Collective Bargaining

Metalworkers trade union FIOM called on the government to clarify its position on the troubled ILVA Taranto steel plant. For the union, it is unthinkable that there can be even one redundancy. ArcelorMittal received a green light for a takeover of ILVA, which is in the hands of government-appointed administrators after being at the centre of environmental scandal linked to high cancer rates in the Taranto area. The labour and industry minister recently said that a revised plan by ArcelorMittal to take over the company was still not good enough in terms of guarantees for the environment and jobs. He said that scrapping the ILVA tender won by ArcelorMittal was still on the cards. In July 2018, Arcelor said it would support a ‘suitable solution’ on saving most of the 14,000 plant jobs.

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Data and figures released by Statistics Lithuania underpin that men's gross monthly wages exceeded those of women by almost 140 euro on average in the second quarter of 2018. The statistics show women's average monthly gross wages at 857 euro, or 86 % of men's average gross wages of 996.8 euro. Women's net wages, at 674 euro, accounted for 87.6 % of men's net wages, at 769.8 euro on average. Earlier in July, the office provided data on 2017 that demonstrate an increasing gender pay gap.

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A working group of the Social-Economic Council started negotiations on minimal wage for 2019. The trade unions formulated their demands; they ask for minimum wage at RSD 209 per working hour and for the minimum monthly wage to be increased by RSD 11,000. On the other hand, employers offer a 6-7% raise. The union said that it should be quite normal that nobody accepts to work for less than 300 euro per month (around RSD 36,000). The current hourly minimum wage is RSD 143 and the minimum monthly wage is RSD 24,800.

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A cross-union grouping behind earlier strikes that led to the May resignation of the last CEO vowed after a meeting to maintain the core demand for a 5.1% pay increase. During the spring, Air France workers held strikes for 15 days that are estimated to have cost the company 335 million in profits. Air France offered staff a general wage increase of 7% over four years from 2018 to 2021 in addition to the individual increases of around 1% in 2018. However, unions demand an immediate wage increase of 5.1%, after initially demanding 6%. Union officials declared that if their demands are not met actions will continue in September.

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A strike planned by Croatian Airlines’ pilots, cabin crew and technical staff was prohibited with the argument that it was illegal. The County Court in Zagreb had ruled that the strike action planned by the ORCA and HSPP trade unions was illegal and would cause a big financial damage. Therefore, the court had prohibited the unions from organising and conducting the strike. The unions appealed against the verdict, but the Supreme Court confirmed the court’s decision, with the argument that the legal preconditions were not met because no conciliation procedures had been applied before the strike announcement.

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Teacher unions unanimously rejected a government proposal to solve the ongoing teaching dispute and are focussing on organising a day of action. In July 2018, the teachers already went on strike to protest their disapproval of government proposals, which will come into effect in September 2018 and were made without consulting the education trade unions. The government proposals included reduction in the off-class hours for the class supervisor from two to one. At the same time, absence record-keeping would be undertaken by the school administrations. The government also proposed a reduction in the teaching periods.

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After work stoppages earlier in August, workers at the Lloyd’s Pharmacy chain say they will escalate their industrial action with three full-day stoppages unless management engages with trade union Mandate. Mandate stated that the company had refused to negotiate with the union. Lloyds Pharmacy said it already negotiated with an in-house Colleague Representative Council. Mandate union represents 220 of the company's 800 retail workers and drivers. The union is demanding a pay increase and incremental pay scales, a sick pay scheme, security of hours with no zero-hour contracts, and improved annual leave and public holiday entitlements.

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Backed by several political parties, the government has agreed on a proposal for a new (un)employment policy. The plan is to simplify the existing rules and at the same time transfer more responsibility to the unemployment insurance funds, the so-called A-kasse. A-kasse are organisations, which in most cases are linked to trade unions. The organisations offer insurance against unemployment and administer public laws and regulations in that field. With the agreement, the municipalities are given more freedom to organise the efforts, but at the same time, their results are monitored through new benchmarking tools, as well as a better opportunity for sanctions against those municipalities that are not doing well.

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After turbulent weeks with work stoppages and strike threats all over Europe, trade union Fórsa and the Ryanair management reached an agreement in the pilots’ dispute after a 22-hour negotiating session. The proposed agreement will go to ballot, with a recommendation for acceptance from Fórsa and its Ryanair pilot representatives. The union has been asked by the mediator to make no public comment while the ballot is conducted. The industrial action resulted this summer in hundreds of flight cancellations. Other European trade unions are watching these talks closely. They seek higher salaries to match those at rival airlines, want to secure employment on local contracts and equalise terms and conditions for the large number of pilots who have been encouraged to work via agencies as contractors, rather than being made employees.

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IKEA contracts Brinkman to transport some of its goods, who in turn subcontract much of these transport operations to sister-companies based in Eastern Europe. These companies in the East employ drivers on Eastern European contracts, despite working continuously in Western Europe. Trade union FNV went to court to appeal the case and the court ruled that the Dutch salaries in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) also apply to subcontracted workers from Poland and Moldova.

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