Collective Bargaining

In the 3rd quarter of 2015, the average monthly gross wages and salaries were 1,045 euros. Compared to the 3rd quarter of 2014, the average monthly gross wages and salaries increased by 6.9%. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, real wages increased for the seventeenth quarter in succession. However, compared to the 2nd quarter of 2015, the average monthly gross wages and salaries decreased by 3.4%.
English: https://www.stat.ee/90649

Trade union Ver.di is threatening Amazon with a wave of strikes in a pay-scale dispute. The company wants to dictate the working conditions. The union has announced that as long the company refuse to talk about a decent collective agreement the actions will continue with flexible strikes. A video informs about the case.
English: http://www.dw.com/en/german-union-threatens-strike-at-amazon .
German: http://www.verdi.de/themen/geld-tarif/amazon ...

The biggest public and private sector trade unions, representing about 2.6 million workers, plan a 24-hour strike against pension reform on 3 December. The government has passed legislation raising the retirement age, increasing health care contributions and scrapping most early retirement benefits. It also plans to merge several pension funds into one and cut back on supplementary pensions. The unions call it the final blow to social insurance.
English: http://www.ekathimerini.com/203805/article/ekathimerini/news/greek-pensioners .
http://www.dw.com/en/greece-braces-for-next-general-strike .

Metalworkers in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia will receive a pay rise of 2.3 percent in 2016, despite tough conditions in the industry, union IG Metall said after the conclusion of a new collective agreement. The talks on the pay deal for 75,000 workers lasted 11 hours. The pay deal runs until the end of February 2017 and includes a one-off payment of 200 euro for November and December 2015. According to IG Metall, the employers have also agreed to discuss how to secure jobs in the industry.

English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/26/germany-steel-pay …    

German: http://www.igmetall-nrw.de/presse/aktuelles/archiv-detailseite/news … 

The Confederation of Finnish Industries, EK, changed the organisation's rules in order to prevent it from negotiating economy-wide pay agreements with unions. Such agreements have covered in the past some 93 percent of the workforce, mandating a central line for pay increases that set the parameters for sector-based agreements, usually valid for a period of two years. Observers point out that there have been twenty of these 'incomes policy' agreements since the first in 1968, and rightly call EK's move a 'historic decision'.
English: http://yle.fi/uutiset/thursdays_papers_posti_strike_end_of_collective_pay_deals .

With a population of nearly 10 million, Portugal remains Western Europe's poorest country with the largest socio-economic inequality gap among 20 developed countries. A report ranked the inequality gap in Portugal using several socio-economic indicators, ranging from distribution of income, access to health services and gender inequality. Minimum wages averaged 479.52 euro from 1999 until 2015.
English: http://portuguese-american-journal.com/report-portugal-holds-largest-inequality-gap .

Workers at the National Museum of History took part in a nationwide protest organised by the Trade Union of Museum and Gallery employees, Culture Independent Trade Union Federation, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB), the Museums and Galleries Trade Union, the National Culture Fund, and the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa. They protested against the damage created by the actual cultural climate. The cultural sector is dominated by a lack of resources and poor working conditions.
English: http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2015/11/25/390500/employees-of-bulgarian-museums .

The Deputy Governor of the central bank said that the cost of the economic crisis was mainly paid by employees. This situation was favoured by the labour code, which was completely against the interests of employees in that period. In theory, 60-65% of the net national income should be distributed to those who work and 30-35% to those who own the capital. In developed countries, the capital owners get 40% and employees receive 60%. In Romania, the situation is reversed. In 2014, over 60% of the net national income went to those who owned the capital and below 40% got to those who worked, the official said.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-central-bank-official-employees-paid .

Nurses dissatisfied with how the Health Ministry has dealt with complaints about pay and working conditions started to hand in their resignations. The nurses and other medical workers have five basic demands: a proper level of funding for health care facilities and a bill not only applicable to hospital staff but also to personnel in doctor's offices, spas and social service facilities. They also insist that maternity leave and time spent unemployed be counted towards the period of their specialised experience, as well as on hiring extra nurses and midwives to hospitals, and on factoring the number of years one has worked in the sector into the calculation of the pay-rise.
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20064750/over-200-nurses-resign .

The updated country profile of Austria at the Eurofound website includes indicators, data and regulatory systems on the following aspects: actors and institutions, collective and individual employment relations, health and well-being, pay, working time, skills and training, and equality and non-discrimination at work. In the section on collective bargaining, it is stated that the extremely high coverage rate is mainly because almost all agreements are concluded by subunits of the Economic Chamber (WKO), of which membership is obligatory.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/comparative-information .