Collective Bargaining

The average salary in the first half of 2015, according to a fresh survey by the internet portal Platy.sk, was 929 euro a month, with Bratislava topping the list of best paid jobs. In the region of Bratislava, the average salary comes to 1,280 euro, while the lowest average salary can be found in the Presov region, at 808 euro. The survey pointed to the existing pay gap between men and women, with men making an average of 27% more than their female counterparts. The top paid jobs are in management and higher qualified jobs, while the services industry laments the lowest paid jobs, with the hotel, tourism and catering sectors coming out worst.
English: http://www.thedaily.sk/men-make-27-more-than-women-national-average-salary .

Employees of Corinthia St George's Bay Hotel, Marina Hotel and Corinthia Palace Hotel will see an improvement in pay, allowances and other benefits following the signing of a collective agreement between the Corinthia Group and the General Workers Union. The agreement is valid for three years and is retroactive from January 2015.
English: http://www.independent.com.mt/articles ...

The public sector unions (including the education and cultural sectors) will demand a hike in public sector wages of more than 10 percent in 2017 to reflect strong economic growth. Wages have started to recover as the economy grew by estimated more than 4.5 percent in 2014, the labour market tightened and the public sector deficit dropped. The demand for 2017 will be significantly above what has been negotiated for 2016. The education ministry announced that it will back up such a demand for its part of the public sector and called the increase large but legitimate given the level of teachers' pay and the difficulty in finding qualified and motivated staff.
English: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3442652/Czech-unions-demand .
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/unions-call-for-10-percent-pay-rise .
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/education-minister-voices-support-for-10-percent .

The government reached an agreement with the trade unions and employer representatives aimed to get refugees more quickly into the workforce. The aim of the 21-point plan is to `increase employment focus' in local municipalities' efforts to integrate refugees. The plan includes calls for better screening of refugees' competencies, tying refugees' housing opportunities to employment, and a `clear requirement that they need to work and provide for themselves and their families'.
English: http://www.thelocal.dk/20160226/denmark-to-refugees-work-first-learn-danish-later

Teaching unions have jointly rejected a pay offer from Northern Ireland's Department of Education (DE), describing it as an `insult'. The Northern Ireland Teachers Council (NITC), which represents the five teaching unions, said teachers were offered a 1% pay rise in 2016/17. They called the offer `derisory' and claim it is a pay cut in real terms. A meeting between union representatives and DE officials broke up without agreement.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland .

The company Luas drivers have engaged in a series of strikes (see the January Newsletter). The dispute at Luas centres on demands for improved terms and conditions. Luas workers are seeking increases of between 8 and 53% as well as improvements in employment conditions. The prospect of further strikes has increased following the collapse of planned conciliation talks between management and staff representatives. The Workplace Relations Commission said that it had decided that the planned talks would not go ahead as a row over toilet breaks by drivers, which the company considers to be unofficial industrial action, continues.
English: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/collapse-of-planned-luas-talks .

Latest data compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) show that in 2015 average monthly gross wages and salaries in the country reached 818 euro. Average gross wages and salaries rose by 6.8% or by 52 euro, retaining the increase rate recorded in 2014.The registered unemployment level increased by 0.4% in January 2016 to 9.1% of the economically active population compared to December 2015, according to the State Employment Agency (NVA). Registered unemployment was at 8.7% in December 2015, at 8.4% in November 2015, at 8.3% in October and September 2015, at 8.5% in August 2015 and at 8.6% for the preceding three months. At the beginning of January 2016, 81,780 people were registered with the State Employment Agency as unemployed compared to 85,452 registered jobless at the end of January. Among the regions, Riga had the lowest unemployment level in late January 2016 at 5.6%, while the eastern Latgale province had the highest rate at 19.1%.
English: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/analytics .
http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Editorial/Daily-News/Latvia-Jobless-rate-continues .

The trade union confederation TUC published a report that sets out which workers' rights in the UK are underpinned by EU rules - and would therefore be at risk if the UK votes to leave the EU. The report UK Employment Rights and the EU provides a comprehensive assessment of the employment rights that derive from the UK's membership of the European Union. And it considers the threat to these rights in the case of the UK voting to leave the EU. These rights, which include paid annual leave, time off for antenatal appointments and fair treatment for part-time workers, are used every day by millions of workers. But if the UK votes to leave the EU, no-one can say what will happen to these rights.
English: https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default .

The outline for a local bargaining model is under intense negotiation between the social partners. Promoting local bargaining is one of the key points of the government program. It would mean more flexibility at the working place level to change the terms and conditions of employment and how to organise work at the company level. Many collective agreements allow for a degree of local bargaining. Both trade unions and employers do speak out in favour of more local bargaining, but they do not necessarily mean the same thing.
English: http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/975-rules-on-local .

Average gross monthly earnings, excluding sole proprietorships, rose by 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with a year earlier to reach 756.9 euro. Real wages increased by 2.1% over the quarter and by 6% over the year. Men's gross wages exceeded women's wages by 125.2 euro in the fourth quarter of 2015. In October through December, women's average gross wages, excluding sole proprietorships, accounted for 84.7 percent of men's average gross wages. As regards average net wages, women earned 85.7 percent of the amount earned by men.
English: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/analytics .