Collective Bargaining

XPO Logistics, a European leader in transport and logistics, has experienced a short national strike in which around 80% of the staff participated. Work at CPO Logistics centres of Artenay (Loiret), Meung-sur-Loire (Loiret), Ingré (Loiret) and several others (according to the unions) was slowed down or totally put to a hold because of the strike action. Following the strike action management of XPO logistics started negotiations with union CGT, CFDT and CFTC and an agreement was reached the same day. The agreement includes a salary increase of 2%, transportation allowance of 110 euro a month and 1 additional day of absence for sick children per year.

Read on: in French …

According to a new inventory from the Confederation of Trade Unions inequality in the country is greater than many might think and the distance between rich and poor is steadily growing. The richest 10% sits on half of the total wealth. This figure is just one in six numbers that were used for measuring inequality. According to figures from Statistics Denmark, the poorest tenth of the population has on average an overall negative wealth of a total of 246,852 DKK. At the same time, the richest tenth has an average fortune of 5.5 million DKK. The trade union confederation is worried about this development and urges government to take action in the form of an inequality stop and by setting up an inequality commission.

Read on: in Danish …

Young workers celebrate the halt to neoliberal governmental plans to roll back their labour rights. A petition, demonstrations and meetings sufficed to make the government withdraw their plans to the labour rights of young workers. The ÖGJ (Austrian Union Youth) was mainly responsible for the actions to safeguard the obligation of companies with more than five young workers to install a ‘Jugendvertrauensrat’ (a council to defend the rights of young workers).

Read on: in English …

After negotiations in the third round of collective bargaining remained deadlocked, trade union IG Metall announced a series of warning strikes next week. Warning strikes tend to be brief, lasting a few hours or a day. IG Metall wants a 6% pay increase and 1800 euro annual holiday pay with the option to convert those into non-working day. The steel employers association Arbeitgeberveband Stahl (AGV) has rejected this demands and states that a 6% pay increase would put pressure on overall production costs.

Read on: in English …

According to Eurostat data the national minimum wage that is currently set at 762 euro a month, is below the European Union average. The average minimum wage across the European Union was 924 euro a month. Southern European member states, including Malta, Greece, Portugal and Spain, all had minimum wages ranging between 650 and just over 1000 euro per month. The minimum wage in Malta is higher than the minimum wage in Greece and Portugal but lower than in Slovenia and Spain. While the vast majority of the EU member have a national minimum wage, Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not have a set minimum wage.

Read on: in English …

Thousands of senior citizens took to the streets of Madrid to demand better public pensions. Retiree groups and trade unions have held several protests across the country during recent months to demand that the government make sure that pension pay-outs rise in line with inflation. They argue that the 0.25% increase in 2017 was insufficient. The prime minister has now offered the pensioners a 6% increase.

Read on: in English …

Trade unions UGT and CC OO announced a series of strike actions against the employment regulation file (ERE) presented by the telecom provider, which most likely make around 1200 employees redundant. In the negotiations with Vodafone unions made it clear that they consider the number of 1200 jobs disproportionate and unjustified and they urged the company to reconsider the structure of the new organization. Unions also came forward with demands regarding the social plan. Amongst other thing they want a much more generous compensation offer and better conditions for early retirement schemes.

Read on: in Spanish …

The Supreme Court affirmed the right of the Turkish Wood and Paper Industry Workers Union AGAC-IS to bargain collectively with SFC Integrated Wood Products (SFC). AGAC-IS initiated an organising campaign back in 2012 with which they managed to organise a majority of the SFC workers. Although they hereby met the criteria to have the right to collective bargaining SFC management tried to prevent the union from doing their work. SFC even fired 40 union members to prevent that AGAC-IS would meet the official criteria for the right to bargain collectively.

Read on: in English …

Trade union CGT has called it’s member who work in the mining and energy sector to go on a 24 hour strike on 5 February 2019. The strike is organised to demand higher salaries and pensions. The CGT said it was pushing to align its protest with the grassroots "yellow vests" protest over the cost of living.

Read on: in English …

Trade unions and employers have reached an agreement in the construction sector that sets the minimum wage for the sector at 16,599.81 euros per year and includes a salary increase of 2.25% for the year 2019, 2.25% for the year 2020 and 2.50% for the year 2021. The agreement, which affects more than 835,000 people, furthermore includes improvements in the area of health and safety and the improvement of mandatory retirement. The parties have also committed themselves to create a working table to study the specific situation of long-term contracts in the sector.

Read on: in English …