Collective Bargaining

The collective bargaining negotiations for the approximately 100,000 employees in the private health and social sector were interrupted without result. Unions GPA-djp and Vida find the offer of employers for a 2.37% wage increase completely inadequate and hold on to their demands for a higher wage increase. The unions GPA-djp and Vida are now calling for action in public spaces in Vienna, Linz and Graz on 29 January 2019 as part of an action day in order to emphasize their demands.

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After a six-week long strike in a dispute over wages and class sizes, that ended December 2018 (see our December newsletter) when both parties agreed that improvement to the payment model will be made, the minister has invited trade unions to further discuss the agreed improvements. The responsible minister states that he is not opposed to the idea of teachers’ wages rising by 20 to 30% but in order to do this successfully there is need for national consensus and a long-term plan.

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Data from Czech Statistical Office (CSU) suggest that that over 10% of Prague’s residents find it difficult to survive on their wages. This is a result of rising rents and living costs.People in the country's poorest region seem to have less difficulties living of their wages.

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Workers at the Greek postal service (ELTA) staged a one-day strike to protest plans for further cut downs in the postal service. Part of the plan is the firing of 2300 workers and shutting down 220 more branches. The proposed cuts will leave many rural parts of the country without a post office. Furthermore the union states that the ELTA should be modernized and join parcel services.

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Around 1000 dockworkers took part in a 3-hour strike that affected 15 ports around the country. The reason for the strike is a conflict between the dockworkers’ union and port owners over union representation that has been going on since 2016. The dockworkers are currently covered by a local agreement with the transport workers’ union, but they want their own dockworkers’ union to represent them in negotiations on a new collective agreement for dockworkers. In reaction to the 3-hour strike the port operator imposed a lockout on the striking workers which prevented 1000 of them from working the rest of the day and evening.

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The Prime Minister explained to a news conference that this government's new "Mum 4 plus" programme aimed to benefit “mothers and grandmothers who have devoted their lives to bringing up children” and deserved “gratitude and respect” from society and state authorities. The new social assistance programme is designed to solve the problem of women who have given birth to and raised at least four children but have not acquired the right to a minimum state pension. The maternal pensions will benefit nearly 90,000 citizens.

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According to Eurostat data in 2017 5,1% of the young and employed people in the country were at risk of poverty. This is one of the lowest proportions of young people aged 18-24 in work and at risk of poverty in the European Union. The average proportion of young people at risk of poverty EU-wide was estimated to be 11%, this is 1,1% below the figure for 2016. Individuals are identified as being at risk of poverty if their income after social transfers is less than 60% of the median income.

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After collective bargaining by trade unions in other state-owned companies proved successful, with wage increases up to 20%, the trade unions representing the workers of the state railway company demand a 50% wage increase. The union declared that if their demands are not met they will organise a protest rally on 4 April 2019.

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The ILO landmark report ‘Work for a brighter future’ focusses on transformations in the world of work and the challenges that these changes pose. One of the transformations that the report addresses are technological advances: artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. They will lead to new jobs, but those who lose their jobs in this transition may be the least equipped to seize the new opportunities. Another relevant transformation is the greening of our economies. This will lead to the creation of new types of jobs but at the same time jobs in the area of non-renewable energy will disappear. The ILO report calls for a universal labour guarantee that would enshrine the right to an adequate living wage, maximum limits on working hours, and health and safety protections. It would also enforce freedom of association in trade unions and the right to collective bargaining, freedom from forced labour, child labour and discrimination.

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Some 500 national ambulance service workers staged a ten-hour strike which caused a lot of disruption. During the work stoppage they only responded to emergency situations that might be life threatening. The ambulance workers, that are organised in the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA), are having a dispute with their employer over union representation rights. As a result of the strike action government deployed emergency defence forces ambulances and paramedics to help provide services for patients. Trade unions SIPTU, UNITE and FORSA are recognised as parties representing the national ambulance workers but members of PNA state that they were not feeling represented by these unions and therefore they want their new union to be a recognised negotiating partner as well.

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