Collective Bargaining

A strike started at the end of April in the construction sector after negotiations between unions and employers broke down. The strike is targeting seven concrete-related firms and their subsidiaries. These companies produce nearly two-thirds of the country’s ready-mixed concrete. According to the union, the strike will cost the sector some 30 million euro a day. The unions are demanding a pay rise of 6% over two years while the employers ate offering a pay rise 3.2%. Unions are also against the removal of Sunday allowances and the full liberalisation of temporary work. During the strike unions and employers will continue their negotiations.

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Due to a change in trade union policy creating a greater awareness on offline and online workplace harassment, more victims are coming forward. Since 2016 police have seen an increase in reports on workplace harassment. The Minister of Equality spoke about the issue at a conference organised by the General Workers’ Union and stressed that more than laws and enforcements were needed and that it is key to create more public consciousness on the problem.

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Some 800 employees of insurance company Irish Life who are members of the Unite union went on strike on 5 April 2018 to protest the company’s decision to close their benefit pension scheme to future accruals in the middle of 2018, even though it currently has a €240 million surplus. A 2nd day of strike was held on 24 April, accompanied by place pickets on Irish Life offices in Dublin and Dundalk. According to their union the workers are particularly angry that Irish Life’s decision to close the staff pension scheme coincided with a 6% increase in the dividends paid by parent company Great West Lifeco to shareholders.

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In March over one thousand Madrid based Amazon workers went on strike with a two-day walkout demanding better pay and conditions. It was the country’s first ever strike at Amazon (see our March newsletter). Amazon announced that it has decided not to renew the contract of over 100 temporary workers at a logistics centre that participated in the strikes. Trade unions have condemned the dismissal of the workers and accused the company of victimizing workers striking for better working conditions. The largest union in the works council of the logistics centre of San Fernando de Henares (Madrid), has proposed in a meeting with unions in Italy, France and Germany to carry out a global strike involving all logistics centres of the multinational next July.

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Economist Branko Milanović published a blog on rising inequality and the threats it poses to democracy. When it comes to inequality within nations, Western countries have responded to China’s rise by slashing the jobs or wages of people working in industries that have to compete with China. His remedy is, rather than just raising taxes for the rich, to pour energy into creating better educational opportunities for everyone, no matter what their background. That means people will start off in the jobs market on a more level playing field.

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Thinktank Bruegel published a working paper that studies the impact of industrial robots on employment and wages in six European Union countries, that make up 85.5% of the EU industrial robots market. In theory, robots can directly displace workers from performing specific tasks (displacement effect). But they can also expand labour demand through the efficiencies they bring to industrial production (productivity effect). The authors’ estimates do not point to robust and significant results on the impact of robots on wage growth, even after accounting for possible offsetting effects across different populations and sectoral groups.

The working paper: in English …

At a public debate on the current status of precarious work several experts contributed. Precarious forms of work lead to a rise in poverty, they poorly influence the functioning of a social state, force citizens into apathy and lead to their withdrawal from politics. Precarious forms of work don't only happen in the outskirts but are deeply embedded in the economic system.

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A revised Eurofound report provides information on statutory minimum wages that are generally applicable and not limited to specific sectors, occupations or groups of employees. The term ‘minimum wage’ refers to the various legal restrictions governing the lowest rate payable by employers to workers, regulated by formal laws or statutes. While the scope of the report covers all 28 EU Member States, the main findings relate to the 22 countries that had a statutory minimum wage in place in 2018. In the majority of countries, the social partners have been involved in the setting of the minimum wage in 2018 – in marked contrast to the beginning of the decade when minimum wage-setting was characterised by strong government intervention. The highest increases in the minimum wage were recorded (in nominal and real terms) in Bulgaria and Romania. However, both countries – as well as several others – have a long way to go to catch up with the minimum wage levels prevailing in western European countries.

Read on: in English … The report: in English …

Public service trade union Ver.di, which represents 2.3 million public employees, demanded a 6% pay raise for public service workers from state and local governments, with a minimum increase of 200 euro per month (see our March newsletter). After a series of strikes, trade union Ver.di came to a deal which resulted in a cumulative 7.5 % increase in salaries over a period of 30 months and includes top-ups and extra payments designed to make the public sector a more attractive employer. The head of the Ver.di public-sector trade union described the deal as ‘the best result in many years’.

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Two recent ILO publications address the root causes of inequality and the challenges in the gig economy. A first book examines the possible role of social dialogue and the social partners – and more generally industrial relations – in reducing inequalities. It addresses wage inequality as well as inequalities in the distribution of working time and access to jobs, training and career opportunities, social protection and pensions by looking at various labour market policies and industrial relations’ systems. It identifies ways to carry out necessary transformations without generating further inequalities and social exclusion. A second ILO-publication looks at the representation and bargaining needs in the gig economy.

Read on: in English … Chapter 1 of the book: in English … Bargaining in the gig economy: in English …