Collective Bargaining

The average wage costs increased by only 0.8 percent in the first half of 2015, according to figures released by the statistical office Statec. This increase is particularly low compared to previous years: 2.9% in 2014 and 3.6% in 2013. The reasons for the weak increase are multiple, according to Statec: first, the country is following the prevailing euro zone trend towards moderate wages, due to low inflation. Moreover, there was no indexation of wages since late 2013, which mechanically limits the upward pressure on wages.
English: http://www.statistiques.public.lu/catalogue-publications/conjoncture-flash.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) started a campaign against the policy to use supply agencies in the education sector. In the frame of the NUT's lobby of supply agencies its members gathered on 28 October in Central London outside the headquarters of Protocol Education and then moved on to Hays plc to voice their concerns about working as a supply teacher through an agency. Lobbyists distributed leaflets to passers-by highlighting their concerns about the unacceptable pay and pension position facing supply teachers employed by agencies, and the excessive levels of commission paid by schools to fuel agencies' profits and senior employees' salaries.
English: http://www.teachers.org.uk/supply

Since the start of the crisis, the share of workers earning no more than the minimum wage has risen steadily from 4% in 2001 to 20% in 2014. Up to a quarter of all employees in hotel and catering industry as well as in manufacturing earn the €500 minimum wage. The rising share of minimum wage workers is a reflection of bad economic times as well as crumbling collective bargaining in the country.
English: http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/minimum-wage-gains-popularity-with-bosses .

The wages of elementary and secondary schoolteachers exceeded the country's average wage in all regions except for Prague in 2014, but they stood deep below the average wage of civil servants with university education. The average gross monthly pay of elementary and secondary school teachers was 28,027 and 28,890 crowns last year (respectively 1035 and 1067 euro), according to data released by the ministries of education and labour. The average gross monthly wage of all employees was 25,686 crowns (948 euro) in 2014. Although the majority of teachers are university graduates, their average wage lagged far behind the average wage of university graduates among civil servants, which was 34,613 crowns (1278 euro). In Prague, teachers' wages even lag behind the average wage of all employees (33,347 crowns or 1231 euro).
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2015/10/27/teachers-wages-below-university.

The trade unions CGIL, CISL and UIL are demanding a 150-euro pay rise in the public sector, adding that they were ready to stage a general strike if they do not get a positive response from the government. The unions have announced a `very tough mobilisation' in support of the renewal of public-sector contracts given that the resources lined up in the 2016 budget bill (200 million euros) are just `a tip' and a `provocation' that do not guarantee a dignified contract for public-sector workers. Many public-sector workers have been waiting six or seven years for the renewal of their contracts.
English: http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2015/10/27/unions-demand-150-euro.
http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/162728/CGIL--CISL--UIL-announce.

The Bertelsmann Foundation and the London School of Economics published the results of their SIM Europe Reform Barometer online survey in the pilot study `Social Policy Reforms in the EU: A Cross-national Comparison'. The study reveals that there is a clear mismatch between problem awareness and problem response in a number of EU member states. Notably southern countries did not, or have not been able to, pursue reforms to make their societies more socially inclusive. By contrast, some northern member states have legislated acts that managed to stabilise or even increase their level of social inclusion in recent years. The authors also found some evidence that a remarkable shift is taking place in European labour markets, which may well herald a more Anglo-Saxon orientation of the labour market, away from the collectivism that has characterised European labour markets after the second World War.
English: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/user_upload/.

An analysis of the WSI-Tarifarchivs of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation reveals that there has been a positive upswing of minimum wages in the collective agreements. On average, these wages have reached a level that is substantially higher than the legal hourly minimum wage of 8.50 euro. In 11 sectors, the wage level even has increased to 10 euro or more. In four branches, the minimum wage has not yet reached the legally fixed level, but there is an agreement to lift the wages in 2016 to the appropriate level.
German: http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/hbs/hs.xsl/.

Trade union FNV has reached a collective bargaining agreement covering 2,800 employees with the retailer group De Bijenkorf in which the store's young employees will be paid full adult wages instead of the reduced youth wage. The result fits in a campaign of the trade union under the slogan equal pay for equal work. As a result an 18-year-old and a 23-year-old doing the same job will be entitled to the same pay. The collective agreement runs from 1 October 2015 to 1 July 2017, with pay increases as of 1 February 2017 and 1 May 2017.
English: http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/10/26/bijenkorf-scraps.

The Confederation of the Independent Trade Unions (CITUB) will join an initiative of the UK's Communication Workers Union to provide humanitarian aid to refugees in Turkey ahead of the coming winter. A convoy of Royal Mail trucks will set out on a 3,000-kilometer long journey across Europe from Birmingham to Istanbul. The convoy is part of the humanitarian aid projects of CWU: www.cwuha.org
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles/171475/Bulgarian+Trade+Union+to+Join+UK.

The court has confirmed that a bus strike in September was `illegal'. Malta Public Transport stated that it was well within its rights when it stopped both the trade unions General Workers' Union and Union Haddiema Maghqudin from striking in the interest of the public's right to mobility. The court confirmed that when there is an industrial action, the unions and employees must comply with Article 64 of the Employment and Industrial Act, and therefore 50% of the bus service must be maintained. According to the company, quarrels between the GWU and UHM over worker representation at Malta Public Transport are seriously hindering the renewal of existing agreements.
English: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20151024/local/.