According to the latest employment statistics published by the Central Statistical Office (KSH), unemployment fell one percentage point year-on-year between September-November 2014 and the corresponding period in 2015 thanks entirely to public work schemes. According to official sources, the number of citizens engaged in public employment schemes between December 2014 and October 2015 increased by a little over 39,000. The official number of unemployed during this period in 2015 was 284,000, 37,000 less than the previous year. Over the course of 2014 the number of people engaged in public employment schemes during any given quarter ranged from 160,000 to 178,000. In December 2014 this number increased to 190,905. This number increased by 39,177 to 230,082 in October 2015. The number of people employed abroad reached 112,700, or 2.6 percent of the active workforce. Presently 76.9 percent of working-age men and 63 percent of women are either employed or actively seeking employment.
English: http://budapestbeacon.com/economics/public-work-schemes-lower .
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The trade union Unia warns that urgent measures are needed to tackle rising unemployment, in particular among ageing workers. According to Unia, the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) decision in January 2015 to remove the CHF1.20 per euro peg has led to a steady increase in unemployment- against the trend in the rest of Europe. The exchange rate now stands at CHF1.08 per euro. The union expects the jobless rate to rise from 3.4% in November 2015 to 3.6% in 2016. To help tackle unemployment, Unia said employers should be forced to publish vacant positions in regional job agencies. Ageing workers should also be better protected to ensure they do not lose their jobs, either through collective wage agreements or by a system of early retirement. It also called on the federal authorities to improve accompanying measures to prevent wage dumping and unfair competition.
English: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/jobless-concerns_union-calls-for-protection .
The French speaking rail unions have been on strike on 6 and 7 January in protest against the government's demands that the railway cut costs and workers' off days. The public transport union CSC Transcom and the railroad workers' union CGSP Cheminots confirmed that they would go ahead with the planned strikes while Dutch speaking unions decided to negotiate with the Belgian government. The government says it wants to step up `productivity' among rail workers, by enforcing them to work one hour more each week, but unions say working conditions would deteriorate.
English: http://aa.com.tr/en/world/belgian-rail-unions-call-for-strike .
International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), a leading supplier of specialty ingredients to the global processed food industry, has responded to the organisation of a union at its factory in Gebze with mass dismissals. The trade union Tekgida-Is organised workers at the Gebze factory and the Labour Ministry recognized the union as the bargaining unit on June 18, 2015. Workers formed a union in response to poor working conditions and there have been allegations of serious health and safety concerns. IFF challenged this decision at the local labour court and dismissed 30 workers between July and September for exercising their right to join a union. Following the dismissal of a prominent union supporter, Tekgida-Is organised a protest action in front of the factory gate and issued a press statement on September 7 calling on IFF to respect union rights and stop pressuring workers to resign from their union. In response to this attack on fundamental labour rights, workers are organising protests at the factory gate.
English: http://www.iuf.org/w .
The unemployment rate increased to 9.9% in November 2015, up 0.4% from the previous month, according to the Bulgaria Labour Office. The number of unemployed rose to a total 324,060 registered, 11,145 more than in October. The rise in unemployment has been attributed to the end of the summer tourist season. The number of people who found a job in November amounted to 15,338, down by 2,372, compared to October. By sector, the highest number of vacancies in November was 3,068, which was registered in manufacturing, followed by trade with 1,684, and administrative service activities with 661.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News .
Trade unions have announced to spend 2016 battling to restore the lost rights of members and to continue the struggle for the improvement of working conditions. The SEK trade union wants to pursue in 2016 the implementation of a number of measures aiming at the improvement the conditions of employees. SEK representatives said the union would claim in 2016 better living standards and the `gradual recovery of income and benefits lost in previous years'. AKEL affiliated PEO union, invited all employees, to `battle united' to restore labour rights, for an end to austerity, and for a fair distribution of growth. The union criticised the government for the `neoliberal restructuring of the economy `, and the `harsh austerity measures' agreed with the troika, which resulted in a major setback as regards the living standards of workers, and led to widened social inequalities. DEOK union, affiliated with socialist party EDEK, called on workers to claim the future they deserve `dynamically and with decisiveness'. DEOK criticised the government for not delivering what it promised, thus, the social welfare state was replaced by food banks.
English: http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/12/31/unions-vow-to-restore-lost-rights-in-2016/
The largest independent media outlet, RTL Klub, has named nursery workers' representative Mária Sándor the 2015 person of the year. In February 2015, Sándor called attention to the plight of the drastically overworked and underpaid nurses and the deplorable state of the underfunded public health-care system, owing in large part to a chronic shortage of nurses and other health-care professionals. Following her public statement she was fired from her job at a hospital. Leading and speaking at a number of peaceful demonstrations over the course of 2015, Sándor called for a significant improvement to hospital working conditions, a 50 percent increase in nurses' salary, and for nurses to receive overtime pay to which they are legally entitled. Moreover, she said patients should be treated `fairly and honourably'.
English: http://budapestbeacon.com/featured-articles/rtl-klub-names-maria-sandor .
Journalist organisations have urged the management of newspaper publisher Delo for explanations after thirty jobs have been slated for slashing under the new owner. FMR, a financial firm, acquired publisher Delo from brewery Pivovarna Lasko in June 2015 in a deal worth 7.3 million euro. It promised at that time to act as a long-term Delo owner and support its strategic, technological and staffing development.
English: https://english.sta.si/2215464/protest-as-thirty-jobs-slashed-at-delo
Army officers are up in arms against the `inadequate' compensation received for extra hours of duty in November 2015 during the Valletta Migration Summit and CHOGM. Though soldiers are not entitled to overtime, in exceptional cases, when they are on duty around the clock, they are given compensation in the form of an allowance. In this case, it transpired from the November payslip that members of the armed forces had been given an additional €110 but only for the services rendered in connection with the Commonwealth summit. The Armed Forces Union, which is affiliated to the General Workers' Union, has requested a meeting with Prime Minister to agree on an `adequate and rational' solution. While no date has been set yet for the meeting with the Prime Minister, the representative from the Union said that they would keep up the pressure, even though members of disciplined forces are not allowed to take industrial action.
English: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160101/local/soldiers-left-fuming .
The trade union confederations UGT and CC.OO have rejected the offer of the outgoing government to raise the minimum wage barely one percent in 2016. The outgoing administration notified in writing the two major trade unions of its proposal to increase the minimum monthly wage (SMI), which would stand at 655.08 euro in 2016 (currently at the level of 648.60 euro). This raise is much lower than the claims of both trade unions confederations, which asked a rise in the minimum wage of 11 percent in 2016 (up to 720 euro) and a similar percentage in 2017 (up to 800 euro). Both unions explained that with these increases the minimum wage would approach 60 percent of the net average wage, as recommended by the European Social Charter.
English: http://www.plenglish.com/index .