A demonstration organised by the three trade union confederations Akava, SAK and STTK brought 30,000 people out on to the streets of Helsinki. Altogether, some 300,000 people came out in protest against the government measures around the country. The government is planning to introduce legislation which would set an upper limit on extra pay for Sunday and overtime work. This level is lower than the one agreed on in collective agreements today. They will also shorten annual leave and eliminate two bank holidays. Employers' representatives have been defending the measures saying that it is always possible to get better terms of work in a personal work contract. In the meantime, the trade unions are attracting significantly more new members since the government announced its plans for austerity measures.
English: http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/860-30-000-rally .
http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/861-new-members .
Search results
Find articles
After a union meeting the trade unions CGIL, CISL and UIL initiated the shutdown of the Colosseum and Rome's other most important archaeological sites, including the Palatine Hill, Ostia Antica and the Baths of Diocletian, causing long queues and sparking an outcry. Following the action the government agreed in a meeting to add financing for an employment plan for the culture ministry to the 2016 budget law, featuring hiring of an estimated 1,300 workers in cultural heritage positions. The agreement is verbal, but is seen by the unions as a positive sign that goes along with another government commitment to pay cultural heritage workers monthly, beginning in February 2016, for additional compensation accrued. Less positive is the government's intention to add monuments to the list of essential public services. This means it will become one of the sectors - along with healthcare and transport services - in which unions must adequately notify their activity in advance and based on precise rules, to avoid too many disruptions for citizens. According to the unions the action had taken place according to the rules and been communicated in advance.
English: http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/159884/CGIL-says-1-300-culture-hires .
http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/arts-and-leisure/2015-09-18 .
The statistical office ISTAT published the index of wages according to collective labour agreements that measures the evolution of wages and salaries (per employee or per hour) determined by contractual provisions set by collective agreements. The indices are calculated with reference to the fixed employment structure of the base period (December 2010). At the end of August 2015, the coverage rate (share of national collective agreements in force for the wage setting) was 62.0% in terms of employees and 59.0% in terms of the total amount of wages. The office also issued a new quarterly release on the labour market.
English: http://www.istat.it/en/archive/169101
http://www.istat.it/en/archive/168573
The trendsetting autumn negotiations in the metal sector stranded already from the very beginning. The employers' Association of Machinery & Metalware Industries (FMMI - the biggest of the six employers' bodies involved in the negotiations) suspended their participation on 24 September with the argument that FMMI was not informed about a governmental campaign to reduce unemployment. Trade unions PRO-GE and GPA.djp formulated a resolution and announced company gatherings on 7 October in order to inform the membership about the FMMI position. The FMMI attitude towards bargaining has changed in recent years from partnership into confrontation (see earlier Newsletters).
German: http://www.gpa-djp.at/cms ...
Trade union resolution (in German): http://www.gpa-djp.at/cs/Satellite .
The trade union Framsyn has expressed grave concern that foreign worker exploitation has become widespread in north Iceland. The National broadcasting Service RUV has reported that most of these cases of illegal treatment of workers concern the food service, construction and tourist industries, and pertains to at least dozens of foreign workers. After consultation of other unions Framsyn has contacted those companies accused of worker exploitation to give them a chance to improve conditions.
English: http://grapevine.is/news/2015/09/25/union-concerned .
After the negotiations stranded for the expiring collective agreements in the metal sectors (both the metal & technical branches with 285,000 workers and the metal electro branches with 140,000 workers) the FNV and CNV trade unions started to mobilise the membership. The trade unions began a series of regional strikes culminating in a national metal march, combined with a one-day strike on 25 September in Rotterdam. Workers at the truck manufacturer DAF announced a strike that will last for three days.
English: http://www.eindhovennews.nl/news/31810-daf-goes-on-strike-once-again.html
Dutch: http://www.fnv.nl/sector-en-cao/alle-sectoren/metaal/nieuws .
After last year's pilots' strike that cost it more than €330 million, Air France seems set for another clash with staff over proposed changes to working hours. Trade unions representing pilots and cabin crew have rejected the plan, which they say is the equivalent to six weeks' extra work without pay. So far the management has ruled out massive layoffs even if negotiations with trade unions fail to reach agreement on its reform plan; observers expect that this will change dramatically.
English: http://www.english.rfi.fr/visiting-france/20150924-air-france-rules-out .
Railway workers win court case
September 17, 2015
The national rail operator SNCF has been found guilty of systematically discriminating against some 800 Moroccan railway workers, and ordered to pay out massive damages of around €150 million. The Moroccan workers were hired as private contract workers in the 1970s and denied the status of `railway worker' which comes with several benefits in terms of job security, retirement and working hours. According to the ruling by an industrial court, which specializes in workplace conflicts, the SNCF was found guilty of `discrimination in the execution of work contracts' and `in the rights to retirement.'
English: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/21/french-rail-sncf-guilty-discriminating .
A new law that has been proposed introduces, as of 1 January 2016, a so-called solidarity tax. It will be imposed on high-income earners with a monthly salary above 4,000 euro, which currently is the maximum taxable income. Earnings that exceed this maximum taxable income will be taxed with the same rate as in the case of general social contributions (in total 34.09%, 23.59% of which will be paid by the employer and 10.5% by the employee). The employers' organisation considers turning to the Constitutional Court if the parliament approves the tax.
English: http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=110925
Trade unions are confronted with a raft of intimidation methods at SF Leather that block workers from joining the union, and 14 sacked union supporters have not been reinstated. They accuse the company, a supplier to Mulberry, from trying to bypass the labour law, and bust the union with the Law of Commerce and Code of Obligations. Mulberry excuses its inaction by saying that audits have been conducted at the supplier. However, no audit at SF Leather ever consulted the trade union concerned, nor were the findings and process of the audits made public.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/mulberry-eu1000-handbags .
The collective bargaining archive of the WSI documents with regular publications the development of wages and bargaining outcomes. Data on the integration of the former East German states in the collective bargaining system reveal that at the level of the negotiated wages the wage gap has almost disappeared, 25 years after the German unification. On average, the negotiated wages are still 3% lower, but in several sectors, the differences in wage level have disappeared. If the companies that not covered by bargaining results are included and the real wages are calculated, than the gap is substantially higher (17%).
German: http://www.boeckler.de/impuls_2015_14_1.pdf