Collective Bargaining

Workers at the site of the new University of Cyprus library, which was planned to open on 22 November, started a solidarity strike. The employees of Ten Group Services, which offered support services to J&P Overseas, working at the construction site of the building walked out to demonstrate their solidarity with unpaid workers at J&P Overseas which went into liquidation in October 2018. They joined around 200 other employees of Ten Group Services who went on an indefinite strike on 31 October. Industrial observers had already warned in 2015 that J&P was poorly managed and that a collapse was to be expected.

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Food courier firm Deliveroo withdrew an appeal against a court ruling that had qualified a Deliveroo rider as an employee and not as a self-employed. In June 2018 the Valencia court ruled that Deliveroo was not allowed to dismiss rider Victor Sanchez in the way it did when it fired him for ‘lack of availability’. The court said that he should have been treated as an employee and not a self-employed contractor and said that the dismissal was inappropriate. Deliveroo filed an appeal against the Valencia Court’s ruling. However, the rider made the announcement that Deliveroo had withdrawn its appeal. This makes the decision definitive and Deliveroo must compensate Sanchez for unfair dismissal and repay him €700.

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Trade unions at Amazon’s logistics centre at San Fernando de Henares have called a strike for November 23 and 24, the Puente (bridge) holiday of December 7, 8 and 9, December 15 to 30 and January 3, coinciding with the Christmas and Three Kings holidays. The old agreement at Amazon has expired, whilst the result of bargaining is pending. According to the unions, the previous agreement regulated the working conditions of the centre and gave way to rights that had been historical in the centre such as the price of overtime, professional categories, the guarantee of salary increases and incapacity agreements.

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Non-standard work and self-employment, in particular, are not recent phenomena. Social protection systems are often still designed for the archetypical full-time dependent employee. Work patterns deviating from this model can lead to gaps in social protection coverage. A new OECD report takes a closer look at existing programmes in OECD countries that provide social protection to non-standard workers. This in order to learn from the practical experiences with such approaches. The report provides seven case studies that shed light on different aspects of the social protection of non-standard workers (the self-employed, those at the border between self- and dependent employment, temporary workers, and workers on flexible or on-call contracts). At the end of the report some policy options are presented to help provide social protection for non-standard workers, and increase the income security of on-call workers and those on flexible hour contracts.

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Doctors at the Paphos hospital accident and emergency department postponed their strike for 15 days to give time to the health ministry to follow up on promises that two doctors will be assigned to the understaffed department. The rolling strike started on 1 November and lasted five days. The A&E doctors at Paphos stopped work for two hours every day. Their key demand was the hiring of more staff in order to solve understaffing problems and increasing work pressure and overwork. The doctors’ trade union said the postponement was a sign of good will from the workers’ side.

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One of the country’s leading combine harvester production plants has managed to successfully tackle labour shortages. The company has offered workers a permanent contract and a wage increase of 20% in an effort to find properly skilled workers and to motivate the stay of the existing workforce. The Zupanja based plant exports to almost all European countries and is planning an expansion of its business.

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The public sector trade unions no longer negotiate with the government in joint talks but will instead go on to discuss their demands in separate meetings. On 5 November this approach will be applied for the first time. The government is willing to go along with this wish and said that every trade union group has the right to separate talks. However, quite probably the government will come up with topics common to all unions at the same table. While the specific demands of unions depend on the workers they represent, all are also fighting for better pay.

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A basic income for the poor and job seekers has been the flagship campaign pledge of the anti-establishment M5S. The plan was to start with this measure in 2019, although the coalition partners diverged in their ideas about the necessary provisions. In a recent statement, the labour minister has announced that a basic income for 4.5 million citizens will be introduced by the end of March of 2019.

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Conflict between Government and trade unions over a labour market legislation that would make it easier to fire employees who work in small firms escalated steadily this autumn resulting in strikes and other forms of industrial action (see our October newsletter). The unrest seems to be over for now as Government, unions and the private sector have reached an agreement on the new bill. It is believed that the government took back proposed rules that would make it easier for firms employing fewer than 20 persons to fire workers. Government now proposes that the courts consider the size of a business when deciding dismissal cases. If this means an end to industrial action remains unsure as union members still have to vote on the agreement.

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When doing the same work, even if they are more experienced, women get paid less than their male counterparts. Although the country has reduced the gender pay gap over the last years it is still one of the most unequal nations in the European Union where it comes to gender bases wages differences. The differences in hourly wages earned by men and women in the country is now 19%. According to the Department for Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities at the Labour Ministry, one of the biggest obstacles remains the occupational segregation of women. The fields of education, social work, healthcare and clerical work are female-dominated and defined by their precarious wages. Two-thirds of workers who earn the minimum wage are women.

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