After weeks of negotiations, the trade unions concluded a social plan for Nordea Bank's division that was presented in a joint statement. ALEBA, LCGB and OGBL, the trade unions for financial services, reached an agreement with the management. The bank will drop initial plans to use a capping system to compensate nearly 150 staff members, who stand to lose jobs when Nordea's private banking operations are transferred to Swiss bank UBS.
Read on: in English … Read on: in French …
[close]With the lowest jobless rate in the European Union the country is dealing with serious worker shortages. Restaurant and hotel owners for example are struggling with a major shortage of skilled workers due to the low unemployment rate and the rapid growth of the sector. The government now wants to gain full control over the number of work permits issued to foreigners so they can respond quicker to labour market devel0pments. The proposed quota system aims to simplify the processing of work permits for foreigners.
Read on: in English (1)… in English (2) …
[close]The Eurofound Yearbook 2017 Living and working in Europe has several interesting sections based on the agency’s research activities over the course of 2017. The agency sees positive trends in employment, with rising numbers in work and a continued expansion of employment. However, challenges remain with labour markets beset by long-term unemployment, underemployment and high levels of inactivity, and quality of life that in many dimensions is poor within certain population groups. The first chapter (on labour market changes) reiterates that in-work poverty increased during the crisis – 8% of workers were estimated to be at risk in 2007, 2 percentage points lower than in 2014. Depressed wages, cuts in working hours and job losses among earners in a household all exacerbated financial hardship.
Read on: in English …
[close]After changes to the payment system, an additional 95 million euro will be allocated for teachers' wages. At the moment around 32,500 teachers work in the general education system on a budget of 380 million euro. The extra money is allocated to provide for the hours when there is activity that's not been paid for so far.
Read on: in English …
[close]In an overview of corporate social responsibility practices, it is concluded that even though social dialogue is a fundamental right enshrined and promoted by international standards, it still appears as a corporate social responsibility ‘blind spot’. This is due to a global lack of company commitment on this issue, as revealed by the overall average score of 25/100 achieved by 2,400 companies under review. Companies headquartered in Europe perform only slightly better than their peers on social dialogue, with an average score of 38/100. The subjects most often addressed in collective bargaining are employee salaries (72% of companies listed in Europe), health and safety conditions (70% of companies listed in Europe), and working hours (64%).
Read on: in English …
[close]Statistics Finland’s publication Finland in Figures 2018 is a pocket-size compact information package about the country and its citizens. The booklet provides key data on the population, economy, living conditions and culture in the form of statistics and graphics. The yearbook has separate sections on income and consumption, on labour market issues and on social protection. The section on Wages, Salaries and Labour Costs provides several graphs on earnings by occupation, level of education and age.
Read on: in English … The Yearbook: in English …
[close]A report commissioned by EPSU from the Labour Research Department (LRD) provides an overview of trends in over 40 countries. The main findings of the report cluster countries in five main categories: comparable pay growth interrupted by the crisis (10 countries); lower public service pay growth made worse by the crisis (4 countries); lower public service pay growth not clearly linked to crisis (3 countries); similar pay growth across the two sectors (12 countries); and faster pay growth in public services (11 countries) - leaving three countries that were hard to classify. The analysis included 24 EU countries and 18 non-EU countries, with several excluded because of lack of data.
Read on: in English …
[close]According to the Progressive Policy Think Tank IPPR, achieving better wages and working conditions as part of a new growth model will require a renaissance of collective bargaining and a growth in trade union membership. The decline of the union movement has contributed to a growing imbalance of power in the economy, and a consequent decline in the share of national income going to labour and an increase in inequality. In the report Power to the people, the IPPR states, based on key propositions, that stronger unions can deliver economic justice.
Read on: in English …
[close]Trade unions at Air France called for a four-day strike starting 23 June over a continuing pay dispute that prompted the resignation of parent company Air France-KLM’s chief executive in May 2017. He announced his resignation after the workforce at the carrier's French operations rejected a pay deal aimed at ending weeks of strikes. The dispute has already resulted in 15 days of walkouts this year.
Read on: in English …
[close]Although companies like Deliveroo or Foodora refuse even to recognise them as employees, food delivery riders have taken a lead in organising workers in the European gig economy. Following an extensive overview of different European initiatives in mobilising food delivery workers Jacobin authors argue that the riders’ visibility and recognisability allows many precarious workers, whose mechanisms of exploitation and subordination are far less visible, to identify with them thus empowering them as well.
Read on: in English …
[close]