Collective Bargaining

By carrying out thousands of raids on farms suspected of trapping poor migrants in unpaid work the government tries to put an end to labour trafficking and exploitation in the agricultural sector. However, with less than 20 inspectors available for the job, authorities lack capacity to inspect most properties where workers are being abused. A recent report by the European Commission showed than in the period 2015-16 the country had a higher proportion of labour trafficking victims per one million of the population than any other European Union state except Malta.

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Around 15000 construction workers participated in a 24-hour strike to urge their employers to sign a collective agreement. According to the workers the refusal of employers to sign the collective agreement bill, that they negotiated on together but was suddenly dismissed by the employers, encourages illegal employment and unfair competition and allows employers to pay workers less than they should. The strike by construction workers also affected the work of around 10000 other employees such as electricians and civil engineers will also be affected. Contractors have asked the unions to continue negotiations.

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The three trade unions involved have signed an agreement in principle for the new sectoral collective labour agreement for metal workers. The agreement follows 8 months of negotiating and multiple strike actions by tens of thousands of workers across the country. With the new collective agreement wages will be increased by 3.5% on 1 February, by 58 euro on 1 August and 116 euro on 1 January 2020. This pay rise will also apply to temporary workers. Furthermore both parties agreed upon a ‘generation pact’, this scheme will give older workers the opportunity to work less to remain in good health until retirement while keeping the fulltime employer's pension contribution and being partly compensated for lost wages. The agreement, that already expired 1 June 2018, will be valid until 1 December 2020 and applies to approximately 150,000 employees in the large metal sector with employers such as Fokker, ASML, DAF, Siemens, Scania, Thales and Damen.

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Unions threaten to fight government plans to let 10% of the public sector workers, mainly clerks, go as a cost-saving measure. The proposed measure would lead to the loss of 12,500 jobs. Trade unions state that some state agencies are at present already faced with an acute labour shortage. Public sector workers are worried that the redundancy will increase the workload even further. Union leaders also say that the government plans will have a negative impact on the quality of public services.

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Eurofound published a report that analyses the potential employment and economic impacts of the Paris climate agreement across sectors and occupations in the European union. The analysis is carried out using the E3ME macro-econometric model which provides information on sectoral impacts, together with the Warwick Labour Market Extension model for occupational analysis. Further analysis of the employment developments in Europe are undertaken using Eurofound’s European Jobs Monitor. The report highlights that the impact the climate agreement is positive for the EU as a whole, although with considerable variation between sectors. The positive impact on employment is largely due to the investment required to achieve this transition, along with the impact of lower spending on imported fossil fuels.

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In relation to the forthcoming European elections Euronews has produced a series of reports on some of the major issues concerning Europe and its citizens. In one of these reports the working conditions of textile workers in the country are investigated. The report shows that while many international brands have outsourced their textile production to the country, working conditions remain poorly. Not only are the workers experiencing a lot of work pressure, payment is also a serious problem with the average net wage just between 320 and 350 euro a month. Despite a rise of 10% in January 2019 the country’s minimum wage is still the lowest in the EU.

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Data by Eurostat show that the country shares the lowest number of women working as scientists and engineers in Europe with Hungary. Despite the effort to push for more gender equality and inclusion, only 25% of scientists and engineers are women. The average across Europe is 41%. Women are also underrepresented in politics with only 20% of ministerial posts occupied by women and less than one-third female parliamentarians.

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Trade unions representing employers of the capitol’s waste collection company, have threatened a strike if the mayor does not provide assurances regarding the future of the municipal company. Tensions began when the responsible environment councillor left the council because she was the only council member that supported the 2017 balance sheet of the city’s waste collection company. Trade unions are worried about the future of the waste collection company and want employment guarantees for the approximately 8000 workers.

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According to a report by Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Scotland has one of the highest gender pay gaps in the UK when it comes to part-time work. Whilst the gender pay gap between Scots men and women in full-time work with 5.7% is now the lowest in Britain with an UK average of 8.6%, this is not the case for part-time workers. But part-time workers are three times more likely to be women with average pay of 195 pounds a week. Here the pay gap is 7.8% which is the worst across the UK outside London. The Scottish Trades Union Congress called for a culture change in attitudes towards work carried out by women. They the under-valuation of ‘women’s work’ is at the heart of the problem. Closing the gap must therefore involve increasing the pay of low-paid, female-dominated occupations such as carers, cleaners, clerical workers, and catering assistants.

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Hundreds of thousands of people came to Rome on 9 February 2019 to participate in a rally organized by trade union federations CGIL, CISL and UIL. Under the banner “A future for work” they protested against austerity policies which, according to the trade union federations, have led to deep inequality, increased poverty, and growth of unemployment, in particular among youth and women. According to the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat), the unemployment rate in the country reached a record high of 10.6 % in 2018. This is the third highest unemployment rate in Europe, just after Greece and Spain. Youth unemployment is even more severe with 16.7% of young people without work in 2017.

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