Collective Bargaining

A new collective agreement in the hospitality sector has prevented a strike at the peak of the tourist season. In the collective agreement workers have won a yearly holiday bonus of 1000 euro. Overtime was also an issue that was addressed during the negotiations. Under the new agreement employers will now have to analyse overtime every three months to see if it exceeds 5% of the average working time and if so, take measures to address the issue. Excessive overtime will have to be used up within six months or employers will have to pay a 30-50% bonus for the overtime, depending on how long it takes them to pay it out.

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The statistical office Statec announced an increase by 2.5% of the wages through a new round of indexation. The indexation keeps earnings in line with inflation. According to provisional results, the annual inflation index stood at 1.5% in July 2018, which, in turn, increased the average bi-annual index rate. The adaptation of the of the wages, salaries and pensions will enter into force on 1 August. Final and detailed results of the national consumer price index for July were published on 8 August.

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Sport sector workers are unhappy with the pay system and the lack of staff in the sector. Thousands of employees in units subordinated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and national sports federations therefore decided to go on strike. The National Sports and Youth Union (SNTS) claims that people with similar jobs in institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports get different salaries, and is demanding equal pay.

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Trade union Solidarity has threatened that workers will go on strike this autumn unless public servants' salaries are raised. The union made this announcement before a meeting that was scheduled between the prime minister and the union's leaders. According to the union the economy is going well, the GDP is growing and workers want to feel this GDP growth in their pockets.

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Cleaners at the Ministry of Justice have picketed the Ministry and the offices of a west London council as they began a three-day strike over poor pay and conditions. They are striking in demand of an occupational sick pay scheme and parity of terms and conditions with directly employed staff and are calling for the London living wage. The migrant workers are represented by the United Voices of the World trade union.

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Trade union SINTTAV formulated pay demands for RHmais, one of the country’s biggest recruitment and outsourcing firms. RHmais is active for large public and private companies in various sectors. In the last few years, there have been no salary increases other than those resulting from the changes to the National Minimum Wage. As a result, the practice of low wages continues, which translates into the successive decrease of purchasing power. The union elaborated a table with wage scales for categories of workers, considering years of service, and formulated additional bonuses for, for instance, language skills.

The demands: in Portuguese …

Trade union UGT initiated a class action lawsuit against Barcelona-based human cloud food courier firm Glovo, with the intention of ‘combating the precarious work system’. The union says it wants to demonstrate the fraudulent relationship between Glovo and the workers and added that the majority of Glovo’s dismissed workers claim that the company does not act as an ‘intermediary’ and instead imposes its own working conditions. According to the union, the firm refuses to establish itself as an ordinary intermediary and thus not has to assume the fiscal and social responsibilities that every company is obliged to comply with.

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The Eiffel tower reopened after a two-day strike to protest unacceptably long queues. According to the workers on strike, the reason for the long queues is the new access policy that has seen separate lifts allocated to visitors with pre-booked tickets and those who buy them on site. A spokesperson of trade union CGT stated that the best solution would be to let people, just like before, use the elevator with the shortest queues regardless of the type of ticket that they bought. The tower's operator however doesn’t recognise the problem and states that queues are no worse than before, even as visitor numbers have risen significantly.

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A Hír TV, one of the last independent television broadcasters in the country, is purchased by a pro-government businessman. The station immediately fired several journalists and announced some editorial changes. According to the statement on the channel’s website, the television station will return to its ‘old values, continuing where it was left in 2015’. The European Federation of Journalists stated that it worries them that media pluralism has been decreasing in the country since the elections in Spring 2018.

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After eight weeks of strike workers at Orona, the 5th largest elevator company in Europe, won their fight for a collective agreement. Orona finally agreed to the trade union's demands to stop subcontracting workers with lower salaries for temporary work. Elevator mechanics wanted to conclude a collective bargaining agreement which would bring working conditions up to industry standards. After the company refused to negotiate, workers went on strike in May. Nearly three months later, the strike has ended with an agreement between the union and Orona, with the last round of negotiations lasting for 13 hours.

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