Collective Bargaining

A judge has ruled that 16 temporary workers at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol are receiving a supplementary payment of between €6,500 and €50,000 each, according to an announcement by Dutch union FNV. The workers were cargo handlers and worked through a company called Flexcargo for DHL or Menzies. They did not receive the normal irregularity allowance. Most of the workers, many of whom are from the UK and Poland, are in the meantime directly employed by DHL.

Read on: in English … The FNV statement: in Dutch …

The government has prepared legislation that will transfer the powers to grant licenses to private-hire drivers (known in Spain as VTC) from the central to the regional governments, giving the latter the power to restrict the activity of such companies by, in effect, demanding that they apply for a second license, this time from the local authorities. UNAUTO, the business association covering the sector of private-hire drivers strongly oppose the move, whilst the taxi associations accuse firms like Uber of intruding in the sector, of not paying taxes, and of benefiting from the cheaper cost of a license compared to that of a taxi.

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Members of the nurses unions are recommended to reject recent government pay proposals aimed at addressing staff shortages in the health service. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) have recommended this. They say that the proposals do not address the serious recruitment and retention issues in the profession. Unions have not ruled out the possibility of industrial action. INMO union members will be balloted in October 2018 on whether to accept or reject the Government’s proposals. If rejected, a ballot to strike will follow.

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According to the chair of the building and woodworkers union GBH, the planned reform of the social security, will lead to a decrease of the control on compliance and regularity in the sector. Especially in the construction sector, it is of the utmost importance that there is a decent control, for instance, whether someone is genuinely self-employed. The reform is an open invitation to circumvent regulatory.

Read on: in German …

The workers of SOVA, the Intelligence and Safety Agency, started nine months ago with a strike in a fight for a re-assessment of positions and more staff. Observers have noted that inside the management nobody has paid attention to the conflict or dealt with the demands. The government has dismissed the acting director.

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On the eve of the Scottish Police Authority's monthly board meeting in Stirling, the SPA announced an agreement that brings all officers below the rank of Assistant Chief Constable an immediate and substantial increase in their salary. The SPA said the deal will represent an additional £125m in officer wages over the period. A mid-point constable will receive a salary increase of £2,300 and the equivalent of an additional £6,000 in pay over the next 31 months. The increase will be backdated to 1 September and applies until 31 March 2021. Next to the immediate pay award, the agreement addresses issues of inequality and anomalies in relation to pay progression.

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Tube workers on the London Piccadilly line will go on strike. After talks between management and the Rail, Maritime and Transport trade union broke down the union announced a 48-hour walkout, followed by a 5-hour strike later on. Main points of conflict are a perceived lack of dignity and respect towards the tube workers. For example, workers have been threatened with sacking for taking time off following issues such as suicides on the railway. They also worry about safety of the tube service. The impact of the strike will be well felt in London, as the Piccadilly line daily transports an average of 500.000 passengers.

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The three main trade unions in education have expressed their dismay at the government's plans to cut jobs in middle and high schools. The trade unions FSU, UNSA-Education and SGEN-CFDT have called workers to strike on 12 November 2018, in a protest against the elimination of 2,650 posts in colleges and high schools planned by the government in 2019. This downsizing leads to a further deterioration of the study conditions and work of staff. The unions ask the government to give up the project.

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Following meetings with the trade unions and the employers, the government stated that beginning from 1 January 2019, it will increase the country’s gross minimum wage to 440 euro a month (an increase of 150 lei). Although the country has had several increases of the minimum wage over the past 10 years, the country’s gross minimum wage is still the third lowest in the European Union. The minimum gross wage increased on 1 January 2018 from RON 1,450 to RON 1,900 (409 euro). Only Bulgaria (260 euro) and Lithuania (400 euro) have lower minimum monthly salaries.

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Cleaners at Basildon Hospital have won a two-year battle to be granted full NHS terms and conditions. This means that they will also get a 3% pay rise. After the cleaners were transferred back into NHS employment two years ago they remained to work under the same conditions as when they were still working for the private contractor. The cleaners were paid minimum wage while some of their colleagues earned more for the same job, only because they were employed directly by NHS from the beginning. The new agreement not only gives the 300 cleaners the same wages as the cleaners that are directly employed by NHS, other aspects of the collective agreement such as holidays and sick pay will now also apply to them.

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