Collective Bargaining

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s department in the country published its annual review of labour relations and social dialogue. The report presents socio-economic development and the evolution at the level of industrial relations and collective bargaining and the reasons for the crisis in that area. Furthermore, the report shows that social dialogue is still very weak on all levels. Trade unions are still not participating in drafting and implementing economic and social policies. The absence of social dialogue has resulted in strikes.

Read on: in English (the report) …

According to data from the Central Statistical Bureau, the average monthly gross wages and salaries for full-time work grew by 8.6% or 76 euro compared to 2017. Earnings in the private sector rose faster than in the public sector. The increase of the minimum wage from 380 to 430 euro, introduction of progressive income tax, and the changes in the size of non-taxable minimum earlier this year had the most notable influence on the changes in average wages and salaries.

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The management of Malta International Airport and the two unions representing its workforce, GWU and UĦM, signed a collective agreement. The agreement covers the period between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2022. The agreement will lead to improved benefits for workers, with year-on-year increases in salaries, which amount to a 17.5% increase by 2022. The package includes performance bonuses and wellbeing benefits. In return, the agreement foresees a more agile operation linked to quality management and the company's strategic goals. It introduces a better shift structure to allow the company the flexibility it needs to continue to manage the ever-increasing operational demands of the airport.

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After a call-out by the country’s two biggest trade unions thousands of workers went on strike on 30 May in protest against austerity, high taxes and a new wave of reforms. The GSEE union and its public counterpart, ADEDY, organised the one-day walkout. The walkout disrupted flights and urban transport and knocked out train and ferry services across the country. Journalists also walked off the job, leading to a dearth of news bulletins.

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The Chamber of Labour AK produces since 2016 an annual welfare study. In the current edition, AK provides the reader with an interesting chapter on the distribution of income, the wage development and inequality. Additional parts underpin the gender pay gap, labour productivity and the distribution of wealth. The report has other chapters on employment and fair and decent work, the quality of life, sustainability and economic stability. The authors expect over a 5-year period, ending in 2019, a relatively positive development of the welfare situation. They are critical about the indicators ‘full and decent employment’, ‘fair distribution of wealth’ and a ‘sustainable environment’.

Read on: in German … The report: in German …

One hundred seventy-seven workers were documented to have died in occupational accidents in April 2018, according to a monthly study released by the Workers Health and Work Safety Assembly (İSİGM). On 6 January 2018, İSİGM had published an annual report saying that 2,006 workers died at work throughout 2017. That number marked an increase from 2016, when 1,970 workers died in work related fatalities. However, the possibilities to protest have been blocked; while strikes are allowed in theory, they have effectively been banned since the most recent coup. In the year following the 2016 coup attempt, the government banned five strikes, compared to stopping eight strikes in the preceding 14 years. Workers are turning towards occupying factories, slowdowns and other forms of direct action.

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With the lowest unemployment rate of Europe and a shortage of workers, wages are rising steadily. According to the country’s trade union confederation this upward trend will continue for several more years as labour costs lie far below those in the richer West. On average three Czech workers cost as much as one German worker. The union believes that in the next three or four years the country can realistically expect real wage growth of 3 percent to 5 percent per year.

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Because of anticipated personnel shortages the government plans to hire foreign doctors and drafted a regulation listing 29 specialties in which foreign specialists could be hired on more lax requirements. The Latvian Health and Social Care Workers' Trade Union (LVSADA) responded with anger stating that the way to address anticipated staffing shortages is to start paying decent salaries to local medics.

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SIPTU representatives have called on members to participate in a ‘day of action’ on 30 May organised by the Standing4Women campaign in solidarity with the 209 women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal. The ‘day of action’ will include events in communities across the country. Cervical Check is a free smear test offered to women aged 25 to 60 years. This screening is not an exact science and it can throw up false positive, or false negative results.

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Workers at Megasa steel plan are on a strike that is affecting up to 25% of the total production at the Megasa-owned Megasider Zaragoza plant. The strike will continue indefinitely as negotiations between management and trade unions are deadlocked. The workers began their actions in January due to dissatisfaction with the new management, which took over operations of the plant in 2016 from ArcelorMittal. Main points of conflict are managements’ proposals to reduce pay and increased and extended working hours.

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