers have since failed to sign agreements covering stabilisation of work schedules and employment contracts (including

After the surge in remote working as a result of the pandemic, trade unions in Ireland, Russia and Spain have welcomed new initiatives, including legislation and collective agreements, that regulate telework. Research by the Eurofound research agency also looks into the negative and positive implications of telework for workers’ autonomy and work-life balance raising again the challenges to ensure that workers have control over their working time and underlining the importance of current discussions at European level on the right to disconnect.