Collective Bargaining

Delegates of trade union TravailSuisse have unanimously approved at their yearly assembly a resolution on wage discrimination that proposes a black list of companies who commit wage discrimination against women. Because the law to prevent wage discrimination that came to force 22 years is still not working, with the wage discrimination of women still accounting for at least 7.7 billion francs annually, the unions now resort to a black list of wage discriminating companies.

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Trade union vida announced that bicycle couriers working for the app-based restaurant delivery service Foodora in Vienna have founded a works council. The union supported the efforts of the couriers to form the works council. Works councils have legal rights to information and consultation on major business decisions. The main goal of the new works council is to negotiate an agreement on working conditions between couriers and management.

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In a joint action, the trade unions FNV and CNV called for a two-day strike in the regional public transport. Workers will go on strike in support of their demands for a 3% wage increase, lower workload, more training and breaks to use the bathroom. The FNV said that driving times are getting tighter and tighter and the public transport workers have no time for breaks. Due to the strike (30April and 1 May 2018), regional bus services and some regional trains will not be operating. Employers tried to prevent the strike in court. But the judge rule that in this case the right to strike outweighs the inconvenience the strike will cause.

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The statistical office ISTAT published its annual overview Noi Italia. The 2018 online overview provides a general framework for understanding the different economic and social aspects of the country, its role within Europe and its territorial differences. Over 100 indicators are classified in 6 macro areas and cover 19 sectors. Users can also export charts and download data. For each sector the complete dataset of time series and other data can be downloaded. In each sector additional information is available (Publications and Useful links). The entire database can be acquired as well, by clicking on the button (download dati) from the homepage. During the presentation, the office said that the country is improving in many sectors, but the situation in the South is still worrying with high unemployment, more poor people and economic hardship.

Read on: in English … The webpage with all statistics: in Italian …

The London based al-Jazeera’s staff at their English-language TV channel voted to go on strike in protest at pay and conditions. The workers will walk out for 24 hours on 9 May. Union officials claim that the company has failed to honour an agreement to negotiate pay on an annual basis. Union officials said they expect a substantial proportion of London-based al-Jazeera English staff to take part in the walkout, including on-air presenters, programme editors, field producers, reporters, camera operators and studio technical staff.

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Trade unions and management of the country’s biggest car maker, Škoda Auto, have been bargaining on wages since the start of 2018. After unsuccessful rounds of negotiations and unions threatening with industrial action, Škoda made offer of an 8.3% hike in wage tariff but that offer was rejected. Union representatives at Skoda now agreed to a 12% wage rise. The increase covers the period from 1 April 2018 to the end of March 2019. The agreement also means that workers who qualify for full bonuses would get an average annual bonus of 110,000 crowns. It includes increases in bonuses and incentives. The company, struggling to meet demand, announced that it will start with a production line in Germany.

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A report by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), based on a visit to transit zones located at the border between Hungary and Serbia, concludes that the ability to detect potential victims of human trafficking has worsened. Concerns raised in previous reports have been ‘magnified’ by more restrictive legislation and measures on immigration and asylum. The report found as many as 79 cases of collective expulsions of irregular migrants to Serbia in a period of less than two weeks in December 2017.

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After earlier strike actions in February and March 2018 (see our March newsletter) new strikes at Air France were organised. Air France claims the strikes have cost the company over 250 million euro in operating income. Pilots, cabin crew and ground staff are demanding a wage increase with unions asking for a 6% pay rise that the company deems ‘impossible’. At first Air France came up with a proposal for a 1% increase to be paid in two stages, now they offer a 2% increase. Three pilot unions have announced another four days of strike action in early May stating that they intend to keep up the pressure for their wage demands.

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Trade union confederation CGTP called for the minimum wage to be raised to over the 600 euro forecast by the government. The union reacted to statements by the Prime Minister, who had restated that the monthly minimum wage, currently 585 euro, will be updated again in 2019. and that it has “a few days” to say if it will unfreeze pay rises in the civil service. The union added that, given the replacement of the 5% salary cut in ministerial offices in 2019, it is time to unfreeze civil service salaries.

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Already 246 flights have been cancelled due to a pilots’ strike at low-cost airline Vueling in a wage dispute between the trade unions and the airline. Vueling pilots claim they receive on average 30% less than their main competitors including Ryanair and EasyJet. Currently, Vueling airline, which belongs to British group IAG, is tripling its profits and the unions feel there should be made some improvement in the working conditions of the pilots. Instead the company’s only offer so far has been zero improvement. According to union officials this offer has been rejected by 90% of the pilots.

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