Collective Bargaining

Trade union SIPTU calls to renegotiate the public pay deal because of the rising costs of living. A motion at the SIPTU conference that urged public service unions to break the current collective agreement open in order to establish a new pay deal as soon as mid-2019 because of the increasing cost of rents, mortgages and the everyday cost of living was unanimously accepted. The responsible minster said he would support a union call for the current public service pay agreement to be renegotiated ahead of schedule.

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A representation of the airport handling management (ASEATA) and the trade unions CCOO, UGT and USO reached an agreement over pay and working conditions that was signed at the headquarters of SIMA (Service of Intermediation and Arbitration). The deal has led to the suspension of a planned strike. The involved workforce, approximately some 60,000 workers, provides ground handling services for aircraft and passengers, including assisting passengers with reduced mobility, merchandise, mail, as well as the service of placing and removing gangways. The agreement runs until 31 December 2021, with a retroactive wage revision for 2016 and 2017 (of 1%), an annual pay increase with a minimum of 2% as per 1 January in the following years (2018-2021, 1% plus inflation compensation) and improved variable wage components.

Read on: in English … The agreement explained: in Spanish …

The management at the rubber reinforcement entity in Figline e Incisa Valdarno of the Bekaert Group announced in the summer of 2018 the decision to close and cease all activities there. The works council of the Figline site, the trade unions and the authorities were informed about the decision. Bekaert expressed its intention to start up a dialogue aimed at mitigating the social impact for the 318 affected employees. A redundancy deal was struck with the trade unions: the procedure of collective firings has been suspended, redundancy payments have been restored, as well as incentives to leave.

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A report, supported by the UNHCR, which analyses the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country provides alarming labour market data. The high unemployment rate among IDPs is a key indicator of their vulnerability. Almost one third of IDPs have no employment at all, compared to a general unemployment rate of 14.7% at the end of 2017. The most frequent source of income of IDPs in need is salary (for 13,210 persons), followed by ‚’Kosovo allowance’ for persons who lost their jobs due to displacement (6,658 persons) and pensions (6,786 persons). Many of them do not hold permanent jobs but work on temporary jobs in the grey economy and are probably registered in the files as ‘other’. The total monthly income of more than 75% of IDP households is below 300 euro. The average monthly household income is 169 euro or 35 euro per household member.

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

After a series of strikes earlier this year, Amazon workers in the country organised another two days strike at the beginning of this month. So far Amazon has rejected any collective bargaining agreement with trade union ver.di that represents their employees on a national level with thousands of them being member of ver.di. The company’s hostility to unions has led to several strikes and other workplace actions across Europe over the past four years. Amazon has tried to put an end to the unrest and made an offer to increase wages by 2% to 2.7%. The union states that wage changes can be reversed, and security can only come from a collective agreement.

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Civil servant that work for the federal authorities staged a protest against proposals to, amongst other things, reform the rules governing their sick pay entitlement. The reform introduces rules that enable workers no longer to save 21 sick days and transfer them to their holiday and sick pay on full pay entitlement for the following year. The changes apply to federal civil servants and the ‘special corps’ that include the police, the fire service, military personnel and those working for courts of law. Members of the Civil Protection Agency and fire fighters marched in their uniforms.

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Trade unions announced that they are prepared to take measures if a government amendment that will make it easier to dismiss individuals for companies with less than 20 employees is tabled. According to the unions this have a major impact on workers as 97 % of companies have less than 20 employees and a total of 36% of the countries’ workforce are working in companies with less than 20 employees. The Transport Workers' Union (AKT) announced an overtime work stoppage for several of its industries which will affect trucking, bus conductors, bus station enterprises, car repair shops and road tanker transport. The industrial workers will join service, food, and electric workers in a 24-hour strike on 3 October in their protest.

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The fight for better working conditions of pilots and crew members at Ryanair culminated in a series of industrial actions (see our July/ August newsletter). Although some results were achieved, trade unions have announced a 24-hour strike for 28 September. Eight unions in five European countries called on their pilot members to participate in the strike action. Italy’s Uiltrasporti and FILT-CGIL, Portugal’s SNPVAC, Belgium’s CNE/LBC, Spain’s SITCPLA and USO, and VNV and FVN in the Netherlands. Besides the pilots, other crew in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal will join the industrial action that forces Ryanair to cancel 190 flights.

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Trade unions have accused furniture retail chain Ikea of undermining workers’ rights in Ireland, the US and Portugal, and asked the Dutch government to mediate. The international UNI Global Union and other workers’ groups including trade union Mandate said in a letter to the Dutch government’s point of contact with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that Ikea Group had acted against OECD guidelines by not curbing anti-union conduct by managers in the three countries. Therefore, it is impossible to bargain in a climate free of fear and intimidation.

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The draft budget for 2019 provides for salary increases as agreed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health. Salaries of nurses will grow with 16% in 2019. According to this proposal, an additional budget must be available for salaries of medical staff, for reconstruction, medical equipment, screening or reversible deaths. The salaries of medical staff will increase by more than 200 million euro.

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