Collective Bargaining

The Low Pay Commission's (LPC) 2018 Report, containing analysis and evidence underpinning the LPC's National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage (NLW) recommendations, shows that 5 million workers received higher pay rises this year than they would have had without the implementation of the NLW. When the Government announced the NLW in 2015, it set a target of 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020, subject to sustained economic growth. The impact on wages shows how significant an intervention the introduction of NLW has been in the labour market. So far, the evidence suggests the NLW has been successful in raising pay without causing unemployment.

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

For almost 50 years the Swedish Union of Journalist (SUJ) issues recommended freelance rates per hour as a benchmark for the fees hat freelance journalists should receive for their work. This recommend rates are in line with the average earnings of an employed journalist. The SUJ has announced that the recommended fee will rise by 1.8% starting at the beginning of the new year.

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The Center of Economic Studies (CES) published a research report ‘Strikes, Employee Workplace Representation, Unionism, and Industrial Relations Quality in European Establishments’. Using cross-country data the relationship between workplace representation and strikes is investigated. Key findings include that workplaces with high union representation score higher on three additional strike measures, namely strike duration, strike frequency, and strike duration. Also workplaces with union dominated work councils see more strikes than establishments with union workplace representation where union members are in a minority.

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

Trade union Unia has been negotiating for more than a year with the Association of Swiss Security Services Companies (AESS) for the renewal of the collective agreement. This collective agreement protects more than 20 000 employees and expires at the end of June 2019. Unia states that the new collective labour agreement for private security workers must stop wage dumping. They also want employers in the sector to put an end to working weeks of more than 50 hours. Unia wants urgent action. Besides a call for negotiations the union is launching a national petition to security agents to support its demands.

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Results of a recent survey show that 45% of the workers working conduct paid or unpaid overtime. Only 24% of the workers are financially compensated for their overtime work which means that in one in every workers that work overtime do this unpaid. The construction sector, transport, logistics and IT see the highest percentages of unpaid overtime work. The least unpaid overtime was found in assistance and finance.

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A coalition of all three trade union confederations, called Itset, wants to improve the situation of self-employed workers. With parliamentary elections in sight coming spring, Itset came forward with a list of proposals. Their most important objective is to guarantee bargaining powers to self-employed workers. According to the trade union confederations the European competition legislation provides no obstacle to such bargaining. Another important demand is that national labour laws will be applied also to self-employed workers to ensure greater security for the workers.

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After earlier strike actions at the supermarket chain stores (see our September newsletter) workers from different supermarkets went on a one-day strike. Until the end of May, Real still had a collective agreement with trade union Verdi but then the company decided to go a different path. Metro, the owner of the Real chain, wants to cut employment costs and therefore employees on fixed-term contracts only get new contracts if they work for about one-third less salary. Verdi on the contrary wants to reinforce their own collective bargaining coverage. Around 2000 employees demonstrated at the headquarters of Metro in Dusseldorf.

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With the signing of an amendment to Post Luxembourg's collective labour agreement that finally formalised a salary increase of 1.5% that was already agreed on in 2016, allowed unions to denounce the agreement and start new salary negotiations for Post Luxembourg employees. Trade union OGBL wants the working conditions of the post office employees brought back to those of state servants. At the moment half of the staff at Post Luxembourg has a public status and this work benefit from the conditions of the civil service while the other workers do not have this status. OGBL wants an end to the current wage inequality between the different categories of personnel and

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Trade union Vinda launched a two-hour warning strike as last-minute pay negotiations failed. The strike is believed to have affected 100 000 passengers. After the strike both parties continue to negotiate. The union has expressed the hope to reach an agreement which is believed likely to happen as they have put a lot of pressure on the negotiations with their warning strike. Besides a pay rise unions want the railway workers to have the right to one day special leave for voluntary work, an additional anniversary bonus after 15 years of service and a four-day workweek as a compensation for the twelve-hour working day.

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According to a ruling by the Supreme Court, Hungarian drivers who drive for a Dutch transport company should be paid according to Dutch standards. The ruling was the result of the drivers and trade union FNV going to the Supreme Court as they successfully contested an earlier decision from the Supreme Court of Den Bosch. The drivers have Hungarian contracts and salaries but they do not work in Hungary. They do not transport goods in or out of Hungary but in and out of the Netherlands.

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