Collective Bargaining

The international COP24 climate conference was this year held in Katowice, a city in the coal mining region of the country. Government officials stressed that it will focus on a just transition for workers and adopted the “Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration. By adopting the Silesia declaration, countries are committing to take seriously the impact of climate change and climate policies on workers, their families and communities when they prepare and implement the transition towards sustainable energy.

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Although the country currently has record high levels of employment, with over 32m people in work, many workers struggle to meet ends meet as in-work poverty is increasing. An approximate 5 million workers are paid below the Real Living Wage, which is set at a level based on the minimum income standard. New qualitative research reveals that more and more workers are therefore forced to combine multiple jobs. The workers that were interviewed had to take on additional jobs as a result of low wages, limited working hours, under-employment and job insecurity. Additional factors include the proliferation of part-time, zero hour contracts and temporary and casual contracts. The researchers conclude that along with a recommendation for more effective wage regulation, there also needs to be stronger regulation of working time arrangements with guaranteed hours.

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After unions CGT and FO rejected an offer for a 1.5% salary increase, which lies below the inflation rate of 2.2%, the unions called out a week-long strike in the oil sector. The industrial action affected multiple plants but most affected were gas major Total’s refineries preventing an output of 253,000 barrel-per-day. The unions now decided to suspend further industrial action awaiting the new negotiation round that is set for 11 December 2018.

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Living wage campaigns have been launched since the 1990s in an effort to achieve pay increases for the low-paid. These initiatives calculate the income required to achieve a basic standard of living, taking into account existing levels of state transfers. In recent decades, living wage initiatives have emerged in a small number of mainly English-speaking countries, including the UK and Ireland. Eurofound made a report to provide policymakers with a practical guide to the living wage concept. After addressing the background and multiple dimensions of the living wage concept the report ends with summary conclusions and policy pointers.

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ETUC and BusinessEurope developed a report that is the result of a joint project on Transnational Company Agreements (TCA). The debate on TCAs is already going on for some years now and ETUC and BusinessEurope wanted to build on current practices in order to identify solutions that may be of support to bargaining agents. Their final report identifies and outlines key findings from interviews that were conducted with central management and union representatives of eight companies that have already concluded TCAs. They conclude that while differences in social dialogue and collective bargaining practices across Europe are often seen as obstacles, unions and companies can overcome such barriers by applying a pragmatic and inclusive approach.

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In a dispute over union recognition and the deduction of union subscriptions, around 500 ambulance personnel of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) announced a two-hour strike on 19 December 2018. The dispute centres on refusal to recognise NASRA (National Ambulance Service Representative Association) - an affiliate of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) that was established in 2010. The PNA says the strike is in pursuit of its members’ right to be represented by the trade union of their choice. The 1,300 workers in the ambulance service that are represented mainly by SIPTU are not in dispute and are expected to work normally.

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More than 2000 of coal miners and energy workers took to the streets of downtown Sofia to demand job security. The miners want the government to guarantee that their jobs will be preserved whilst closing mines to tackle climate change. Union officials say that 150,000 jobs are at risk should the biggest coal mines and energy plants in south-eastern part of the country close down.

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The country’s largest public sector union staged a 24-hour strike in demand of wage and pension increases. Public sector workers have a loss in income up to 40% since the country had to accept financial deals with the European Union and the IMF in 2010. The union stated that since the country is returning to normal, after all the cuts in the past year they now demand decent salary increases.

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Midwives in Northern Ireland have been consulted by their union on whether they are prepared to take industrial action, including strike action. The union decided to do so because pay for midwives in Northern Ireland has fallen behind the rest of the UK. For example, a midwife in Northern Ireland at the top of pay band 6 will earn over 2000 pounds less than colleagues at the same level in England. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Board said an overwhelming majority of almost 95% of its midwife and maternity support worker members (MSWs) in Northern Ireland voted in favour of industrial action.

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At the international Black Friday shopping event, hundreds of Amazon workers in Italy, Germany, Spain, and the UK staged mass walkouts under the slogan ‘we are not robots’. They organised industrial action to protest poor working conditions and low wages. More than 600 German workers at the company’s Bad Hersfeld facility walked out. In Spain 1800 workers planned a two-day strike Friday and Saturday. And about 500 workers in the United Kingdom demonstrated at five Amazon warehouses.

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