Collective Bargaining

Negotiations for a collective agreement in the chemical sector ended without a result due to the refusal of a foreign-owned company to accept a compromise. Trade union of chemical, non-metal and rubber industries KNG announced that five-year talks on the renewal of the collective agreement failed, mainly because of a Ljubljana-based foreign-owned pharmaceutical company. KNG said that the talks had fallen through due to disagreement on two issues - the norms and pay brackets. Moreover, the union had signals that the main employers were willing to accept the proposed solutions.

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The government plans to levy the cost of medical treatment from those whose social security is not paid by their employer as part of its policy to reduce the financial burden on the health-care sector. This legislation in the area of health care insurance could lead to the end of the existing solidarity based social security system. The media has reacted with shock to the news, while observers call the current healthcare system unreliable and chaotic both for the patients and healthcare workers.

Read on: in English … Background paper: in English…

Workers at national broadcaster ERT will organise two six-hour strikes to underline their demands for hiring and the repayment of wages that they say they are owed. Trade unions POSPERT called for the walkouts that disrupted programming on state TV and radio. In an announcement, the workers threatened to step up their action and launch 24-hour strikes if the government does not satisfy their demands.

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Supported by their trade unions and representative bodies thousands of women in Glasgow engaged in a 48-hour strike and a protest march to demand equal pay. The strike in which some 6.000 mostly cleaners and care workers took part is thought to be the largest ever in the UK in a dispute over equal pay. As a result of the strike, hundreds of schools and nurseries in the city were closed and home care services were severely disrupted. The strike is part of a long running fight to establish equal pay between men and women.

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Ryanair cabin crew based at Eindhoven airport organised another 24-hour strike. This time the cabin crew workers went on strike to protest a sudden decision of Ryanair made earlier this month to close its Eindhoven basis and the way they treat their employees. This decision would effectively mean that cabin crew and other staff are forced to relocate. Trade unions and politicians believe the sudden decision to close its Eindhoven basis is as a retribution for strike actions earlier this year when Ryanair workers put forward demands concerning union recognition and the application of Dutch labour laws instead of Irish laws and legislations.

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The three main trade-union confederations, CGIL, CISL, UIL, have presented a joint document criticising the government's 2019 budget plan. Although the unions see the package as a first reversal of the trend of austerity, the budget contains ‘elements of inadequacy and is lacking a vision of the country and a strategic design capable of recomposing and boosting policies for sustainable development and work’. The joint document features the union priorities with proposals on growth, jobs, tax reform, pensions and the public service that the unions say are the basis upon which they intend to open dialogue with the government.

Read on: in English … The joint priorities: in Italian …

Negotiations between unions and employers in the metal industry (see our September newsletter) seem to be deadlocked. Unions are now preparing for industrial action. While unions demand a 5% pay increase, employers only want to pay 2%. While employers state that they regret that the negotiations were broken off the unions are preparing for strike actions to put some pressure behind their demands. The workers council will now decide on the further course of action.

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The European Commission published a study that focusses on existing legal frameworks for emerging digital platforms and the related challenges for policy makers. The study describes the operation of platforms throughout five different phases: access and registration, selection process and hiring, performance execution and command power, rating and ranking, monitoring power, payment rewards for completed tasks. Regarding to policy on digital platforms, the study found that only a few European states have adopted specific regulations to address the numerous issues stemming from the platform economy. Platform workers have very limited access to labour protection and when no adequate policies are developed to regulate some aspects of the work, the continuing growth of the platform economy may lead to the growth of social precariousness.

The report: in English …

With current legislation it is not possible for flight attendants to set up a works council without having a collective agreement. This benefits the budget airline Ryanair. The Federal Government wants to close this loophole and offer better protection to the airline workers and therefore proposes new legislation that grant workers the right to set up a works council, even if there is no collective agreement. Trade union Verdi is positive about the proposed change in legislation. The change in legislation will come into effect early 2019.

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After months of industrial action Air France management and five trade unions that represent 76.4% of the employees reached a deal which include a 4% pay rise. Employees will get a general pay increase of 2% retroactive from 1 January 2018 and a general pay increase of 2% on 1 January 2019. The main pilots' union did not sign the agreement. Air France said the strikes had cost the airline 335 million euro. The next round of salary negotiations will start in November 2019.

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