The turbine producer Vestas has revealed it will be letting go 350 employees at its plant in Lem in west Jutland. The company said that the move was necessary in order to strengthen its ability to compete. The redundancies, making up over a third of the total workforce in Lem, will take place at the end of 2016. Vestas employs around 4,600 people in Denmark – 2,400 of which work in production. On a global scale, the company employs 21,900 people. The news comes shortly after the company revealed strong financial results for the first nine months of 2016.
English: http://cphpost.dk/news/business/vestas-blowing-off-350-jobs-in-jutland.html
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People’s perceived level of influence over their own work situation has plummeted. In seven years the number of people saying they have a lot of influence has fallen from 89% to 77%. Imported leadership models get the blame. The plan is to carry out the collective decision making barometer every year, sometimes supported by independent surveys carried out by the six trade unions which have financed the barometer. The six trade unions represent occupations like medical doctors, researchers, police and oil industry workers. The 2016 survey posed the same questions as the ones used in 2009 for a major survey on the state of the corporate democracy, carried out by the research foundation Fafo. The unions pointed out that the results supported what they had experienced themselves in conversation with their members – that collective decision making is becoming less common. This issue has also been the cause of several labour conflicts in the public sector.
English: http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/in-focus-2016/collective-decision-making …
The report (in Norwegian): https://flt.no/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Medbestemmelses …
The Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation 2016 report warns that the country has a deep social mobility problem which is getting worse for an entire generation of young people. The impact is not just felt by the poorest in society but is also holding back whole tranches of middle- as well as low-income families. The problem is not just social division, but a widening divide between the big cities - London especially - and too many towns and counties that are being left behind economically and hollowed out socially. The report reveals that millions of workers have experienced a 5 percent real terms average fall in wages since 2008 and young workers have seen a 15 percent decline in hourly pay. When rising housing costs are taken into account, the picture looks even worse. The commission recommends the government e.g. to focus on moving people from low pay to living pay and to introduce a legal ban on unpaid internships.
English: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/state-of-the-nation-report-on-social-mobility …
The report: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads …
The Constitutional Committee unanimously supported adding a provision to the bill of amendments to the Aliens Act which would allow businesses to pay less than the average wage to seasonal workers coming from third countries. The Constitutional Committee also unanimously supported amending a bill of amendments to the Aliens Act, the Citizen of the EU Act and the Identity Documents Act, initiated by the government, by adding a clause according to which aliens issued a temporary residence permit for enterprise as big investors would be excluded from the immigration quota.
English: http://news.err.ee …
Trade union Birleşik Metal İş has members at several Schneider factories in Turkey. After organising members at Günsan Elektrik plant, owned by Schneider Electric, the union applied to the ministry of labour for what is called a Majority Certificate in order to form a workplace union. Management’s response when they found out was to unceremoniously sack seven of the workers leading the organising efforts. The anti-union practices are continuing, with management having one-on-one conversations with workers whether they have joined a union or not.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/turkey-fired-for-wanting-to-form-a-union …
Trade union RÚV reports that about 1,000 primary school teachers, who are municipal workers, are currently in negotiations for a pay rise with the cooperation of a state arbitrator. The teachers have been working without a valid contract since last spring. Numerous grade school teachers have already walked off their jobs. As their grievances have been ongoing for months, they are considering to take collective action. Unions are already increasing their strike funds in preparation.
English: https://grapevine.is/news/2016/11/16/labour-news …
In the first of an ongoing series, The new world of work, on the increasingly precarious world of work, the Guardian uncovers the use of ‘contrived’ financial arrangements to slash national insurance bills. An analysis of official figures reveals that more than one in five workers, some 7.1 million people, could lose their jobs at short or no notice. Half of the biggest group – the self-employed – are in low pay and take home less than two-thirds of the median earnings. Two million self-employed people earn below £8 per hour. Another contribution reveals how university teaching, is dominated by zero-hours contracts, temp agencies and other forms of precarious work. Lecturers are increasingly on non-permanent or hourly paid contracts. Another contribution shows that the number of care workers on zero-hours contracts has jumped to one in seven.
English: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/series/the-new-world-of-work
A draft law, to be introduced in January 2017, will improve the protection of whistle-blowers, strengthening the employees’ situation. The ‘Act on special protection against victimisation of workers who are sounding the alarm about serious wrongdoings’ protects any employee, whether he or she works in the private or public sector, when the worker tells the media or the authorities about corruption cases or other serious issues. The worker will then be protected against reprisals like withheld wages, lessened career opportunities or – in the case of temporary workers – reduced chances of having their contract renewed. The idea is that the employee should approach the employer first, and if the employer does not act, the case can be taken to the media or the authorities. The chief legal advisor at the trade union confederation of professional employees (TCO) hopes that the new legislation will make difference in real life.
English: http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/in-focus-2016/collective …
Dockers launched a strike in Gothenburg, Scandinavia's largest port, demanding better wages and working conditions. The dock workers' union announced on Facebook that no agreement had been reached with the management and added that the strike began at 2pm on that date. According to the employers' organisation, around half of all container traffic in Sweden passes through the Gothenburg port, operated by APM Terminals (Maersk Group). Only one third of the container traffic operated during the strike.
English: http://www.thelocal.se/20161115/swedish-dockers-strike-in-scandinavias-largest-port
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/swedish-dockers-strike-in-scandinavias-largest-port/
Prison officers have returned to work after a High Court injunction ordered them to end a 24-hour protest. Up to 10,000 prison officers in England and Wales stopped work over claims of a ‘surge in violence’ in jails. It is illegal for officers to strike, but the POA had directed its members to stop working after talks with the government over health and safety concerns broke down. The Prison Officers Association said it had achieved its aim of securing a meeting with Justice Secretary Liz Truss.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk …