The `national living wage' falls short of providing a decent standard of income to low-paid staff because of rising rents and slowing wages growth. After a six-month review, the Living Wage Commission said it had assessed the `best available evidence on living standards' and concluded that the £7.20 an hour national living wage for the over 25s, introduced in April 2016, was failing to provide the basic needs of low-paid households. The commission said the fall in take-home pay across the country after the 2008 banking collapse, and slow wages growth in the past eight years, had left millions of workers struggling to make ends meet. Wages need to increase at a faster rate than rising rents, petrol prices and heating bills to continue closing the gap with higher-paid workers, the commission said.
English: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/21/national-living-wage .
Report: http://www.livingwage.org.uk/sites/default .
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Trade union CGT has called for an action day on 21 September 2016 against the privatisation of power grid operator RTE. The CGT opposes this first step towards the privatization of the electricity grid which might lead to the degradation of user service by means of tariff increase and reduction of the maintenance network. The union is of the opinion that this could lead to the undermining of social benefits.
English: http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/london/french-union-cgt .
A conducted survey revealed that citizens would like their monthly income to be at least 1,216 euro. This is the highest average sum so far named in similar surveys, beating the earlier highest sum of 1,146 euro registered in 2008. In another survey, 57% of young people expressed that a monthly salary of at least 800 euro is adequate for their knowledge and skill level. Of the young persons surveyed, 36% of them received a monthly salary of between 501 to 800 per months, 19% received a monthly salary of over 800 euro, 29% had a monthly salary between 301 and 500 euro per month, while 16% earned less than 300 euro per month.
English: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/finances .
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/finances .
The average monthly wage increased by an annual 5.1 percent to 256,900 forints (835 euro) in July 2016, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported in September 2016. Wage growth slowed for the third month in a row after peaking this year at 6.5 percent in March and April. Net wages rose at a faster clip during the period, climbing 6.7 percent to 170,800 forints (578 euro) on the back of a one percentage point reduction in the personal income tax rate. In January-July 2016, gross wages grew by an annual 5.9 percent. KSH attributed the increase to a 5.7 percent rise in the minimum wages for skilled and unskilled workers, higher stipends for the armed forces and a salary top-up for workers in social services.
English: http://dailynewshungary.com/hungarys-gross-wage-growth-continues-slow-july/
The management of Caterpillar has announced at a works council meeting that it will close its headquarters at Gosselies, Charleroi, in April 2017, and make all 2,200 workers redundant. A number of IndustriALL Global Union affiliates from the Caterpillar network (FGTB/ABVV-Metal and Centrale Nationale des Employés-CNE, ACV-CSC METEA, Fédération des Métallurgistes FGTB Hainaut-Namur and SETCA-BBTK - Syndicat des Employés, Techniciens et Cadres de Belgique) are meeting to determine a joint response. In a press release, Caterpillar announced that production will shift to Grenoble, France, and to other sites outside Europe. Caterpillar made the decision to reduce headcount to boost profit, and plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide by 2018. The company has already cut 30,000 jobs since 2012.
English: https://www.socialeurope.eu/2016/09/caterpillar-opportunity-rethink .
http://www.industriall-union.org/caterpillar-plant-closure-threatens-2200-belgian-jobs
Dossier (French): http://live.lesoir.be/Event/Conseil_dentreprise_extraordinaire .
Mediations between trade union Akademikerne and employer association Spekter broke down shortly after a deadline. As a result, 194 union members, including 100 doctors, walked off the job at hospitals in Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Finnmark. Around 100 of the striking workers are doctors. The work stoppage intensified when an additional 498 hospital workers joined the strike. Trade union Akademikerne has said that another 35 doctors and psychologists will join the protests. That will bring the total number of striking workers to 533. The heart of conflict has to do with working hours. The union qualifies the working time arrangements are irresponsible - both for the workers and for patient safety.
English: https://www.thelocal.no/20160919/ongoing-norway-doctors-strike-intensifies
Musicians of the Filarmonica de Gran Canarias voted in favour of strike on 16 September 2016. The vote was overwhelming: 68-14. The cultural council, Consejero de Cultura, has said the orchestra might be shut down. Although the strike is not backed by the trade union FSC-CCOO, the union has asked from the government a `sensible solution' to the strike and to avoid the closure of the Foundation.
English: http://www.pizzicato.lu/musicians-of-filarmonica-de-gran-canaria-on-strike/
The long debated labour reform passed the parliament, overruling the veto of the country's president. The reform foresees longer working hours and fewer vacation days for employees as well as shorter notice periods. Employers have called the criticism of the new laws that are to come into effect in 2017 completely disproportionate. Workers and their unions, as well as many young workers have been protesting the changes and claim that the legislation will not improve the situation of workers and young people. They see the changes all as more flexibility for the employer and less security and weaker protection for workers. The most critical stand comes from an article that has been published in `open access' on the website of the journal Critical Discourse Studies.
English: http://pramprof.lt/en/index.php/news1/9-epsu-lithuanian-government-promoted .
https://www.eurotopics.net/en/166259/is-lithuania-s-labour-market-reform-too-unsocial
Article (Critical Discourse Studies): http://charleswoolfson.com/lithuania_labour_code.pdf
The three-year budget forecast envisages a gradual increase of the minimum monthly wage to BGN 460 (235 euro) during 2017. The government wants to take into account several parameters when calculating by how much the minimum monthly wage can be increased. However, there is no mechanism for this approved by neither employers, nor trade unions. Therefore, the state is moving forward in an administrative manner, in accordance with the stipulations of the Labour Code.
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles/176320/Minimum+Monthly+Wage .
Second-level teachers belonging to the Teachers Union of Ireland are due to receive the first restoration of supervision and substitution payments worth €800 on 13 October. However, members of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland will not receive the payment because they have rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news .