The Labour Court organised hearing claims by staff at Dublin Bus for pay increases of up to 31%. The hearing followed on from the recent award of 18% over four years to Luas drivers (see Background). The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) signalled that there is a significant gap between the pay of drivers at the State-owned Dublin Bus and tram drivers working for Luas operator Transdev. The NBRU wants the court to close that gap. The court has heard claims from the trade unions TSSA, NBRU and Siptu for all 3,300 staff at Dublin Bus, not just drivers. The highest claim of 31% has been made in relation to drivers by the NBRU in a bid to achieve pay parity with Luas drivers. An 8.25% pay rise recommendation was later on rejected and all three unions will ballot on industrial action.
English: http://www.herald.ie/news/more-travel-chaos-as-dublin-bus-workers-plan .
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/dublin-bus-faces-disruption .
Background on the Luas dispute: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/luas-strike .
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Members of a categorical union VVMC, representing workers at train transporters Arriva and Syntus, were striking for several hours in Groningen. About 30 trains were cancelled due to the strike. The train workers acted for a better collective bargaining agreement as the management in no way wanted to meet VVMC.
English: http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/08/30/30-trains-cancelled-arriva-groningen-strike/
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has published a draft bill in relation to the basic income pilot project. A pilot scheme is selecting 2,000 unemployed to receive a basic income of 560 euro a month. The pilot is due to get off the ground in January 2017. The monthly 560 euros is tax-free and paid by the Social Insurance Institution. Participation in the pilot is obligatory in order not to distort the results. The goal of the pilot is to encourage unemployed people to take a job. For this reason, the pilot works with a control group from unemployed people without a basic income.
English: http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/1083-basic-income .
The latest employment numbers show a drop in the self-employed while payroll workers remained stable. The labour minister said that the outlook remains positive in both the medium and the long term, with 157,000 new jobs in May-July, and 266,000 new jobs created on a yearly basis. Of these, 244,000 were stable jobs with permanent contracts. During the period January-July 2016 the hourly wage index increased by 0.6% and the per employee index rose by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2015.
English: http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2016/08/31 .
http://www.istat.it/en/archive .
The risk of income poverty remained stable in 2015 at around 15%. This is reported by the FPS Economy based on a survey on incomes and living standards (by EU-SILC that provides related statistics). The survey was conducted amongst 6,000 households. More than one in five Belgians is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This includes those living alone with a monthly disposable income of less than 1,083 euros. It also covers households comprising two adults and two children, whose income does not exceed 2,274 euros. The categories most vulnerable to the risk of poverty are members of single parent families and the unemployed. Moreover, 6% of the population were enduring serious material deprivation and 15% of individuals under 60 were living in a household with low work volumes of work. The annual Brussels Welfare barometer 2015 reveals large regional differences. Almost one third of the Brussels population (31%) has to make ends meet below the poverty threshold, whilst the percentage in Wallonia comes at 18 % and in Flanders at 11%.
English: http://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/employment .
The FPS report (Dutch): http://economie.fgov.be/nl/binaries/analyse .
Welfare barometer 2015 (French): http://www.observatbru.be/documents/graphics .
Welfare barometer 2015 (Dutch): http://www.observatbru.be/documents/graphics .
The government met with unionists and employers' organisations for talks on the consequences of Brexit and on working out new relations between the EU and UK. The meeting fits in a series of consultations involving the government and social partners with the aim to put forward proposals in the negotiations that are the most beneficial and safeguard the interests of workers and citizens who live outside Poland.
English: http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/268583,PM-in-talks-with-unions-employers .
KLM ground crew had planned strikes in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions. The company has rejected a trade union ultimatum. The ground workers are campaigning for a 1% pay rise, more fixed contracts for temporary workers and no cutbacks to holidays and the number of so-called `senior days' for people over 50. The dispute affects some 14,500 workers. However, in an appeal filed by union FNV, the Amsterdam court ruled that the ground crew is not allowed to strike at Schiphol airport until 5 September.
English: http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/08/26/court-upholds-strike-ban-klm-ground-crew/
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/08/schiphol-may-face-strike-action-tonight/
http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/08/03/klm-ground-crew-strike-wednesday-evening/
A strike on overtime by disgruntled security workers employed by companies Prosegur and Securitas at the airports began and is expected to last until the end of the year. According to the head of the airport workers' trade union, Sitava, the overtime ban may have an impact on security as overtime work requirements are constant. According to Sitava, the workers will refuse to work overtime until 31 December 2016.
English: http://theportugalnews.com/news/airport-workers-overtime-ban-may-affect .
According to preliminary data of Statistics Finland, the nominal earnings of wage and salary earners rose in the private sector by 1.3%, in the central government sector by 2.0% and in the local government sector by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter of 2016 compared to the respective period in 2015. Real earnings increased by 0.9% compared to the 2nd quarter of 2015. Wage and salary earners' regular earnings refer to earnings for regular working hours exclusive of performance-based bonuses and other irregularly paid one-off items. Accompanying tables provide data on earnings by sector and industries, occupations and gender.
English: http://www.stat.fi/til .
Trade union Handel og Kontor is taking the national supply of alcohol hostage in ongoing negotiations concerning pension plans. Employees of the state-owned alcohol monopoly, Vinmonopolet, will go on strike unless the union's demands are met, effectively forcing the country into sobriety. The union is demanding an agreement that gives it influence over potential future reforms so that it can prevent worsening conditions.
English: http://nordic.businessinsider.com/strike-threatens-to-block .