Collective Bargaining

Drivers went on strike and the private owners of at least 600 public buses withdrew their buses from service to protest financial hurdles announced by the Istanbul municipality. The drivers who went on strike demand transport fares to rise, they claim that 17% of the passengers is using the busses for free. According to the trade union, the transportation fee, which they took from the Istanbul Municipality, did not absorb the cost. The union claims that with this amount of money no employer will be able to pay their drivers’ salaries.

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Starting at 8 March, workers of brewery AB InBev went on strike for several days. Workers blocked delivery trucks from entering or leaving the AB InBev breweries; as a result, no deliveries could be made to bars, supermarkets or other retailers. With the actions the workers protested the failure of negotiations on a premium being paid to workers who have to move to another site because AB InBev is closing its site in Hasselt. A few days later, unions and AB InBev reached an agreement and the breweries re-opened.

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Ahead of the next rate rise on 1 April, when the National Living Wage will go up from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour, the government named and shamed nearly 180 employers for underpaying more than 9,000 minimum wage workers by £1.1 million. As well as recovering backpay for 9,200 workers, the government also fined the employers a total of £1.3 million in penalties for breaking national minimum wage laws. The most prolific offending sectors in this round were retailers, hospitality businesses and hairdressers. Very prominently on the list is the Marriott Hotels group (number 2 in the ranking).

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The World Bank investigated the occurrence of inequality in Europe and published several related reports. The economic integration and convergence in the EU has slowed, giving rise to concerns over income inequality and social exclusion over the past decade. Income inequality across the EU is high but drastically declined as poorer countries and households converged to richer ones, particularly between 1993 and 2008. The global crisis took a toll on economic growth and this convergence has since stalled, with EU-wide inequality still at relatively high levels. Moreover, within-country levels of inequality have increased, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries. Growth in household incomes and convergence up until 2008 has been followed by years of crisis and stagnation, leading to concerns over continued growth and fairness in the EU. The impact of recession has been visible in communities, but the hardship has not fallen equally on all shoulders.

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Health and Safety Labour Watch, an intra-professional and independent monitoring platform on health and safety at the workplace, released its 2017 report. At least two thousand and six workers lost their lives as a result of accidents at the workplace. Trade union Disk commented that this is the result of the policy of the current government, with precarious, flexible and irregular working conditions aggravating and popularised by the state of emergency and statutory decrees. The union formulates demands and aims to combine the fight against non-unionised and precarious employment practices.

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The government is preparing a legal act that gives companies caught discriminating against women over pay three years to close the gap or face fines. The social partners were informed and asked to come back with their advice within one month. The measure is part of a social reform bill due to be presented to the cabinet at the end of April. If passed by parliament, the measure will be rolled out by 2020. Men are still paid on average 9% more than women despite equal pay laws going back 45 years.

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The growing economy and lack of qualified labour force drives the wages up. The unemployment rate, which stands at 5.72 %, is the lowest since the Republic came into existence. The low unemployment rate has consequences for companies. They have been complaining about a lack of qualified labour in the long term, and recently, they have started employing foreigners in greater numbers. Average wage is expected to increase to above €1,000 in 2018. The wage increase in 2017 was the biggest seen in the past seven years, based on data collected by the Platy.sk website. The basic gross wage rose by 6.6% compared to 2016, while the average basic monthly gross wage in 2017 amounted to 980 euro. Even though labour costs are increasing faster than the EU and eurozone average, they are still low compared with the older EU members.

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On the same day that rail workers held a 24-hour strike, taxi drivers in Athens went on a nine-hour strike to protest false competition by Uber. The taxi drivers urge the government to protect and therefore regulate the sector by implementing stricter operating limits for taxis. The railway workers were protesting the privatisation of the rolling stock maintenance company and staffing levels.

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In 2016, the unadjusted gender pay gap stood at just over 16% in the European Union. In other words, women earned on average 84 cents for every euro a man makes per hour. Across Member States, the gender pay gap in 2016 ranged from just over 5% in Romania and Italy, to more than 25% in Estonia, followed by the Czech Republic and Germany (both almost 22%). Although the gender pay gap has dropped in most of the EU Member States, it increased between 2011 and 2016 in ten Member States, with the most significant increases being observed in Portugal and Slovenia.

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After university employees held their first-ever strike late February and threatened with a second strike in March they reached an agreement with the employers on a two-year work contract with 3.45% salary increase. Next to an agreement on salary increases, both parties reached a deal on reforming the pay system. According to the deal, universities will introduce from 2019 bi-annual evaluation rounds that will affect salaries. Workers stoppages and further actions are now called off.

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