Collective Bargaining

Trade union SINTTAV publishes a regular information bulletin with news (in Portuguese) about negotiations and activities in different companies. In one of the May issues of the bulletin the role of trade unions is assessed. Trade union activities find their origin in the unbalanced power relations in our economies. Without unionised workers, there would be no unions. Basic tasks are the defence of workers’ interests, collective bargaining, trade union intervention at company level and collective representation and redress. The last task is also important because individual workers otherwise would face unbearable costs.
The bulletins (in Portuguese): http://sinttav.org/joomla/index.php/menu-comunicados

Trade union confederation CGIL has announced fierce opposition against the idea to reintroduce work vouchers to pay for occasional work. The union will appeal in that case to the Constitutional Court. CGIL collected enough signatures to trigger a referendum on scraping the vouchers, a reason for the government to scrap the plans early 2017. A plan has been circulated to come up with a modified system with a French-style payment booklet and a new contract for occasional work for small businesses.
English: http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/246126/constitutional-appeal-if-vouchers ...

According to research carried out by Leuven University, the average monthly earnings of workers is 3,401 euro (amount before tax). The latest average wages are 4.3 percent or 140 euro up on 2014. This rise is the result of the automatic wage indexation system under which pay is raised when life gets more expensive - in other words, when inflation has been up for some time, wages will follow. However, workers have hardly enjoyed pay rises given voluntarily by employers. Starting employees have to be content with 2,369 euro per month. The hospitality sector generally has poor pay, with 2,676 euro per month on average. The best paying categories (banks, chemical and pharmaceutical sector) deliver 4,279-euro gross per month.
English: http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Economy ...

The government and the doctors' trade union MAM signed an agreement on the working conditions of doctors at the hospitals run by Vitals Global Healthcare. Similar agreements have already been signed for workers represented by the GWU and the MUMN. The agreement addresses discrepancies between the working conditions of health centres’ general practitioners and those in hospitals, in line with an Ombudsman ruling. The doctors committed themselves to be more flexible in terms of the hours of duty mainly during afternoons and evenings.
English: https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170525/local/government ...

Negotiations for a collective agreement in the retail sector in several states are so far not very successful. Trade union Ver.di announced during a manifestation in Essen that the negative attitude of the employers towards the requested pay increase of 1 euro per hour, combined with an improvement of the training allowance (with a monthly 100 euro), easily can lead to strikes. A bargaining deal for the retail sector in Nord Rhine Westphalia is the reference for the wage of around 700,000 workers, although many workers (60%) are employed by companies that fall outside the scope of the agreement. The trade union, therefore, strives towards a generally binding deal. In Bavaria, with a workforce in retail of some 500,000 workers, the bargaining is also deadlocked. In Hamburg, the union started warn strikes after unsuccessful negotiations.
German: https://www.welt.de/regionales/nrw/article164896781/Verdi-droht-mit-Streiks ...
https://www.welt.de/regionales/bayern/article164873959/Ueber-600-Teilnehmer ...
https://www.welt.de/regionales/hamburg/article164827645/Verdi-ruft-zu-Warnstreiks ...

Trade union Unia expressed, together with IndustriALL Global Union and Workers Uniting North America (USW), serious concerns on the growing list of violations that continue to impact workers and communities at many of the Glencore operations during the 2017 annual general shareholders meeting in Zug. They called for transparency and meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders particularly, with trade unions at all levels.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/industriall-raises-labour-matters-at-glencore ...

The project Bargaining for Productivity aims to shed light on the reasons behind labour productivity slowdown or weak growth in 6 EU countries. It analyses public policies on labour productivity and their (in)effectiveness and focuses on the potential and effective implication of collective bargaining on labour productivity and the sharing of best practice. A special edition of the ADAPT International Bulletin presents initial findings of national case studies presented at a conference held at the University of Greenwich.
English: http://adapt.it/english_bulletin_nuovo/adapt-special-bulletin-issue-no-12017-2/

In the union paper of trade union 3F an article is dedicated to the conflict between IKEA and the transport trade unions. In an upcoming trial at Copenhagen City Court a Romanian haulier employed by BRING Trucking has demanded to be paid a Danish salary and payment in arrears amounting to DKK 1.8 million. The haulage supplier risks the annulment of its contract with IKEA. The 3F Transport section underlines that this is a case of serious underpayment of salary and a breach of EU regulations.
English: https://www.fagbladet3f.dk/artikel/ikea-supplier-risks-getting-fired
The case (in Danish): https://www.fagbladet3f.dk/artikel/ikea-chauffoer-fik-rumaensk ...

The statistical office announced that average wages rose 4.1 percent in April 2017, compared to a year ago. The average monthly salary reached the level of PLN 4,449 (1,053 euro). Meanwhile, employment in companies increased 4.6 percent year on year. The registered unemployment rate ended at the level of 7.7%, the lowest level in more than 25 years.
English: http://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/labour-market/working-employed-wages-and-salaries ...
http://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/labour-market/registered-unemployment/unemployment-rate …

This year, household debt is set to be higher than ever before. TUC analysis finds that unsecured debt per household is set to reach £13,900 in 2017. In 2016, unsecured debt per household was already £13,200 – higher than at any other point since the financial crisis and only marginally below the peak of £13,300 in 2007. The expectations are that by 2020, it will exceed £15,000. Alongside the rise in debt and the use of credit, real wages are falling. Workers are still, on average, being paid £20 per week less than before the financial crisis a decade ago. The latest figures from the statistical office show that real wages recovered slightly between mid-2014 and early 2016, before stagnating and then beginning to fall again.
English: http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2017/05/real-wages-fall-household-debt-record-highs/