Collective Bargaining

Croatian Airlines’ pilots, cabin crew and technical staff are preparing for a major strike in July. In the middle of the tourist season that is a key source of income for the country. The strike was announced after a new round of negotiations (see our May newsletter) on a collective agreement resulted in nothing. Unions are demanding more days off and more vacation days, a deal on cabin crew rotation schedules, and increased compensation for workers while on sick leave. They also want more full-time, unlimited contracts for cabin crew staff who have been working only on seasonal contracts for years. A union statement says all the conditions have been met for industrial action and that they will inform the public of planned developments in the coming period.

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A new survey by the scientific centre for food and agriculture, SEGES, shows a serious increase in personnel shortages in the agricultural sector. According to the survey, 22.3% of the country’s farmers were in need of qualified workers in the first half of 2018, compared to 2.2% in 2010. The situation is worst within pig and poultry farming. Trade union 3F states that, although the unemployment rate is currently very low, there are enough unemployed workers in the country to do the work. The trade union claims that the agriculture sector would rather employ foreign workers than unemployed Danish people.

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Across several cities 1,400 rail workers took part in protests against a package of cuts and reforms planned by the Swiss Federal Railways. The railway workers are demanding a softening of proposed wage cuts and liberalisation of firing procedures. The current negotiations on changes to the collective agreement started in February and are expected to continue until September. The rail workers’ union promised further action if their position was not more considered.

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According to a study published by the OECD, income inequality has increased and social mobility stalled across the world’s richest countries since the 1990s. The OECD stated that barriers to social mobility are harming economic progress by shutting out vital workers and undermining political stability as people become cynical about their prospects. The report says that in absolute terms, almost everyone in OECD countries has seen an improvement in living standards and life chances than previous generations, with greater access to higher levels of education, healthcare and better paid employment. But while income mobility was a reality for many people born between 1955 and 1975 from low-educated parents, it has stagnated for those born after the mid-1970s.

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Trade union FNV is taking Deliveroo to court for paying its delivery staff as if they are self-employed while in fact they are not. The union claims the riders are employed by Deliveroo. The union states that Deliveroo is using a fake self-employment set-up in order to pay less for their work than they would if they hired them as employees. Deliveroo doesn’t have to pay social insurances for so-called ‘freelancers’, neither it has to guarantee them fixed hours.

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After the large supermarket chain Carrefour announced that around 1,000 of the 8,000 jobs at the chain will go, the workers have initiated several actions and negotiations on a social plan started. The management declared that redundancies can be avoided if enough workers leave the company voluntarily or early or work fewer hours. The negotiations with the trade unions have led to an agreement in principle that reduces the total redundancies to 950 jobs, with more local supermarkets staying open. Part of the plan is the use of a much-criticised early retirement scheme for workers beyond the age of 56 years.

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Workers organised in trade union KOVO PCAS were angry that wages at Peugeot - with a monthly average of 1106 euro - were the lowest of the three major carmakers in the country and threatened to go on strike (see our May newsletter). After it became clear that a majority of the members was not in favour of industrial action, the union settled a compromise accepting a 50 euro a month basic pay rise. They originally demanded a monthly basic pay rise of 80 euro. Besides the monthly rise in basic income, workers will receive an individual monthly bonus of 100 euro.

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On 14 June 2018, trade unions marched in the centre of Athens to protest against the draft bill on a package of measures demanded by the countries’ creditors to complete the fourth program review. Bus, metro and trolley bus services were disrupted by work stoppages. Public transport workers also held strike actions earlier this month. Work stoppages on 7 June 2018 and a 24-hour strike on 8 June in Athens and the broader Attica Region. Workers on the same metro line held work stoppages. The strikes were also organised to protest against the government's various proposed and adopted reforms.

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A report, from recruiting agency Jurek, concluded that female job applicants both ask for and receive lower salaries than their male peers. The report also shows that candidates with foreign-sounding names are typically offered lower pay. The authors speak about discrepancies, which are creating an ‘unsustainable situation’ on the labour market. The report, which was based on 1,875 interviews with job candidates during 2018, concluded that male natives earn more than their female peers or those with non-Swedish names, even taking into account job role, level of education, and experience.

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A research paper analyses the most important features of the country’s collective bargaining system, together with its historical developments. The paper examines the legal framework, the structure of the system and the transnational dimension of collective bargaining. According to the author, the increasing integration of markets and rapidly evolving entrepreneurial needs have led to ever greater flexibilisation of national labour regulations, bringing about major changes in the collective bargaining systems in Europe.

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