One of the long and ongoing disputes at Amazon has led to a court case; the judges at the Kassel court have limited the company’s possibilities to work on Sundays. Trade union Ver.di worked in its campaign successfully together with church organisations as part of the ‘Free Sunday Alliance’ (which campaigns for a work-free Sunday and decent working hours). The court said that the permission given by the authorities in Kassel to work in the post-Christmas period of 2014 had been unconstitutional. There was, at the time, no legal underpinning for the given permission that can only be handed out in ‘extraordinary situations’.
German: http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/wirtschaft/international ...
English (background information): http://de.rosalux.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications ...
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A Danske Bank's chief economist stated that the country is too much relying on lower value-added production, trade and transport, but this model will not work for long. A quality education system has to be a key element of the necessary transformation. An IMF-mission came with a similar message; the country has to reform its education system, to merge institutions and create more flexible programs, in order to catch up with Western Europe.
English: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/education ...
Trade union Unia has immediately reacted as the chemical group Novartis announced a planned reduction with 500 jobs of a segment of the workforce and the recruitment of 350 high-skilled workers. The union said that it wants job security for the workforce and the guarantee that the company will not move out of the country. It also claims that job cuts cannot be justified, given the extraordinary profits of the group. The new recruitment should be solved through training and retraining of the existing workforce. Discussions between Novartis and the unions have started. Novartis said it would offer full support to all affected employees, from help looking for a new job to early retirement packages.
English: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/pharma_novartis-to-shed-500-jobs-in-basel ...
German: http://www.unia.ch/de/aktuell/aktuell/artikel/a/13752/
Hospitals, transport services and government offices have been severely affected by a general strike over new austerity measures. Thousands of people stopped work on 17 May 2017 and marched through Athens to demonstrate over new measures that will cut pensions and end tax breaks. The new cuts are being demanded by international lenders. A large number of professions, including teachers, civil servants, transport staff, journalists and doctors, were involved in the strike, organised by the biggest trade unions, the GSEE and ADEDY. The seamen’s union extended their strike for four days, starting on 17 May 2017.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe ...
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2017/05/17/greek-seamens-union-announce-extension ...
The High Administrative Court has annulled the government’s decree that set minimum wage at 460 BGN for 2017. The case had been initiated on complaint from employer associations: Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, BCCI, and Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria. They claimed that the decision was taken without a preliminary discussion with them as required by law. BCCI said that given the importance of the minimum wage for both the employers and the workers, its establishment by the government with agreement only with trade unions is against the national and European rules and is not in the interest of the constructive partnership.
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles/180398/High+Administrative+Court+Revokes …
The education trade union Gymnasieskolernes Laererforening strongly condemns and is mobilising against the financial cuts imposed on the public education sector. The government plans to cut its education budget by 2% each year over the next four years, with cuts having started in 2016. Last year, the reductions resulted in major layoffs, with teacher numbers down 1,000 out of a total of 14,000. In April 2017, the GL started its campaign of opposition to these measures, with additional campaigns planned for September and October. These will be timed just before the start of Parliament negotiations for the coming fiscal year in November.
English: https://ei-ie.org/en/detail/15052/denmark-union-campaign-against-continuing-cuts ...
Statistics Sweden’s Statistical Report presented data on the labour market situation for the population aged 15–74. The report shows that the number of employed persons increased by 113 000 to 4 924 000 in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. At the same time, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number and percentage of employed persons continue to increase compared with adjacent quarters.
English: http://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/statistics-by-subject-area/labour-market ...
The report (Swedish with graphs also in English): http://www.scb.se/contentassets ...
According to a report published by Social Watch, women are twice as likely to be poor as Czech men. Single mothers are among those most likely to be living in poverty, along with female migrants and women over the age of 65. Women are solely responsible for 87% of the estimated 180,000 single-parent families. On top of that, single mothers are more likely to be in low-paid work, and twice as likely to be unemployed than the national average. In addition, a study by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) showed that wages were on average 8.3% lower than in Germany in 1993; by 2015 that disparity stood at 30.9% lower, despite increasing levels of productivity. The trade union confederation Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS) and affiliated trade unions have been leading an intensive campaign against cheap labour, which includes efforts to reduce and eliminate the gender pay gap.
English: https://www.equaltimes.org/the-battle-for-gender-equality ...
The social Watch report (also available in Czech): http://www.socialwatch.org …
The retail sector trade unions are confronted with a restructuring in the Blokker group. Blokker announced the closure of 100 branches in the coming year. Sister company Marskramer will close another 100. A total of 1,900 jobs will disappear at Blokker, Marskramer and at parent company Blokker Holding. About 400 stores will remain after this restructuring. The company plans to sell the branches, maintaining the employment of some 13,500 workers. Blokker agreed to a social plan with the unions. The Central Work Councils of the individual companies will be consulted on the announced measures.
English: http://nltimes.nl/2017/05/16/blokker-slash-2000-jobs-close-hundreds-shops ...
Workers at a glass company in Paracin, facing bankruptcy due to debts of around 50 million euros, are appealing to the government to help - and perhaps buy the firm. The trade union at the factory has been informed about a pre-bankruptcy procedure. The plant was sold in 2012 to Bulgarian businessman Tsvetan Vasilev whose extradition is sought by the Bulgarian authorities after his bank CCB collapsed in 2014.
English: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/vasilev-s-serbian-company-facing-bankruptcy ...