Collective Bargaining

The European Commission’s annual report on intra-EU labour mobility provides updated information on labour mobility trends in EU and EFTA countries. Annual developments in stocks and flows are analysed in the perspective of longer-term trends. The analysis considers the mobility of all working-age citizens (20-64 years) as well as the mobility of those who are active (employed and unemployed). The report also looks at indicators of economic integration of mobile citizens, such as employment/unemployment rates and occupations. This year two specific topics on the qualifications and the household composition of the EU-28 movers are further analysed. The report shows that the large growth in mobility seen in 2015 and 2016, has slightly slowed down. Intra-EU mobility is still increasing but with a slower speed than before.

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

Siptu, together with several other trade unions, organised a protest in the port of Dublin to draw attention to the fact that Irish Ferries portrays itself as being Irish but doesn’t pay the Irish national minimum wage. The unions urge Irish Ferries to pay decent wages. In 2006 Irish Ferries de-registered from the Irish maritime register and opted to place the company on the Cypriot register in order to navigate around the Irish national minimum wage. The demonstration was part of a European-wide trade union campaign to seek better rights and conditions for seafarers.

Read on: in English …

The growth in outsourcing is exerting a strong impact on collective bargaining institutions. Outsourcing does not only reshape company boundaries but at the same time also fragments the representation base of trade unions. The RECOVER project focusses on the difficulties regarding collective bargaining in outsourced services in Europe. The report consists of six separate country studies: France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. For each country the collective bargaining coverage gaps and/or conflicts of workers in outsourced services at sectoral and company level are examined by focussing on two different cases per country. The report also provides some policy guidance in order to ensure inclusive and effective collective bargaining coverage.

The report: in English …

Workers at the Same Deutz Fahr Žetelice, a factory that produces combine harvesters, have been on strike since 9 January 2019 in demand of better wages. About 95% of the company's 400 workers are on strike and are seeking an increase of 750 Kuna (about 100 euro) a month and an 8% allowance for special working conditions. The Supreme Court will now decide whether the strike is allowed to go on or not. According to the metal workers union that represents the striking factory workers, the cost of employees amounts to a mere 8% of the company's revenue and with the increase costs would still remain under 10%.

Read on: in English …

Trade union confederation LO has presented its annual report on income inequalities in the country. The results show that the income difference between an ordinary employee and those on the top is the largest ever. In 2017, the directors of 50 large companies in the country had an average income that equals to the sum of just over 59 industrial workers' wages. In many cases the annual income for the CEOs of large companies is much far higher than what a worker earns for a lifetime. LO is worried about this development and proposes several measures to be taken. Amongst other things the trade federation is pleading for the implementation of provisions that the CEO's annual rate of wage increase shall not be higher than the rate of wage increase for other employees in the company and for a harder taxation of capital.

Read on: in Swedish …

Taxi drivers in Madrid voted in favour to ending their 16-day strike action that began on 21 January 2019. With the industrial action the taxi drivers wanted to pressure regional government into regulating VTC vehicles, used by ride-hailing services such as Cabify and Uber. Only a small majority of the taxi drivers voted to end the strike. The Professional Taxi Federation believes the reason why the taxi drivers chose to end their strike without having reached a deal with the regional government is that many of them simply could not afford to be inactive any longer. In Barcelona taxi drivers also staged stoppages, and managed to achieve concessions from the regional government which promised regulations forcing passengers to book their journeys with services such as Uber and Cabify 15 minutes in advance.

Read on: in English … Video: in English …

Payroll specialists at Tesco went on strike at the Gyor office that is facing closure. The Independent Union of Trade Workers (KDFSZ) stated that the union has been negotiating with the company’s representatives on the matter but that the offer that was made by Tesco management did not meet their demands. The employees of the office that will be closed and who will lose their jobs would like to arrange the conditions of their departure and dictate how it will be carried out. The strikers have asked the company to exempt them from work during the entire notice period—which they’ve requested to be implemented in two stages. Due to the strike of the payroll specialists many Tesco workers are expected not to receive their salaries on time but the union states that these workers stand in solidarity with the payroll specialists facing unemployment.

Read on: in English …

The European Parliament and the Council (our governments) are negotiating on a European Commission proposal to improve the rights of workers to transparent and predictable working conditions. According to EPSU, the European Council seeks to deny large groups of public service workers EU this new minimum protections. At the end of 2017, the European Commission presented a proposal for a directive on transparent and predictable working conditions that would apply to all workers. The European Parliament made several improvements to the Commission’s proposal, but at the same time made it worse by allowing for workers in the army, policy and emergency services to be treated differently and denied certain rights and protections. European trade union institutions finds this discriminatory and wants to see all workers, starting from those on zero-hour contracts covered by the new directive on transparent and predictable working conditions.

Read on: in English …

For the first time since the yellow vest movement started there has been joint protest march together with a part of the countries’ trade union movement. The country’s biggest trade union, the left-wing CGT, invited the yellow vest movement to join them in nationwide protest over taxes and purchasing power. In Marseille, Strasbourg, Saint-Nazaire, Montelimar, Toulouse, Rouen and Le Havre, thousands of red and yellow vests marched together in opposition to the government. Although the yellow vest movement and the trade unions share some concerns, such as unfair taxation and the lack of purchasing power, an intensified collaboration between the two movement doesn’t seem very likely. From the side of the yellow vest movement there’s a lot of scepticism towards official institutions, and trade unions are by many seen as a part of this institutions. A lot of trade union members, on the other hand, have problems with nationalistic or far right elements within the yellow vest movement.

Read on: in English … in English (2) …

The House of Representatives accepts the new law Arbeidsmarkt in Balans (labourmarket in balance) in which differences between steady and flexible work are limited. The union movement opposed this law because it makes it easier for employers to sack employees in order to deregulate the labour market. Some advantages of the new law were also acknowledged such as the fact that the law causes flex work to become better paid and employees in payroll contracts will build up a complete old age pension. This new law still has to go through discussions in the Senate.

Read on: in Dutch … The existing regulation: in Dutch …