Collective Bargaining

Employees at a Košice-based plant of the U.S. Steel corporation will benefit from a successful turnover. The success will be reflected in the employees’ variable wage payment, which will be the highest since 2007, as the result of the applicable collective agreement. 8.5 percent from the average consolidated net profit for the previous three months will be paid to the steelworks’ employees. Back in 2007, the variable wage payment amounted to some 250 euro, but during the crisis employees received only single-digit payments. The trade unions expressed their satisfaction and referred to the success in negotiations over the collective agreement, which brought the variable wage payment at the level received by other U.S. Steel employees in the USA.

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Following actions in January where pilots decided to take off with a delay of 15 to 20 minutes Brussels airline pilots increased their actions in demand of better wages, pensions and work pressure. They asked full runway length at Brussels Airport and took additional fuel. The pilots are supported by the trade unions. Later on, the pilots declared that for the time being they won’t be taking industrial action.

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Two large trade unions for nurses have called on their members to stage a one-day national strike on 26 February. The protest is the consequence of failed negotiations for a collective agreement. The bargaining for health-sector workers ended without result. Other workers, like laboratory and radiology technicians are expected to join.

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The statistical office came up with final data on wages and income in 2016. The data and graphs show an increase of the median value of total income over the period 2005-2016 of 25% among women and 19% among men, taking into account inflation. Incomes vary between various ages. Among men, the median income is highest for those aged 42 to 51, where it exceeds SEK 390 000. Men aged 45 have the highest median income, SEK 402 000. Among women, the median income is highest for those aged 43 to 52, where it exceeds SEK 325 000. Women aged 49 have the highest median income, SEK 332 000. Although the economic standard of households has developed favourably, the percentage of people at risk of poverty has also increased in the same time period, from 10 percent in 2005 to 14 percent in 2016.

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One of the biggest trade unions – Fellesforbundet – wants industry wage settlements this year, but several other federations fights for coordinated settlements. The unions affiliated to the confederation LO that want a joint settlement justify this policy with the need for a common front in the inflamed question regarding retirement. According to Fellesforbundet, pension and purchasing power could be combined in coordinated settlements, but not the requirements related to travel, boarding and lodging. The union made those requirements equally important and the question was which form of settlement would make it easiest to achieve this. The union thinks that union wise settlements are the way forward.

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It is quite probable that a proposal to open more possibilities on Sunday trading will be blocked. The opposition in parliament will vote for the continuation of restrictions against stores trading on Sundays and will thus keep trade limits in place. The current public holiday law means many retailers are required to remain closed on Sundays, as well as public holidays like the Christmas and Easter holidays. Stores with an area of under 100 square metres, as well as petrol stations and florists, are allowed to open on Sundays.

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The ‘I Would Teach’ movement held a demonstration in Budapest’s Kossuth Square to publicise policy recommendations. In a speech, a representative of the teachers’ union said that for the past 28 years every party has talked about the strategic importance of education but these words never translated into action. In the weeks before, the Budapest-Capital Administrative and Labour Court ruled that the nationalisation of council schools was unconstitutional. The government nationalised and centralised public education in two phases. In early 2013, the government took away the right of municipal councils to maintain schools (including the right to employ teachers, to pay them, and the overall professional management of schools). In 2017, with new legislation, the government forced the remaining few councils that still had the right to manage their respective school properties to hand them over to the state. A lawsuit brought against the Ministry of Human Resources ended after a year in January 2018 when the court determined that multiple parts of the law permitting the nationalisation of schools were unconstitutional.

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The trade unions and the PSA's Opel management have reached an agreement on working conditions at the former GM-owned Corsa plant at Figueruelas, Aragon, near Zaragoza. The automaker had threatened to cut investment at the factory employing 5,300 people. A deal was agreed after more than 12 hours of negotiations and shortly before a deadline set by Peugeot. The details are not yet available, but according to a local newspaper it included a five-year pact, with salary freezes for 2018. Other sources report details on job security, with more than 200 workers hired indefinitely and many others that will have four-year contracts.

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Trade union IG Metall is working on a successful series of collective agreements in the woodworking (and plastics) industries. One of the first state were an agreement could be reached was the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The agreement included a 4% wage increase as of 1 May 2018. In the first 4 months of 2018, workers will receive nominal 150 euro each month. In the new deal, youngsters participating in vocational training will receive monthly an extra 50 euro. The agreement will expire on 30 September 2019. Shortly after the union came to similar results in

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The trade union confederation EAKL made public that workers at meatpacking plant Rakvere, part of the HK Scan group, were threatened by the employer in an attempt to avoid a strike. Workers were said that they could be fired, blacklisted or ‘having their life made difficult’ if they participated in the strike, the union said. The attempts include influencing employees one by one. According to EAKL's information, people have been threatened in the central warehouse of the meatpacking plant, in the flavouring unit and the roast production unit. In order to avoid threats, the trade union suggested that employees record conversations as the activity of the employer is illegal and punishable pursuant to criminal procedure. Workers are asking a 16% increase from 1 February 2018 and an additional 16% increase in basic wage from 1 July 2018.

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