The government has published an impact assessment on the Trade Union Bill, which reveals that unions will be hit with huge financial costs. According to the TUC the government seems determined to tie unions up in as much red tape as possible. The impact assessment lays bare the huge costs unions will face as a result of the Trade Union Bill. Unions believe the government has underestimated the true financial impact this Bill could have for unions. However, even by its own estimates unions and their members are set to be hit with a stonking upfront bill of over £11million, followed by £26million more over the next five years. UK trade unions are already the most heavily regulated in Western Europe. Therefore, they consider that this Bill will make it harder for workers to stand up for decent services and safety at work, or defend their jobs and pay.
English: https://www.tuc.org.uk/union-issues/trade-union-bill .
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The bank and insurance company KBC has concluded an agreement with the socialist white collar union BBTK and the Christian white collar union LBC on a collective labour agreement and job security plan in 2016 and 2017. In a press statement the bank stated that the new collective labour agreement commits KBC to no dismissals due to restructuring or to organisational or economic reasons.
English: http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Economy .
Employees of GlobeGround Romania, the company that provides aircraft ground handling services and aircraft towing at Bucharest's Henri Coanda Airport (Otopeni Airport), went on a warning strike for two hours on 22 January. The company's employees decided to go on strike because they are dissatisfied with their salaries, the working hours, the size of the staff, and the activity's planning and their working conditions. The leader of the Free Trade Union of Aeronautic Handling warned that the size of the staff and the activity's standardisation in relation to the volume and working conditions are the most pressing problems, given that between 100 and 150 employees have resigned in the last two years, but the workload remained the same, or even increased. The working hours also represent a problem for the workers, as they no longer can conciliate working and family life.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/warning-strike-at-bucharest-otopeni-airport .
A strike by workers of the utility company EDF over planned job cuts at the heavily indebted firm has cut the country's power output by at least 11.5 GW, a union official said. EDF is holding a works council meeting with trade union and worker representatives were it is expected to announce thousands of job cuts. The proposal is to cut 4000 jobs in a period of three years. The unions are acting against the planned cuts since November 2015 and do not accept that workers become the victims of the deregulation of the energy sector.
English: http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews .
French: http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2016/01/21 ...
Sanitation worker Mehmet Kaplan, member of DISK/Genel-Is Union in Cizre Municipality (Sirnak), was shot dead on 17 January in front of his house while another worker was seriously injured and a further three arrested in separate incidents. The international union federation PSI was informed of the arrest and detention of three members of DISK/Genel-Is for their trade union activities. PSI strongly condemns the murder and persecution of the members of its affiliated union and has written to the Turkish Prime Minister. PSI reminded the government that repression and detention of workers for their trade union activities is a breach of the country's obligations under ILO Convention No. 87 and other human rights instruments. PSI further calls on the authorities to guarantee the effective protection of workers and trade unionists' lives.
English: http://www.world-psi.org/en/trade-unionists-killed-and-arrested-turkey
The government commissioned research to the Liechtenstein-Institute that deals with income comparisons between Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Main question was the differences between the gross and the net income. The researchers took into account the purchase power of households, the consumption patterns and the costs of housing. After deductions of tax and social security payments and of the costs of living, transport and housing the conclusion is that around 60% of the income is disposable for other expenditure - in Switzerland this is 50%. Living in Liechtenstein is thus more attractive. Moreover, the gross wages are higher.
Study (in German): http://www.liechtenstein-institut.li/Portals/0/contortionistUniverses ...
In a study published by the Czech-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNOPK) managers have indicated that they plan to raise wages by an average of 3.2% in 2016. The survey on wage levels involved companies of various sizes operating across a range of sectors and regions.
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2016/01/20 .
In January 2016, President Andrzej Duda signed one of the most contentious media laws in the EU-history. The government flouted several fundamental EU rights and signed legislation to allow the government to appoint the senior management of public broadcasters. It also introduced a number of controversial amendments to the country's constitutional court. Despite international uproar, the media law came into force the following day. The EU has decided to take action against Poland under the so-called `Rule of Law' framework. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes this move as an important step in protecting media freedom in Poland. Following the adoption of the bill, broadcaster ARTE said it no longer had the certainty that freedom of expression, editorial independence and pluralism of public television were guaranteed. ARTE decided to suspend its contractual relations with the public television station TVP.
English: http://www.equaltimes.org/if-we-let-media-freedom-fall ...
According to income figures (over the period 2011-2014) published by the national statistics office CBS people aged between 55 and 65 run the greatest risk of descending into poverty for a considerable length of time. If made redundant at a later age, people are unlikely to find a new job and end up living on benefits for a longer period. They are also more likely to be claiming invalidity benefit. The office also said that almost 31.8% of families with a breadwinner who has a non-western background have a low income, compared to 7.6% among the native population.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/01 .
Graphs and figures (in Dutch): http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/inkomen-bestedingen .
During a round table of experts and analysts the Association of Croatian Trade Unions expressed its dissatisfaction with the activities of political stakeholders on the Croatian scene and announced a possibility of getting organised politically. Union spokespersons expressed their dissatisfaction with political parties both `left and right'. They discussed the idea of unions establishing political parties that would promote a social state and would have an own independent leadership.
English: http://en.dalje.com/2016/01/unions-might-form-own-political-parties .