Collective Bargaining

Seasonally non-adjusted data of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) show that, compared to the 4th quarter of 2015, in the 4th quarter of 2016 hourly labour costs rose by 51 cents or 7.3%, reaching 7.46 euros. Seasonally adjusted data, in turn, show that labour costs increased by 7.8%. In the 4th quarter of 2016, the highest hourly labour costs were observed in financial and insurance activities (15.35 euros), information and communication (11.90 euros), energy sector (10.74 euros), public administration and defence (9.58 euros), and mining and quarrying (9.44 euros). The lowest hourly labour costs were recorded in accommodation and food service activities (4.98 euros), arts, entertainment and recreation (6.05 euros), other service activities and education (6.18 euros), as well as real estate activities (6.43 euros).
English: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/analytics ...

According to a report, published by the trade union confederation GSEE, the country is characterised by a two-speed labour market. Employees in the wider public sector enjoy, on average, higher wages and salaries than their counterparts in the private sector. According to the study, the labour market also shows over the crisis years the dominance of company-wide agreement instead of the previously dominant sector-wide collective agreements achieved through mandatory collective bargaining. Additionally, the expansion of part-time employment is also noteworthy. Additionally, according to the study, only 10 sector level collective agreements were signed in 2016.
English: http://www.tornosnews.gr/en/greek-news/economy/23913-public-sector-employees ...

For over two years, trade unions affiliated to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), have been talking to the multinational retailer, Ikea, about their concerns over the company’s supply chain; specifically, about the exploitation of workers in European transport companies subcontracted to deliver goods for Ikea. Ikea has consistently refused trade union offers to work together to find a solution and has clearly refused to take responsibility for the gross exploitation of its delivery drivers. The BBC interviewed drivers from Eastern European countries who are paid €3 an hour while working in affluent nations like Denmark and Germany.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39196056

The statistical office released household income data for 2016. The data include figures about regular salaries and wages, pensions, social benefits and other income. Also covered are the regional differences in the country. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the available monthly income in money and in kind, per household amounted to 60639 RSD (490 euro) and showed an increase of 4.1% in nominal terms, relative to the same quarter 2015, and increase of 1.0% relative to the third quarter 2016, in nominal terms. The largest share of income in money and in kind refers to the salaries and wages of the employed (49.0%), pensions (31.7%), income from agriculture, hunting and fishing (5.6%), natural consumption (4.3%), other social insurance receipts (2.5%), other income (2.4%) and other receipts (2.2%).
English: http://www.stat.gov.rs/WebSite/repository/documents ...

The EPSCO Council adopted the 2017 Joint Employment Report (JER). The Joint Employment Report takes a snapshot of the employment and social situation across the EU, and highlights the extent of reforms carried out in the Member States over 2016. The Scoreboard allows for the early detection of key employment and social problems and for the assessment of convergence or divergence patterns across countries. Five Member States (Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Italy) face a number of critical employment and social challenges, even though Cyprus, Portugal and Spain have seen significant improvements in recent years. Five other Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania) are flagged more than once for having ‘critical situations’, with varying degrees of severity in terms of their challenges. Some Member States (Austria, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, France, Belgium, Ireland and Poland) face more specific challenges, usually in only one of the considered employment or social domains.
English: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc …

The General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (CGSLB) published data, which reveal that workers lost 0.94% of their purchasing power in 2016. The country appears to be the only country in Europe, in which workers were able to buy less with their pay (e.g. German and Dutch wages rose respectively by 1.6% and 2.2%). The Michel government had decided on an increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) which prevented the increase in wages and salaries adapting to the cost of living, according to the CGSLB.
English: http://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/7746/belgian-workers-lose-nearly-1 ...

Paint maker AkzoNobel NV is exploring a sale or merger with a peer, and is in talks with several companies. The trade unions had announced strikes in case the management would consider serious reductions in the provisions of the existing social plan. The unions and the AkzoNobel management came to an agreement to continue with the current social plan. The watering down of different provisions has been cancelled in the deal. Earlier this month, workers’ representatives and trade unions had built a coalition with the management against a non-friendly takeover effort by US competitor PPG.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/03/akzonobel-prepares ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-akzonobel ...
Dutch: https://www.eemskrant.nl/fnv-tevreden-over-akkoord-sociaal-plan-akzonobel/

Workers are still not feeling economic recovery: wages are lower now than they were eight years ago in seven EU member states, according to research published today by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The research also shows that in 18 EU countries wages have grown much slower over the seven years after the crisis than in the eight years before that. In the 7 years 2009-2016 real wages (adjusted for inflation) have fallen every year by an average of 3.1 % in Greece; 1 % in Croatia; 0.9 % in Hungary; 0.7 % in Portugal; 0.6 % in Cyprus; 0.4 % in UK, and 0.3 % in Italy. The findings are contained in ‘Benchmarking Working Europe 2017’ published by the ETUI and ETUC.
English: https://www.etuc.org/press/workers-7-eu-countries-worse-today-8-years-ago ...
The report: http://www.etui.org/Publications2/Books/Benchmarking-Working-Europe-2017

The federation of independent trade unions commented the outcome of the wage data research published by the ETUC/ETUI (see elsewhere in this Newsletter). Although the country’s GDP is growing substantially faster than in recent years, workers still have lower wages than 8 years ago. According to the union, it is high time that workers receive higher wages. An increasing share of workers is trapped in jobs with atypical contracts and low income. They are at risk of poverty even though they are employed.
English: https://www.total-croatia-news.com/business/17431-despite-gdp-growth ...

A group of academics wrote to the Guardian seven years ago, protesting at British Airways’ imposition of lesser pay and conditions for its cabin crew, and the apparent desire of its management to break their union. In a new open letter, they criticise the management that, in an amplified reprise of the events, is refusing to negotiate with Unite, having threatened to remove bonuses for 2016 and 2017 and banned staff travel concessions, while the crew have been compelled to take strike action, amounting to as many as 26 days.
English: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/13/to-fly-to-starve ...