Collective Bargaining

Energy sector workers went on a one-day strike to protest against government plans to further privatize the sector. In 2018 the government already sold 66% of the national transmission sector. The new bill that was passed in parliament, calls for a merger of subsidiaries. With the new plans the Public Gas Corporation of Greece (DEPA) will also have to split again into DEPA Trading and DEPA Infrastructure, and overseeing the sale of 50.1% of DEPA Trading and up to 14% of DEPA Infrastructures. In their statement, the union said that “the SYRIZA government is pushing for the policy of liberalizing the energy market, which leads to the striking of labour relations, while at the same time increasing prices for households, thus transforming Energy from a social commodity into an expensive commodity”.

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According to European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) data, women are still underrepresented in management functions with just 36% of all managers in Europe being women. Even in female-dominated sectors such as education and health, women have a lower proportional representation in management. Furthermore, women that do work in management functions are more likely to be in a non-supervising managerial job than men. EWCS data also shows that women enjoy fewer of the advantages of being managers, such as autonomy, the power to influence change in the organisation. The authors believe that if we are serious about addressing this situation, and ensuring gender equality, we need to both address cultural hang-ups and structural issues in organisations and the broader labour market.

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The Union of Trade Unions, the Basic Union of Trade Unions, the CUB Trasporti and SGB trade unions and the Basic Confederations - SI Cobas and Cobas del Lavoro Privato - organised a general strike of the public and private sectors on Friday 8 March 2019. The unions organised the strike in protest to male violence against women, gender discrimination, and harassment in the workplace. Besides the point specific to women’s day, by using the hashtag ‘Fridays for future’ the unions also want to focus the attention of citizens and institutions on the urgent issue of climate change, to ask for a serious reflection on their lifestyles and a rapid and decisive implementation of policies aimed at reducing emissions and promoting a circular economic model.

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The Ledernes Hovedorganisation, a trade union for executives and managers, has proposed an obligatory four-month paternity leave to improve the position of women on the labour market. With the forced 16 weeks paternity leave for fathers, women would only get 30 weeks of publicly financed maternity leave. According to the union, the current situation has a negative effect on the career chances of women. If women are to have a chance of reaching the top, the care for children should be more equally divided between fathers and mothers. Whilst social and health care workers are in favour of the Ledernes Hovedorganisations proposal on obligatory paternity leave, the employers’ organisation is against earmarked paternity leave.

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International Women’s Day saw multiple strike actions and more than 500 street demonstrations throughout the country. The strike and many of the demonstrations were organized by the Comisión 8M (March 8 Commission), made up of feminist assemblies scattered throughout the country. The strike conditions were debated by around 500 groups in the northern city of Gijón in October of last 2018. This the second year in a row the country has massive protests on women’s day that call for gender equality and to rally against ongoing discrimination of women. Last year more than 5 million people joined in a national strike on women’s day (see our March 2018 newsletter).

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Government has stated that after the Brexit the standards of workers’ rights will not deteriorate from as they currently are under EU laws. In order to ensure this any new legislation changing those laws will be assessed as to whether they uphold this commitment. Furthermore parliament is to consider any future changes in the EU law that strengthen workers’ rights or workplace health and safety standards, and vote on whether they should be adopted into UK law. Proposals for a single labour market enforcement body will be brought forward in the coming months. The trade union movement is sceptical about these promises. According to the general secretary of the TUC government’s proposals come nowhere close to ensuring existing rights are protected. And they won’t stop workers’ rights in the UK from falling behind those in the rest of Europe.

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In an ongoing pay dispute (see our February and January newsletters) the council of the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees (LIZDA) decided to start formal procedures for strike action. The teachers were promised higher wages but when discussing the 2019 budget, the government did not support the proposal submitted by LIDZA on the allocation money for additional wages. According to government officials it is necessary to implement several important reforms in the educational system to improve the quality of education in the country before teacher’s wages can be increased. The LIDZA criticizes rhetoric regarding reforms in education which, according to the union, is merely used as a reason to not increase wages for teachers.

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According to the countries’ largest trade union federation CGTP proposes to raise the minimum wage to 650 euro a month. According to the union raising minimum wages has a stronger impact in the battle to reduce gender equality than guaranteeing a higher percentage of female board directors. Because 27% of women were on the minimum national wage compared to 17% of men, according to CGTP figures inequality between men and women have been decreased by 1.6% if minimum salaries were raised to 650 euro a month.

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Trade unions have won their fight against zero-hour contracts. Legislation came into force this month by which zero-hours contracts are banned in almost all circumstance. Furthermore workers now the right to compensation from their employer if they turn up for a shift but are sent home without work and they are entitled to guaranteed hours of work that reflect their normal working week. With this new legislation workers will have greater financial security and job security.

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The chamber of commerce wants pay to be more performance based and recently proposed to link wage growth to productivity. With the proposal average gross wages would increase by nearly a quarter in 2025. The country’s biggest trade union ZZP is optimistic about the plans but other trade unions have some reservations.

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