Collective Bargaining

Some 35.000 nurses that are members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) went on a 24-hour strike on 30 January in a dispute concerning pay and staffing shortages. The union demands a 12% pay increase. This was the second massive strike in the history of the INMO. The Government responded that giving special pay rises to nurses would undermine the public service agreement. Further strikes are expected as the industrial action, so far, has not forced a breakthrough. The next day of strike action is planned for next Tuesday, February 5, with further strikes planned for February 7, 12, 13 and 14.

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Baggage handlers and check-in staff of Luton airport are to stage a series of one-hour strikes in a dispute over security and an imposed pay freeze. The Transport and General Workers Union said the stoppages were being ordered in protest of cuts in security jobs at the airport which it claimed posed a threat to safety. According to the union 590 jobs would be lost under cost-cutting plans instead of the originally proposed 200, the union sees this as an alarming development for the security at the airport. Last month the cleaners at Luton airport also went on strike (see our December newsletter). The cleaners won a 5% wage increase for day shift workers and a 6% pay increase for cleaners who work night shifts.

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In a recent ballot the members of trade union Unite voted by 55% to 45% to dismiss the latest offer from Cosla. Unite recommended a rejection of the pay offer, which would give a 3.5% rise this year for those earning under 80.000 pound with 3% increases next year and in 2020 for all staff. The union is concerned that the deal does not include a “trigger clause” to reopen talks if Brexit leads to a rise in inflation. Furthermore, they are not satisfied with the pay offer that they say fails to restore local authority workers to the levels of real terms pay from 10 years ago. The union warned that if no agreement is reached the local authority workers might go on strike.

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After a week of industrial action at the nations’ Audi plant, unions and management reached a deal on an 18% wage increase. Thousands of workers participated in the strike actions. The workers at the Audi plant were demanding an 18% wage increase because of what they considered an unfair wage gap with colleagues working for Volkswagen Group's other factories in eastern Europe. Unions also pointed out that Volkswagen pays much higher salaries to workers in other European countries.

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A twelve-day strike at wool factory Izocam, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, has ended with a new two-year collective agreement with major improvements for workers. The collective agreement that is signed by union Kristal-İş includes increased allowances and a significant wage increase and the acknowledgement of trade union rights. After twelve days of the strike, the company agreed to meet with workers’ representatives and on the same day the new collective agreement was signed. In addition, three workers who were unfairly dismissed for leading the organizing drive will receive 18 months compensation.

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Trade union federation SAK launched plans of its own to reform the country’s unemployment security system. Over the last years there have been many changes to the unemployment benefit system. This made it difficult for the unemployed to keep up with all the new rules and all these changes made the system more bureaucratic. The SAK wants the new government to drastically modernise the unemployment scheme so that it will meet the needs of workers in a changing labour market. In this respect a special point of concern for the SAK is the livelihood of workers in the gig economy. Currently the income of many workers in the gig economy relies on adjusted unemployment benefit that is paid on the basis of hours worked, even though there may be no way to monitor the working time of such workers. The SAK proposes to put an end to the working time monitoring and instead of this, create an income register system that provides automatic access to the information that is needed for unemployment benefits. Furthermore, the SAK plans include milder sanctions and more services to adequately support the unemployed.

Read on: in English … The unemployment scheme: in Finnish …

The first increase in the country’s minimum wage in nearly a decade is a fact as government announced that the standard monthly minimum wage would rise by 11%, from 586 euro a month to 650 euro a month. More than 800.000 workers will be directly affected by the minimum wage increase. As part of the austerity measures, in 2012 the country was forced to cut back minimum wages 22% to 586 euro a month. The planned wage increases were agreed in consultation with EU lenders sand must be approved by parliament to take effect in February.

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The General Workers Union is worried about unfounded allegations being made against their members. Therefore care workers, nursing aides and health assistants working in public hospitals and residential care facilities have been urged by their union to only attend to patients if accompanied by a colleague. Nursing aides and health assistants should be assisting nurses but according to the union there is a lack of supervision. When health workers attend to patients alone and the patients file a complaint there are no witnesses to prove their innocence.

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A month-long strike at Cosne hospital over unpaid overtime seems to have been effective. The director of the Cosne hospital stated that they have obtained help from the regional health agency and are now able to pay up to 100.000 euro more in overtime. Without the financial help from the regional health agency the hospital would only be able to pay up to 80.000 euro in overtime. The extra money will be accompanied by a redesign of the organization so that the problem of overtime payment does not reoccur each end of the year. Unions state that they are happy with the progress and that they will consult with their members.

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According to data of trade union CITUB the average wage in the country only covers 72% of the average costs of living. This means that a lot of people in the country struggle to make ends meet. Especially so as only 30% of the population receives an average or above-average wage. However, the situation seems to be slowly progressing. While over the last ten years the costs of living in the country have increased with 25%, in the same period salaries have increased with 65%.

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