Collective Bargaining

Socialeurope.eu published an in-depth article on recent developments that might endanger the social equilibrium. According to the authors the countries’ right-wing government has tilted the balance of power with their recent series of labour-market reforms. These reforms resemble changes in other countries like the United Kingdom and the Hartz process in Germany. The new Working Time Act, which was implemented despite massive protests, for example allows employers to assign a 12-hour working-day and a 60-hour working week. Trade unions and works councils have no saying in this while the individual worker is hardly in a position to refuse.

Read on: in German …

SNTCT trade union members have negotiated their first-ever collective agreement with UPS that entered the countries’ market in 1993. The five-year agreement provides annual wage increases, new avenues for advancement in the company, more vacation days, and more pay for night and supplementary work.

Read on: in English …

IKEA Boards trade union signed their first Collective Bargaining Agreement with the company. At the end 2018 the trade union took the initiative that was successful after several rounds of negotiations. According to union officials the negotiations were tough they did not get everything they wanted. However the union believes it is crucial is that have established their first collective bargaining agreement and gained experience in negotiating with the management.

Read on: in English …

The ETUC published a report on trade unions strategies for new forms of employment that focusses specifically on the growth of forms of work that fall outside the protection of labour laws and social security. Making use of data from Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Germany and the UK the report identifies similarities and differences between the countries covered by the survey. The report furthermore focusses of the collective labour rights of self-employed workers in the above mentioned countries as well as legal obstacles to collective bargaining due to restrictive interpretation of antitrust law. Findings of the report show that the self-employed category is increasingly populated by a heterogeneous group of workers with a weak position in the labour market which prevents them from having a strong organisational autonomy or independence in the marketplace.

Read on: in English … The report: in English …

Union Ver.di was able to eliminate the two-tiered workforce after long rounds of negotiations. As a result more than 14,000 outsourced drivers will be reintegrated in Deutsche Post DHL. Since four years these employees in the parcel delivery have been employed against lower standards than workers in the postal division. The aim of Ver.di: ‘one company, one workforce, one agreement’ will be implemented from July 1, 2019. The company itself also seems to gain from this insourcing because administration costs will be lower.

Read on: in English …

After the successful strike at the Audi plant earlier this year (see our January newsletter) the country sees yet another strike action in the automotive sector. This time it is the Korean-owned tire-maker Hankook's plant where workers resorted to industrial action in demand of decent pay and more respect. Workers at the Racalmas plant reported that management had threatened to sack striking workers but after a 10-day stand-off the workers' demand for a double-digit hike in basic pay had been granted. Since the strikes at Audi several other German and Asian automotive companies including Bosch, Continental and Suzuki have agreed terms with staff who threatened similar shutdowns

Read on: in English …

Ryanair pilots have voted in favour of a collective-labour agreement that covers the next four years. After multiple strikes across the continent more than a year ago Ryanair decided that it would recognise trade unions and has been negotiating collective-labour agreements with pilots and cabin crew. The agreement governing pay and conditions was negotiated between Ryanair and the pilot union SPAC to cover all of the airline’s directly employed pilots in the country.

Read on: in English …

Up to 500 ambulance staff nationwide held a fifth strike and declared further actions in an ongoing dispute over the right to be represented by the trade union of their choice (see our February 2019 newsletter). Trade union SIPTU used to represent all the workers in the National Ambulance but nowadays some 500 workers are member of National Ambulance Service Representative Association of the Psychiatric Nursing Association and they want their union to be a recognised collective bargaining partner.

Read on: in English …

Trade union Unia announced both the general and the minimum wages in scaffolding will rise. The general salary increase is 50 francs per month, starting from 31 March 2018. The minimum wage for employees without specialist knowledge increases by 100 to 4,293 francs; the minimum wage for group leaders with a certificate of 78 to 5160 francs. This rise will apply to Swiss companies and foreign companies and also for temporary employment agencies.

Read more: in German …

The Company Law Package which is under discussion in the EU-parliament has lost support from the labour unions according to the director of the Institut für Mitbestimmung und Unternehmensführung (I.M.U., Institute for codetermination and company governance) of the Hans-Böckler Stiftung. The proposed measures are not enough to prevent letterbox companies to be established for the sole purpose of neglecting national regulations.

Read on: in German …