Collective Bargaining

Around 9,000 employers and more than 15 million employees – almost half of the country’s workforce – will be covered by a new regulation on gender pay gap reporting. The regulation requires organisations to publish their median gender pay gap, their mean gender pay gap, the proportion of men and women in each quartile of their pay structure, and gender differences in any bonus pay-outs. The current pay gap is 18.1%. In 2016, the Fawcett Society reported that if the gap continues to narrow at its current rate, parity will not be seen for another 60 years.
English: http://www.equalpayportal.co.uk/gender-pay-gap-reporting/
https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/2016/02/gender-pay-gap-regulations/

Talks between the management of luxury house Louis Vuitton and workers at its ateliers across the country were extended a day after the company’s employees staged a walkout for the first time in 15 years to demand wage increases. Shortly before a deadline that had been imposed by Louis Vuitton, both sides agreed to prolong the negotiations.
English: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/fashion/louis-vuitton-strike-france ...
http://wwd.com/accessories-news/leather-goods/louis-vuitton-leather-workers ...

A wave of workers' strikes for higher salaries has reached the country. Bus drivers in three regions went on strike on 6 April 2017. The week before, employees of the Skoda Auto car maker went on strike. The trade unions of the Mitas tyre producer announced that they would stop working on 11 April 2017. Shortly before Christmas, a part of the employees of the Ceska posta state-run postal services company went on strike. The leader of the Kovo metallurgic union association, said even more protests may come due to the company’s unwillingness to raise the pay although they are faring well. Notwithstanding the increase of strikes, trade union confederation CMKOS prefers to go for an agreement with the firms rather than go on strike.
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2017/04/06/hn-czech-workers ...

The signing of a collective agreement ended a conflict between the miners at the Obrochishte manganese mine in North-eastern Bulgaria and the mine's owner. The signing of the agreement was announced by the national ombudsman who has been actively involved in the efforts to resolve a dispute between the miners and their employer. The miners have been in a cycle of strikes for a month, protesting over unpaid wages. They also demanded a pay rise and a new collective agreement to address their grievances.
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles ...

Minister of Labour Anniken Hauglie said in an interview that she wants to change working hour regulations and strengthening legislation protecting whistle-blowers. Together with the social partners she wants to draw clearer lines for what staffing agencies can and cannot do, strengthen workers against work related crime. She invites Nordic colleagues to discuss what the sharing economy and new trends will do to the future of work.
English: http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/artikler/portrett/portrait-2017 ...

In a blog the effects of the IMF-policy are described. Since the introduction of a series of legislative reforms between 2010 to 2012, to satisfy the ‘troika’ of lenders coordinating its bailout programme, free collective bargaining – the negotiation of wages between employers and employees – has been all but abolished. Of an original 18 industry level collective agreements, just 3 remain. Cynically enough, the IMF has described the almost extinct dialogue between employers’ associations and trade unions as EU ‘best practice’.
English: http://www.ips-journal.eu/regions/europe/article ...

The statistical office produces every year an overview of data and figures. In the 2017 edition one section is dedicated to labour market developments, another to income and earnings. Labour market participation is among the highest in Europe. An important reason for this is that women are more frequently part of the labour force. Only Sweden and the Netherlands have a higher activity rate among women. The highest average monthly earnings are accounted for by men engaged in managerial jobs, while the lowest earnings are accounted for by women performing other manual work. Within each occupation group, there are differences between the various tasks performed by men and women, which is one of the reasons why men account for higher average earnings than women.
English: http://www.dst.dk/Site/Dst/Udgivelser ...

The trade unions and the employers’ organisations have agreed on the basic principles of a mobility policy. They vetoed a proposal of the government of a wage increase in exchange for a company car. Their opinion is that a mobility budget has to be spend on mobility first and the unused funds should be taxed. The trade unions fear that otherwise the social security system will suffer. For the government it will be difficult to ignore this unanimous advice.
English: https://gopressmobility.be/2017/04/05/social-partners-veto-cash-cars/

The trade unions and the management of Crédit Agricole have concluded a national framework for the right to be offline. The formulated policy can be applied in the negotiations of local agreements. The deal is based on a guide that was prepared by trade union representatives, entitled ‘the right to be offline in the branches of the Regional Offices of Crédit Agricole’. The guide provides concrete examples of the subjects that have to be treated and the modalities that have to be dealt with in the local agreements.
French: http://www.wk-ce.fr/actualites/detail/99074/la-branche-du-credit-agricole ...
The agreement (in French): http://www.wk-ce.fr/actualites/upload/credit-agricole-accord ...

The European Court of Auditors published a report that examines the progress made by the EU Youth Guarantee in ensuring that under 25’s receive an offer of employment, education, apprenticeship or training within four months of leaving school or becoming unemployed. The results fall short of expectations with regard to of providing a good quality offer to all NEETs (those not in employment, education or training). In the introduction the Auditors state that besides the financial consequences borne directly by young people, long periods of unemployment also have a negative effect in terms of future employability, increased risk of poverty, social exclusion and their role in society as a whole. In addition, there is a risk that talent and skills are not used optimally. The report includes several interesting graphs and figures.
English: http://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages ...
The report (also available in other languages): http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments ...