Collective Bargaining

Official statistics show that seasonal work and temporary contracts boomed during the tourist summer in the third quarter of 2017. In the period from July to September 2017, unemployment went down from 17.2 percent to 16.4 percent, the National Statistics Office INe said, with the number of people out of work falling to 3.7 million at the end of September (3.9 million at the end of June). The third quarter is tourism season, and the hospitality branches (hotels, restaurants and other related services) created the most jobs. However, many jobs created are temporary contracts rather than permanent. The office also published a webpage dedicated to Quality of Life Indicators, with separate chapters on material living conditions and work.

Read on, in Spanish … Quality of Life Indicators, in Spanish …

Not only the trade unions, but also many labour market observers were taken by surprise as the Nordea bank launched new plans for 6000 job cuts. The decision of the Swedish based group has major consequences for the whole Nordic region. Denmark’s financial workers union called the decision to lose well over a tenth of Nordea’s workforce shocking and the Finnish bank union said it was a brutal move. Analysts challenged the credibility of management’s cost guidance. The bank was already on the defensive after announcing it wanted to redomicile to Finland for regulatory reasons.

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Teachers plan to strike on 8 November 2017 after discussions with government failed over a wage dispute. The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has declared that the negotiations over a sectoral agreement fell apart at financial package discussion stage. The trade union will issue around 50 directives culminating in a strike. The MUT is demanding a pay rise of over 20% for all state and church school educators, arguing that members of the profession are not being given a worthy financial package; what is being offered falls short.

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According to information collected by the website Pordata, run by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, the medium purchasing power standard (PPS) in 2016 was 25,881 PPS, with the country in 18th place in a ranking led by Luxembourg (with 54,547 PPS). The average salaries of workers have increased in the last decade, but remain below the European Union (EU) average. Pordata said the EU average last year was 35,754 PPS. PPS, the Purchasing Power Standard, is a fictional currency used to compare levels of welfare and spending across countries, nullifying differences in price levels.

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

The trade union confederation LANV published its monthly journal online. In the editorial, some quotes of employers’ representatives are recorded that were made during the ongoing collective bargaining talks. With sometimes mocking statements like ‘there is no need for statutory minimum wages, all workers are paid better’ or ‘the gender pay gap has disappeared in several branches’. The union seeks a real wage increase for workers, after a long period of austerity. This should take the form of structural pay increases, not of on-off payments and bonuses.

Read on: in German …

The Employers' Confederation and the Confederation of Trade Unions EAKL concluded a wage agreement, according to which the minimum wage will increase from the beginning of 2018 to 500 euro and the minimum hourly wage will be 2.97 euro. A union spokesperson said that the negotiations on agreeing on the minimum wage figures were more difficult than usual, as the prerequisite for an increase in minimum wage was to reach a joint understanding on the long-term methodology on how minimum wage should increase in the future. The deal is essentially a generally binding collective agreement at the highest level, which means that it is mandatory for all employers. From 2018 on, it is not allowed to pay a lower monthly salary to a full-time employee than 500 euro.

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Commenting on the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), trade union TUC stated that the published figures show that UK workers are still significantly worse off than they were before the financial crash. The ONS figures show that for the year to April 2017 real wages in UK were £38 (7.9%) below their 2008 level. Inflation has overtaken wage growth for the last 6 months, so the TUC is concerned that next year could be even worse.

Read on: in English … The data, in English …

An investigation among 1000 employers revealed that a large majority of the employers feel wages should now be rising. Trade union FNV said last month it would be looking for wage rises averaging 3.5% in the next pay round. In addition, the polled employers want the new government to cut taxes and support the proposed switch to two tax bands in the income tax system. Six in 10 also think moves to make the labour market more flexible have gone too far.

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The parliament voted on a reform of the so-called Angestelltengesetz. The reformed act will take away the different treatment of white- and blue-collar workers. This harmonisation is a long-standing demand of the trade union movement. The trade unions’ aim was the introduction of labour relations between an employer and a worker based on unified private law contracts. The ÖGB asked parliament to decide on the proposals for the removal of existing differences before the elections. However, the decision came after. The union criticised the employers’ organisation WKÖ that expressed restraint regarding the necessary harmonisation.

Read on: in German … The Act, in German …

The negotiations in the metal sector have not yet resulted in an agreement. The trade unions PRO-GE and GPA-djp organised regional meetings with the aim to put pressure on the employers’ side. Some 1500 workers participated in the protest. The unions have planned to intensify the pressure with a series of regional meetings and manifestations. Their demand is an increase of the wages with 4%. So far, the employers have not offered any improvement of pay. The unions have opened a special website, dedicated to the current bargaining round.

Read on: in German … Special website, in German …