Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining coverage is increasingly under pressure. It is challenged by several phenomena, including restructurings of (global) value chains, outsourcing practices, workplaces fragmentation and diffusion of non-standard forms of employment. The RECOVER project aims to analyse collective bargaining coverage in outsourced services with a view to identify coverage problems, gaps, conflicts – across different groups of workers. In Italy the researchers focused on two different outsourced activities, with high and low-qualified occupations, specifically: 1) cleaning services and 2) ICT services. In addition, a case study was conducted on a facility management company, operating in the national territory.

The report: in English …

Negotiations between unions, employers and the government on reforming the pension system collapsed and the three big unions pulled out. The unions say the government is not doing enough to meet their demands for a slower rise in the official retirement age, which is going up in line with life expectancy projections and is set to reach 67 by 2021 and is lacking structural solutions on most issues. Other important issues fort the unions are an early retirement options for workers in hard physical jobs and accommodating self-employed workers into the pensions system. Trade union FNV has announced strong actions to reinforce its pension requirements.

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Trade union Verdi and the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings have been in dispute over wages and working hours for flight attendants for months now. When after the 13th round of collective bargaining an agreement was still nowhere in sight union Verdi organized a warning strike by cabin crew on 20 November 2018. The strike has affected 26 flights. Union Verdi demands reliable staff rosters, better working and standby times and want Eurowings to honour the standing collective agreement by not letting service shifts lasting longer than they legally should.

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After the dismissal of 7 workers as punishment for their union activities at an olive factory in the province of Izmir, workers organised protests and went on strike. Members of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (Disk) labour federation-affiliated food workers’ union formed a picket line at the gates of the Taris factory for the 13th day in a row and said they would fight for their union rights.

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The number of employees working in Liechtenstein rose by 1,208 in 2017 to 38,661, while the country has 38,568 inhabitants of which 19,398 were employed on 31 December 2017. Liechtenstein employees therefore accounted for only 46.7% of the total workforce. In 2017 the proportion of foreign students that study in Liechtenstein but live elsewhere was 55.1%, corresponding to 21,299 people.

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Teachers strike enter third week

November 29. 2018

Negotiations between government and teachers over what teachers call un ‘unfair und non-transparent’ pay system and recent educational reforms seem to be deadlocked. Teachers are now entering their third week of strike. Government officials state that they can start raising wages only in 2020 because they lack the required additional 130 million euro in funding that is needed to raise wages in 2019. The Lithuanian Education Employees Trade Union finds this to be unacceptable and demands a pay rise coming year.

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A research article, published in the Nordic Journal of Commercial Law, examines platform work in the light of the Danish model of providing a legal basis for decent pay and working conditions by way of collective bargaining. Platforms often rely on the worker not officially being an employee. Therefore collective agreements could be questionable from both a labour law as well as a competition law perspective. The article looks further into these legal perspectives by drawing out principles from national case law as well as case law of the European Court of Justice. The article concludes that as long as the platform workers are not genuinely self-employed collective agreements would be in line with both labour law as competition law.

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A Philip Morris company signed a collective agreement with Trade Union Organisation of the Independent Trade Union DIN, ASNS SDP ‘Fabrika duvana’ Nis and the Trade Union of the Tobacco Producer Philip Morris Serbia. The new collective agreement will come into force on 1 January 2019 and it will be valid for the next three years.

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The collective labour contract of subway workers is due to expire (see our October newsletter). After unions and management failed to reach an agreement on wage increases subway workers staged a two-hour strike in the capital. Unions threaten with an all-out walkout if the government doesn’t agree to their wage demands. The union wants a 42% salary hike, while managers have offered 18%. Some 700,000 people use the subway on a daily base and many are affected by the industrial actions.

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SIPTU representatives have called for better protections and safety protocols for all dock and port workers following the tragic death of seafarer from the Philippines in Dublin city. SIPTU representatives have been campaigning with all stakeholders across Ireland and the UK over recent years to highlight members’ concerns on lashing and securing. According to SIPTU the only way further incidents can be eradicated, or at least minimised, is through the introduction of a certified training programme for seafarers. A Safe Pass Certificate similar to the one used in the Irish construction industry should also be put in place for all dock workers as a matter of urgency.

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The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) wants to represent Deliveroo riders to negotiate on issues of pay, hours and holiday. Earlier the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) rejected union IWGB’s application to represent Deliveroo riders in north London claiming that the riders cannot be classified as workers. The court did not agree with the union’s argument that the law which defines a “worker” must be interpreted in a way that gives effect to riders’ rights to collective bargaining under article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The union claims the CAC should have interpreted “personal service” in a way which does not exclude the right of Deliveroo riders to bargain collectively. The IWGB now goes to high court in an attempt to overturn the ruling which found that the company’s riders were not entitled to collective bargaining rights because they are ‘self-employed’.

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