Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens and other cities to denounce austerity measures and the sale of the Public Power Corporation's coal, planned pension cuts, and funding cuts at state-run hospitals. State-run hospital workers were also on strike, demanding more funding for healthcare and protesting shortages in the hospitals.
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[close]Trade union confederation DGB published a report on pay of public officials (DGB-Besoldungsreport 2018). The report (in German) can be downloaded from the webpage. It documents the pay differentials that exist in the different layers of the public services. In spite of performing the same activity, civil servants are sometimes paid very differently. Even within the same grade, there are large income differences between the states. The DGB criticises the fact that the public services are no longer competitive on the labour market.
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[close]European unions representing Ryanair cabin crew gave the airline until 30 June to adopt national employment laws for all their workers or face industrial action during the summer, the unions said after meeting in Lisbon. The Portuguese cabin crew trade union SNPVAC staged a strike early in April over what it says is the airline's failure to recognise Portuguese labour rights, including doctor-approved sick days. Ryanair attempted to break the strike by employing foreign cabin crew to work around laws preventing the company from replacing the striking personnel with another crew from Portugal. On the initiative of SNPVAC five unions representing Ryanair European cabin crew in Europe met and agreed on the deadline for Ryanair to meet their demands. The demands include respecting national legislation where cabin crew are based and applying the same work conditions for all workers.
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[close]The labour dispute in the public sector (see the March newsletter) is still going on. The trade unions, representing 180,000 state employees and around 500,000 people employed by the municipalities, are demanding an 8.2% pay rise over three years. After long negotiations, the national strike and lockout that were announced for April are postponed till May. If no agreement is reached, 10,000 municipal workers will go on strike on May 8 and a lockout of around 400,000 state employees is planned for May 12.
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[close]Trade union Usdaw launched a policy document with the union’s approach to tackling insecure work and under-employment. Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades. Usdaw surveyed its members on issues around working hours. The conclusion was, firstly, that members want guarantees for additional hours that they work on a regular basis. Secondly, agency workers are being overused and exploited in many workplaces. And, thirdly, many workers are struggling to make ends meet. Over a quarter of respondents either have or want a second job. Moreover, the survey showed that 64% of the members regularly work overtime and of these, two-thirds would like to see this overtime guaranteed.
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[close]Trade union 3F has negotiated with Hilfr.dk, a platform for cleaning in private homes. As a result, a ground breaking collective agreement was signed between the management and 3F. The collective agreement will enter into force on 1 august 2018 and will guarantee people who work on the platform sick pay, holiday allowance and a contribution to their pension. The agreement will run first as a pilot agreement for 12 months. The parties agreed to evaluate the collective agreement on the basis of the gathered evidence.
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[close]After negotiations between the state and midwives ended in a deadlock for around six months, all the countries 95 midwives that go on home visits went on strike 23 April 2018 asking for an updated contract with a 13.8% salary increase. The midwives have been fighting to improve their pay for nearly two years. With the midwives on strike the hospitals will have to deal with all deliveries of new-borns.
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[close]Ryanair has formally recognised trade union Ver.di to represent cabin crew in Germany. The trade union welcomes what they see as the this first step toward collective bargaining. Ryanair has been in talks to formalise union recognition in several European countries since its decision in December to recognise unions for the first time in its 32-year history.
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[close]In a dispute about understaffing at air traffic controller ATC, 89% of the union members have voted to implement 24-hour stoppages from 20 June 2018 if the number of ATC staff is not increased by the start of the summer season. The union issued a statement that predicted a summer ‘collapse’ in Barcelona due to the lack of controllers and the constant traffic growth experienced by El Prat airport. The airport has seen a 9.4% increase in passengers compared to the same period of 2017 and everything points to exceeding the record of 47.2 million passengers.
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[close]The government concluded a draft bill in the frame of the pension reforms that defines whether an occupation is arduous and demanding. These occupations are exempted from the planned increase of the pension age. The draft bill contains the criteria of hard work (physical constraints, organisation of work, safety risks and mental or emotional hardship) and the coefficients that will be applied to the career so as to allow to retire earlier or increase the pension. The social partners discussed this issue in 2017 and it is now up to the pension minister to negotiate with the social partners on the criteria that workers have to meet.
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