Workers of Budapest Transport Company (BKV) have set up a strike committee and are preparing to strike after not receiving a pay rise for an extended period, and hearing news of the company's plans to carry out additional layoffs. Workers claim that the company is already short staffed, forcing remaining employees to work in a way that may be in violation of internal regulations. The strike committee is planning a `surprise type of strike' to signal their dissatisfaction towards management, who have been informed on several occasions about poor working conditions, but have failed to act. According to trade union EKSZ, the strike could be nation-wide, and it is anticipated that the strike is likely to gain the support of public transport passengers rather than incite anger towards BKV employees.
English: http://bbj.hu/budapest/report-budapest-public-transport-plans-surprise-strike .
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The world's largest sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, has announced a new initiative in which it details the human rights expectations of the companies within its investment portfolio. The move is an important addition to the investment criteria of NBIM, which manages the €791bn Norwegian Government Pension Fund. NBIM invests in over 8000 companies comprising 2% of global work markets. The policy expects companies to adopt practices based on internationally-recognised human rights standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Global Compact. The move is welcomed by UNI Global Union and marks the culmination of a three-year engagement by UNI, Norwegian trade unions and NGOs who contributed to a strategic review of investment policies at NBIM. This pressure culminated with a call for a stronger focus on workers' rights in fund investment activity.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/news/norway-wealth-managers-raise-importance .
Trade union Unia has successfully put pressure on the City of Geneva to take action against wage dumping and to go beyond the requirements of federal law. Situated on the border, Geneva is particularly vulnerable to wage dumping, and the pressure is aggravated by the city's high rate of unemployment. The new regulation introduces strict subcontracting rules. The main enterprise will be responsible for the wage and social insurance payments of all subcontractors. The latter will themselves not be allowed to subcontract and there will be tough penalties for fraudsters. A social fund is established to pay the wages of aggrieved workers should those wages no longer be guaranteed by the principal company.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default .
A two-day conference Promoting decent work on the European labour market, organised by the Dutch presidency on 8 and 9 February 2016, was dedicated to better compliance and enforcement of labour and working conditions in case of free movement and posting of workers. The conference provided a platform for discussion for officials of labour inspectorates, policy makers and social partners from across the EU. In his opening speech the Dutch minister of labour declared that we can't afford in Europe to have some more equal than others. Income should be like an incontestable maths expression. Equal work `equals' equal pay in the same place. Only then can we create a level playing field and prevent a race to the bottom on labour conditions. The organisers will produce a website with all presentations.
Opening speech(in English): http://english.eu2016.nl/documents/publications/2016/02/08 .
The trade union-members of Limassol public bus company EMEL decided to call off their planned 24-hour strike. The strike was suspended after promises of the labour ministry that immediate efforts would begin to resolve the failure to restore workers' original employment agreements. Workers are seeking the honouring of a 2014 agreement made with EMEL, in which they had accepted temporary cutbacks in their salaries and benefits, on condition these would be reinstated as of 2016, something which had yet to be implemented.
English: http://in-cyprus.com/41820-2/
In 2016 the Swedish wage setting model is being put to its biggest test for several decades. Agreements must be made for some three million employees, but the members of the Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) are split and different demands from different unions and trades risk breaking a nearly 20 year old tradition where the industry has set the norm for wage increases. The wage setting agreement of 1998, introduced a compromise where trade unions promised to respect the wages in the competitive industry and employers backed down from their attempts to wreck central agreements. The industry agreement meant the consensus reached between the parties in the export industry became a standard for other wages. The model has been successful if you consider real-term wage increases and the absence of industrial action. But it is coming under increased criticism. There is growing support for measures aimed at increasing lower wages, especially within female-dominated trade unions like Kommunal (the Municipal Workers' Union) and Handels (the Commercial Employee's Union). And there is certainly agreement within LO that the pay gap between women and men should be halved by 2028.
English: http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/nyheter/news-2016/article .
The Nordic Labour Journal writes about how the Welfare Watch came to be and the role it played during the economic crisis which hit Iceland harder than other countries in 2008. A group of 35 people were tasked to warn authorities if various social groups were falling outside of the welfare system, and to come up with ideas for what could be done to prevent it from happening. Welfare Watch managed to spread the message that during the crisis the weakest in society should be protected. In the assessment, a comparison between Iceland and Ireland was made. In Ireland, people in the bottom income bracket lost 26% of their income, while the corresponding group in Iceland only lost 9%. People in the highest income bracket in Ireland saw their income rise by 8%, while the richest in Iceland lost 38% of their income.
English: http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/i-fokus/nordic-region .
The country's public healthcare workers have not received the wage raises they were promised by the government back in December 2015. Members of the `1001 Doctors without gratitude money' Facebook group claim the government did not deliver on its promise to raise the minimum net monthly wage of physicians to HUF 270,000 (868 euro). The group wants to see a clean and predictable healthcare, and has a vested interest in seeing the entire system vetted and reorganised.
English: http://budapestbeacon.com/public-policy/government-reneges-on-promise .
Trade union TARIM ORMAN-IS gathered 107 union representatives and shop stewards in Antalya, to learn and share experiences on how to organise new members to fight for better working conditions - especially for rural forest workers and migrants who work in precarious employment. On the second day, the participants organised a protest on the shore of the Mediterranean sea and a press statement calling for an end to the on-going refugee tragedy. The trade union protested against the current negotiations between the government and the EU to stop the flow of refugees arriving from Turkey.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default .
Teachers Trade Union (PSZ) announced that teachers from all over the country would demonstrate in Budapest February 13 and may strike in March unless there is a rollback of educational reform introduced under the second and third Orbán governments. The strike committee has formulated 25 demands, ranging from improvement of the education system, restoration of the National Education and Public Education Policy councils to improved working hours, wages and working conditions.
English: http://budapestbeacon.com/public-policy/hungarian-teachers-to-strike-in-march-if .