The Social Progress Watch (SPW) initiative is a tool implemented by members and partners of the NGO SOLIDAR to monitor the commitment and progress made by national governments towards a more social and cohesive Europe. In the latest Newsletter, four country reports are presented (from Austria, Bulgaria, Italy and Romania). The editors state that the ongoing social crisis in Europe has confronted the European institutions and national governments with the effects of their policy responses to the economic crisis. These policies have so far focused on one-sided austerity measures and thereby eroded the social safeguards offered by our respective welfare states and the European social model.
English: http://us9.campaign-archive .
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Air Malta's four trade unions will for the first time tomorrow hold a joint meeting with management that will be chaired by President Emeritus George Abela. The former president was asked by the government to co-chair a committee tasked with negotiating expired collective agreements as the airline braces itself for part-privatisation. His role on the committee is to facilitate negotiations between management and the unions while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
English: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160112/local/four-air-malta-unions .
The Turkish Cypriot public sector trade union Kamu-Sen has warned of legal and industrial action if 13th month salaries are not paid by January 25. Firing the warning in a written statement, trade union stated efforts to seek help from both the Republican Turkish Party CTP and National Unity Party UBP coalition `hit a brick wall'. The union went on to complain that the coalition partners were left egg-faced over the water pipelines issue and that embarrassment was compounded by fraudulent activities concerning the Turkish Cypriot electricity board and the airport at Tymbou. The union said the 13th salary was a legal right of the public sector and that the coalition was in violation by not paying it.
English: http://in-cyprus.com/turkish-cypriot-workers-threaten-strike-action/
A new set of financial laws, aimed at strengthening the efficiency of the implementation of fiscal consolidation entered into on 1 January 2016. The law is meant to fight the grey economy and ensuring financial discipline and economic recovery of the country. Among other things, the first day of 2016 marked the start of the implementation of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Personal Income Tax, which is focused on eliminating the grey zone in employment and converting it into legal flows by providing incentives for legal employment and tax reliefs when new workers are hired. The employer who hires a new worker has the right to claim a refund on income tax paid for the new employee, provided that the employee is registered with the Central Registry of Compulsory Social Insurance.
English: http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business .
Junior doctors went on strike on 12 January for the first time since 1975. The Junior Doctors' Strike walked out on that date, with medics picketing outside hospitals. They are not complaining about their long hours or their modest pay cheques. They were demonstrating against Tory plans to force more of them to work at the weekends and simultaneously cut their bonus for working unsociable shifts, effectively slashing their pay.
English: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/junior-doctors-strike .
Teachers in West Dunbartonshire went on strike on 12 January - in action that is unprecedented in recent times in Scotland. Members of the EIS, Scotland's largest teaching union, took the one-day action amid growing concerns about local cost-cutting plans to reduce the numbers of depute head-teachers and pastoral staff. Principal teacher posts would also go, as different subjects are brought together into broader `faculties'. EIS officials will meet with the council's ruling Labour group in an attempt to prevent further action.
English: https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/teachers-walk-out .
The number of redundancies in the private sector has continued to remain at over 10,000 a year according to the trade union confederation SAK. In 2015 a total of 11,907 employees lost their jobs, according to SAK estimates. In 2014 the number was 12,447. The last time the figure was below 10,000 was in 2010, says SAK which have been keeping statistics since 2006. Major redundancies took place at Microsoft Mobile, which closed its unit in the city of Salo letting 2,300 people go. Other major redundancies took place at the IT services company Tieto with 435 people left without work. Sanoma Media slashed 241 jobs and Rovio Entertainment 198. The total number of redundancies in the information and communication sector rose to almost 3,800. This is one quarter more than in 2014. In industry redundancies rose by 15% to almost 3,700. In the retail sector there were fewer redundancies than in 2014. The figure fell from 2,228 to 871. The Act of Co-operation stipulates that in all undertakings with more than 20 employees, any planned redundancies are subject to mandatory consultation with personnel representatives. In 2015 almost 114,000 employees had to be consulted. In 2014 it was 109,000. The foremost mandatory consultation exercise still pending at the beginning of 2016 is at the University of Helsinki, where 8,000 jobs are to be negotiated.
English: http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/942-the-number .
The researchers of the collective bargaining archive of the WSI, the socioeconomic research institute of the Hans Boeckler Foundation, published a first assessment of the wage development in 2015. The collectively agreed wages have increased in 2015 with a nominal 2.7%. The net pay, after deduction of inflation (0.3%), increased on average with 2.4% (for the whole economy). The highest increase was signalled in the investment and services branches, the lowest in retail. The trade unions belonging to the trade union confederation DGB concluded agreements for 12.5 million workers. The average duration in 2015 was 21.1 months (2014: 22.4 months). Another 6.8 million workers received pay improvements that were already settled in agreements dating from 2014 (or earlier).
German: http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/pm ...
Trade union confederation DGB has analysed the labour market position of youngsters. The results are presented in a study that covers their income situation, the situation at the workplace and the working time. One key finding is the dominance of vulnerable or a-typical contracts. Almost half of the youngsters in the under 25-years group are working in a-typical labour relations. The section that is dedicated to wages and income reveals that 31% is earning less than 1500 euro gross per month, whilst the average gross income for all young workers under 30-years comes at 1,855 euro.
German: http://docs.dpaq.de/10167-gutearbeit ...
The container workers at Europe's largest port, Rotterdam, have gone on strike for 24 hours in an attempt to force management back to the negotiating table for talks on job security. A management spokeswoman said seven container ships already docked were likely to be affected along with three more expected to arrive during the strike. The trade union FNV said that 800 workers were involved in the strike. Unions want a deal with employers that will prevent enforced job cuts before 2020 despite machines increasingly taking over the work of harbour workers.
English: http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1331407-european-container-workers .
http://www.equaltimes.org/rotterdam-dockers-strike .