A survey by the Sociological Institute of the Science Academy (AV) showed that young mothers are often forced to rely on self-employment. Mothers with small children found it difficult to find or retain jobs after returning from maternity leave. Despite legal obligations for employers to guarantee mothers' jobs, women often found that their jobs had disappeared or were dismissed shortly after returning. Researchers reported 30% of women who took two years of maternity leave and nearly all mothers who took longer breaks lost their jobs when they wanted to return to work. Self-employment among young mothers increased by 74% in the last years, while many indicated in the survey they would have preferred some form of direct labour.
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2015/12/03/young-czech-mothers .
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The Cambodian forestry workers who were allegedly exploited by their Swedish employer will get assistance from the Swedish wood forestry workers' union GS. The union will cover all the court costs in Sweden. The workers are now back in Cambodia where 11 of them have been tricked into signing documents stating that they owe debts to the former employer of a total of 300 000 SEK (32 373 euro), due to housing costs while staying in Sweden. The union is fighting the claim and insist that the employer instead has to pay for all unpaid wages they owe to the workers.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default .
The trade unions have sought European and global reinforcements in their struggle to restore labour rights. The unions have been in a long struggle to restore their right to national and sector level collective bargaining. Collective bargaining was the practice in the country, until Law 62 on Social Dialogue was passed by executive order in 2011. The law abolished national level collective bargaining and severely impeded the practice of sector level collective agreements. In May this year, trade unions introduced amendments to the 2011 law that will strengthen collective bargaining.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/romanian-unions-demand-restoration .
Focus on the amendments to Law 62 on Social Dialogue: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations-law .
Teaching assistants in schools in Durham county in North East England have spoken out against plans that would put them on term-only contracts. The county council want to cut costs by replacing current year-round contracts by term-only contracts, which would imply teaching assistants are not paid during holiday periods.
English: http://www.world-psi.org/en/unison-condemns-cuts-pay-teaching-assistants
According to statistics published by the employment service (AMS), the number of long-term unemployed persons in the country has nearly tripled in the last twelve months. At the end of November 2014, there were 16,447 people out of work for more than a year. Since then, the number has increased by 191 percent (up to 47,845 people). Overall employment statistics also indicate an increase, with a total of 430,107 people out of work by November 2015. Older workers are particularly affected, with an increase of 13.5 percent among those over 50 years of age. Youth unemployment decreased slightly; employers are switching to younger and less experienced people to save costs.
English: http://www.thelocal.at/jobs/article/long-term-unemployment-soars
Special on elderly workers (in German): http://www.ams.at/_docs/001_spezialthema_1015.pdf
The Eurofound's 6th European Working Conditions Survey findings were presented at a joint high-level event with the Luxembourg EU Presidency. The report presents a diverse picture of Europe at work over time across countries, occupations, gender and age groups. The survey confirms a differentiated picture on working time: working hours continue to decrease, numbers working `part-time' have increased and the self-employed work longer hours than employees. While fewer workers are working 48 hours or more, the number of workers working part-time (both 21-34 hours and 20 hours or less per week) has increased over time. While the overall gender gap has decreased, it remains significant, with men on average working 39 hours and women 33 hours a week in their main paid job. Concerning paid training, the report points out that young employees are more likely to learn new skills at work than older workers. Workers over 50 years old report lower prospect for career advancement and less training opportunities.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/2015/sixth-european-working .
SIPTU members in Meadow Meats - part of the Dawn Meats Group - commenced industrial action in response to the company's failure to honour a Labour Court recommendation that workers in the meat processing plant receive a pay increase. On 7th September the Labour Court issued a recommendation in relation to a dispute at the Meadow Meats plant concerning a pay claim by SIPTU members. According to the terms of the recommendation, the union members, who are currently being paid the minimum wage of €8.65 per hour, were to be awarded an hourly rate of €9.15 per hour retrospective to 1st January 2015. This is to be increased to €9.65 per hour from 1st January 2016 and to €10.00 per hour from 1st January 2017. The terms of the recommendation were accepted by those members in a secret ballot. However, the management of the company has not engaged in any discussions with them since the recommendation was issued. In response to this failure to honour the Labour Court recommendation the workers have undertaken industrial action, initially, in the form of a work to rule campaign.
English: http://www.siptu.ie/media/pressreleases2015/featurednews/fullstory .
Teachers' unions and Public Expenditure minister Howlin find themselves in a televised standoff over the Lansdowne Road Agreement. The government and most public sector trade unions reached a pay deal last month, as reported in the November newsletter. However, teaching unions ASTI and TUI as well as the Garda representative association and Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors have refused to sign on to the agreement, demanding further concessions. The government has said that it will not negotiate separate agreements with the four unions and warned that those who do not sign the Lansdowne Road Agreement will not receive the incremental pay rises other unions will. Teachers and Garda unions have vowed more industrial action.
English: http://www.newstalk.com/Teachers-strike-Lansdowne-Road-Agreement .
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/pay-rises-for-300-000-public-service .
In a Global Labour Column, Maarten van Klaveren (former editor of this Newsletter) discusses minimum wages and collective bargaining in Asia and Europe. He notes the polarity of debates on the establishment of a statutory minimum wage; on one hand around `social justice' arguments for a minimum wage floor to reduce income inequality and poverty level wages, and on the other, the `economic imperative' to ensure a minimum wage does not depress demand in certain labour markets. In the EU, the 2012 recommendations from the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs foreshadowed an assault on collective bargaining, in order to achieve `an overall reduction in the wage-setting power of trade unions'. This should be resisted not only for reasons of redistributive social justice but also to restore forms of wage-led economic growth that will enable the disastrous hold of austerity and financialisation to be broken.
English: http://column.global-labour-university.org/2015/11/minimum-wages-collective .
The long disputed problems (see earlier Newsletters) are not coming to an end as talks over a new collective agreement, which the operator claims could have a major bearing on the level of operations, restarted from the scratch. During a meeting held in the presence of the Director of Employment, trade union UHM submitted a formal request to represent the employees after the General Workers' Union unexpectedly conceded defeat at the end of a lengthy recognition dispute.
English: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view .