Collective Bargaining

The Labour Court concluded its deliberations on an application for a sectoral employment order for the construction industry. The order for the construction sector could bring up the minimum hourly rates for up to 50,000 workers across the construction industry by close to 10%. The report is a key part of the process to strike a new industry-wide sectoral employment order that would set a minimum floor on pay across the construction industry. The construction sector will be the first to have such an order put in place. It replaces the old registered employment agreement (REA) structure, which was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013.

English: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/construction-workers-in-line …

The law on progressive pay transparency to better enable women to seek equal pay has entered into force on 6 July 2017. The legislation should make it easier for many women to learn whether or not they’re being paid equally to their male counterparts. According to the law, companies with at least 200 employees are required to provide employees with average salary information upon request. Employees are only entitled to this information when they have at least six co-workers of the opposite sex in a similar position.

English: http://www.care2.com/causes/german-pay-inequality-law-goes-into-effect ...

Workers at the BCP bank who earned more than 1,000 euro have had their wages cut by between 3 percent and 11 percent for the past three years as part of the restructuring package agreed with the EU following the bailout, which also involved closing branches and laying off thousands of workers in a programme involving early retirement and mutual agreement dismissals. The bank has announced that it will start paying its workers their full wages from July 2017 on.

English: http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/bcp-to-start-paying-full-wages-again ...

Trade union Unionen is adapting to the changing labour market with an online portal that could serve as a model for others. It is an answer to the growing need of self-employed workers of representation and a more orderly web-based system of rules and regulations to avoid exploitation. Unionen calls on other trade unions to adapt and integrate those workers or else lose an opportunity to play a vital role in the digital revolution. Both workers and employers can benefit from collective bargaining and regulation. Such a platform should not give a competitive advantage to ‘analogue’ firms through social dumping and ‘unloading risks’ on the self-employed.

English: https://www.equaltimes.org/can-a-new-nordic-online-portal …

https://unionenopinion.se/blogg/dawn-platform ...

In reaction to governmental communications related to skill deficits, the trade unions have reminded of the fact that the country carries a legacy of long-term unemployment from the depression of the 1990s. Those who have been out of work for such a long time often find themselves with the wrong type of qualifications for today’s labour market. The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (SAK) thinks the government needs to provide more support and assistance to unemployed workers for finding work. They are also concerned about new measures affecting the unemployed, such as cuts in unemployment support and increased conditions for the unemployed to maintain their full benefits. SAK is also calling on the government to make parental leave more flexible to help young women, in particular, find employment.

English: https://www.equaltimes.org/what-is-the-solution-to-finland …

The statistics office INSEE has released its 2017 report on the country's jobs market titled: ‘Work, Unemployment and Wages’. In 1984 some 94% of the workers were on permanent contracts; by 2016 that figure has dropped to 85.3%. Temporary contracts have increased from 5% in 1984 to 11% in 2016. The labour market is recovering, with 255,000 new jobs created in 2016. This has not lead to an improvement of earnings, as the increase of the labour cost stayed around 1% in recent years. The average monthly wage for a full-time worker in the private sector stands at 2,230 euro (net, with social charges paid). The pay gap is still substantial, with the average wage for a woman working in the private sector 14% lower than for men.

English: https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques ...

The federal constitutional court has ruled that a controversial law concerning collective wage agreements is compatible with the constitution. The strike legislation mandates that where there are competing collective wage agreements within one firm, the agreement between the trade union with the largest membership and the employer applies. With this Law, the federal government tries to prevent power struggles between different trade unions in which strikes are called by one subgroup of employees to the detriment of the wider labour force. Small-side unions fear that they will lose power. Nevertheless, in the ruling the court said that the government has also to improve the protection of smaller unions.

English: http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN ...

The court’s ruling (in German): https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE ...

Around 65 waste collectors in Stockholm quit their jobs, a week after they first walked out in a pay dispute and row over keys. The discontent has erupted into a full-blown row when the company Reno Norden attempted to collect all keys to waste trucks and stations in Stockholm to create a digital key register during the strike. According to waste collectors, the move makes it easier for their employers to fire them. Waste collectors working for another firm, Liselotte Lööf, also walked out in solidarity. The strike, which is set to go before the Swedish Labour Court, is not officially backed by the Transport workers' union, however its representatives are involved in trying to reach a settlement.

English: https://www.thelocal.se/20170712/stockholm-waste-collectors-resign ...

Trade union opposition to Norwegian Air International continues. From the moment that the Scandinavian-owned, Irish-registered carrier sought permission to fly to the US, organisations representing aviation pilots and air crew on both sides of the Atlantic, have been claiming that it was bad news for aviation workers. While it now has its foreign air carrier’s permit and began flying from Ireland to the US on July 2017, the unions are still bidding to turn the clock back. They have filed a petition with the federal court in Washington arguing that the US Department of Transportation was wrong to grant the airline permission in the first place. Their case is partly based on Article 17 of the EU-US Air Transport Agreement, which the unions say is meant to ensure that competition in aviation does not undermine workers’ pay and conditions.

English: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/unions-still-aiming …

Trade union confederation UIL produced an online archive of collective agreements at decentral level that will be operational from September 2017. The database (DIGIT@UIL) was presented during an event in Rom. The archive provides details about existing local agreements and can be consulted for cross data analysis and comparisons. According to the trade union, these second level agreements are crucial and strategic instruments for the improvement of workers’ rights and the redistribution of wealth. Results of the first analysis are presented in an accompanying information file. Frequently agreed themes are productivity bonuses (in 72% of the sample), industrial relations (68%), wellbeing (59%) and work organisation (56%).

Italian: http://lavoro.gov.it/notizie/pagine/presentato-oggi …

http://www.uil.it/News …

First analysis and information about DIGIT@UIL (in Italian): http://www.uil.it/documents …