Collective Bargaining

For the first time in its 47-year history the Swedish Dockworkers' Union was able to establish a national collective agreement for dockworkers across the country. The union was fighting for a collective agreement since 2016 and held several strike actions (see our January newsletter). A strike action planned for this month, that would have had a huge impact on European food import and export was called off because of the new collective agreement that is linked to collective agreement of transport workers.

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In a dispute over low pay, high workload and indiscipline the second Scottish teaching union announced plans to organise a ballot over strike action. The last offer was rejected by the teachers' side of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) last month. This offer included a 9% rise as of April 2019, consisting of a series of 3 times 3% increases. The first of the 3 pay rises would be backdated to April 2018 and the last one would be applied in April 2020. Trade unions, the Scottish government and the local council umbrella body had their last scheduled meeting yesterday but the meeting did not end with a new offer.

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Workers at a canning company in the south of the country claim that they are fired if they take longer than two minutes loo-breaks. A video has provided evidence for the accusations. Workers and their trade unions have denounced this kind of pressure and humiliation that they say is common in the industry. The canning company denies any misdoing and instead claims that the video is manipulated.

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Some 250 people attended the conference Inklusive Arbeitswelt versus ‘hocknstad und behindert’ – Und jetzt, was können wir tun? (Inclusive workplace versus ‘umemployed and disabled’ – and now what can we do about it?). This was the 6th time the unions and Arbeiterkammer (Chamber of labour) invited confidential counsellors for the disabled to discuss recent developments. Dancers, a rapper, a traveller in a wheelchair and more showed their ability to perform despite their disabilities. Discussions and a book presentation showed that workplace inclusion can work and why it is worth the effort.

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Population, overnight stays and exports all rose in 2018. On the other hand, the number of motor vehicles and buildings costs fell by 19.2% and 6.5% respectively. Unemployment also continued to fall. These and other numbers were published by the Office of Statistics...

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Higher Education trade unionists and representatives from 20 European countries gathered on 21-22 February in Brussels 2019 for Higher Education and Research Standing Committee (HERSC) meeting. In this meeting they concluded that that the main threat to academic freedom is posed by precarious contracts which are preventing academics from carrying out independent research. Participants were also concerned that private sector funding was heavily influencing what research was being conducted. HERSC members proposed concrete examples of indicators and ways to measure academic freedom, namely gathering statistics on the percentage of lecturers and teachers on precarious contracts.

The report: in English …

Fruitful negotiations between public authorities and public service trade unions, including education unions affiliated to Education International, have led to salary increase of 8% for public workers. The Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) qualified the salary increase for those working in the civil service of the German federal states (Länder) as an appropriate conclusion to collective bargaining after three day-negotiations with employers. ‘By agreeing on a comprehensive package in several complex areas, trade unions and employers have shown that they have lived up to their socio-political responsibility. The result strengthens the attractiveness of the civil service, ‘according to a statement by the GEW President.

Read on: in English … The collective agreement: in German …

One in two bus drivers is suffering from the symptoms of stress, twice the rate among the general population. ‘Respect for bus drivers has completely disappeared in recent years’, one bus driver declared. Indeed, some 70 percent of bus drivers said that the cyclists who disobeyed the road rules made their job more difficult. Meanwhile, technologies that allow buses to be tracked in real time are also causing stress as drivers fight to ensure their services don't run late. Asked by union SEV about their reasons for visiting a doctor if they had done so, they cited symptoms including tiredness, anxiety and irritability. It was also found that one third of all drivers had gone to work “without being at full strength”, a result described as ‘alarming’ by the union secretary.

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Management of the Same Deutz Fahr Žetelice company reached a wage deal with the Croatian Metal Workers' Union and the striking committee of the company. With the new deal monthly wages will be increased with 65.50 euro in 2019 and a further monthly increase of 15.11 euro in 2020 and 20.15 euro in 2021. It remains unclear if the wage deal will put an end to the industrial unrest at the company because the striking committee made clear not to be particularly satisfied with the new pay deal. Workers initially demanded a monthly increase in gross wage of 99 euro plus an 8% allowance for special working conditions in production. Because management rejected their demands workers went on strike in January 2019 (see our January and February newsletters) but when the supreme court ruled the strike to be illegal, they resumed work on 8 February 2019.

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In response to complaints by union Ver.di that some parcel delivery companies pay Eastern European workers as little as €4.50 an hour (minimum wage is €9,19) the Labour Minister declared these working conditions ‘shameful’. He therefore announced a new law to force these companies to cover failures by subcontractors to comply to minimum wage and social insurance regulations. This way wage dumping practices by three out of five parcel delivery firms will be made unlawful.

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