The observatory Réseau Emplois Compétences published a report on the position of seasonal workers. With short-term temporary contracts, seasonal workers are faced with even more difficulties than other workers, especially in terms of job security. In some sectors, provisions to improve the situation of seasonal workers do exist, notably to improve their working conditions and living conditions (including access to housing), ensure access to training, etc. Certain forms of seasonal work are limited or regulated by collective agreements (Table 1, page 12). The development of such provisions requires in-depth knowledge of seasonal workers and the companies and branches that employ them. Currently, no study, no administrative or statistical device is available with exact figures on how many people are involved in seasonal work.
French (with a link to graphs): http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/publications/lemploi-saisonnier .
The report (in French): http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms .
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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the country's second-biggest bank, is weighing a fresh round of job cuts across the company to lower costs. The bank may eliminate 2,000 positions or more. The cuts would mostly affect branches and the lender's central services unit, as well as the investment banking business, though a final decision has not been made. So far no negotiations were concluded with the unions.
English: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-22/bbva-said-to-weigh .
Thousands of jobs could be lost after Ericsson announced plans for a major austerity package to combat weak sales. In the pursuit of increasing profitability Ericsson will double its efficiency measures. That will mean thousands more layoffs across the group. In the second quarter alone, 3800 positions have already been cut. Trade unions have predicted four digit reductions in personnel in Sweden alone. They criticise the way the management has responded to poor sales and argue that excessive short-term cost cutting will work against the development of the kind of products that the company could profit from in the future.
English: http://www.thelocal.se/20160720/thousands-of-job-losses-feared .
Employer associations and trade unions reached a minimum level of agreement on the upcoming changes in labour laws. In the presence of the labour minister, they chose to put disagreements and objections aside so that the government has a negotiating tool at hand at the time of negotiations with creditors. Despite the overall agreement, issues such as mass layoffs, extension of collective agreements and the priority of sector agreements over company level bargaining, were not discussed in detail. The joint declaration of associations and unions was limited to the ratification of meetings held under the auspices of the International Labour Organization (ILO); a verbal agreement that minimum wage will not be reduced; and the Christmas, Easter and summer holiday bonuses will remain intact. It is also stressed that the social partners (employers and employees) should agree the minimum wage in the context of the National General Collective Agreement and that union legislation needs to be modernised, though without challenging the workers' right to strike.
English: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/07/20/employers-and-employee-unions-agree .
Subcontractors, at Bakki, near Húsavík Northeast Iceland, where a silicon factory is being constructed, have violated Icelandic law and salary contracts, according to the representatives of the union Framsyn. Some workers have received only ISK 150,000 (1,100 euro) a month for 120-130 percent work. According to the union's calculations, the men should have earned ISK 400,000 (2,960 euro). The trade union met with the police to discuss this and other matters regarding alleged infringements of the labour law and the collective wage agreements. According to union, the majority of cases involve foreign workers.
English: http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/politics_and_society .
An ILO-study, based on empirical analysis, concludes that there is no evidence at the cross-country macro-level to support the claim that implementation of labour provisions leads to a reduction or diversion of trade flows. Results show that, on average, trade agreements that contain labour provisions impact positively on labour force participation rates, bringing larger proportions of male and female working-age populations into the labour force and, particularly, increasing the female labour force. Besides and importantly, the study suggests that, for labour provisions to be effective they need to involve stakeholders, notably social partners.
English: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news .
The report (also available in Spanish and French): http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public .
Deutsche Bank is set to shut over a quarter of its branches across the country as the company goes through a major restructuring process. The closures are set to take place over the next few months with 188 of the bank's 723 branches nationwide due to close their doors. The future of the involved workers is unclear.
English: http://www.thelocal.de/20160718/deutsche-bank-to-close-almost-200-branches
German: http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article157119880/Diese-188-Filialen-schliesst .
According to the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), published every four years, men receive on average a substantial higher wage than female employees do. The purpose of the SES is to provide detailed and comparable information on the level of remuneration, individual characteristics of employees (sex, age, occupation, length of service, highest educational level attained, etc.) and their employer (economic activity, size, etc.). The survey shows that the mean hourly earnings of employees in 2014 were €10.46 for full-time and €7.06 for part-time workers. Full-time male employees received on average €11.06 while female employees received €9.78. The corresponding figures for part-time employees were €7.28 for males and €6.94 for females. Based on the hourly earnings of all employees, for the total of the economic activities and occupations covered by the survey, the gender pay gap as a percentage of the earnings of males was 12.7%.
English: http://www.pio.gov.cy/moi/pio .
Trade unions oppose the strategy of steelmaker U.S. Steel Kosice reducing on a monthly basis its labour force (see our June newsletter). Trade unionists disagree with the company's intention to cancel 28 to 29 jobs each month, finding it to be a circumvention of the Labour Code's provision on mass layoffs. The local labour office has to be notified of a mass layoff, which means 30 employees, and the 28 or 29 layoffs a month regime started in April. Meanwhile, the employer is avoiding a commitment agreed upon by the social partners (the so-called tripartite of labour, business and government) in the valid collective agreement, since it pledged itself not to apply the Labour Code's provision on the mass layoff during its validity.
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20215949/u-s-steel-trade-unions-disagree .
Union leaders are outraged at plans to give senior civil servants significant pay rises - in some cases as high as 48%. The National Remuneration Board has agreed to double-figure percentage pay rises for heads of government agencies and committee chairpersons - on top of the 7.15% rise they already receive as of 1 June. Most of the pay rises in question will also be backdated to 1 December 2014. The Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB) said the decision is out of step with the rises given to others on the labour market; the argument that increased work pressure justifies such big increases applies to all workers, not just senior officials. BSRB stated that the pay rise for already well-paid people increases inequality in society.
English: http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/politics_and_society .