Collective Bargaining

Romania has the second lowest labour costs in the European Union. A recent report by the German Federal Statistics Office concludes that Romania's labour costs of €4.8 per hour are trumped only by Bulgaria's €3.8. Romania's labour costs are low both because of low wages, low social security contributions and low taxes. The average hourly labour cost in the EU is €24.40.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/romania-has-second-lowest-labour-costs-in-the-eu .

Education unions have started organising their members in the face of a new education law, which would effectively abolish collective bargaining in the sector. A draft law, to be submitted to Parliament by the prime minister, contains proposals for longer working hours without pay rises to be implemented with social dialogue. The law would make it possible to set working conditions for teachers unilaterally, abolishing the long standing practice of collective agreements.
English: http://www.csee-etuce.org/en/news/archive/901-italy-is-facing-a-strike .

An OECD-analysis of the economic performance shows that the country experienced robust growth after independence and incomes increased steadily towards the EU average. This was facilitated by a skilled labour force and modern industrial relations. However, the crisis led to a drop in output that was one of the largest in the OECD and recovery has been slow. Interestingly income inequality is still one of the lowest in the OECD. The survey lists the reforms that have been introduced. The OECD-diagnosis and the recipes can be questioned: `These reforms will - if fully implemented - have a positive impact on growth. The labour market reforms, changes to the product market regulation and effects of pension reform on employment should boost GDP by 1% in five years and 2% in ten years compared to the baseline projection'.
English: http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Slovenia-2015-overview.pdf

Figures released by the Ministry of Employment show that the majority of jobs that have been created in recent years are low-skilled and short-term. The most common job found in the first quarter of 2015 was agricultural labouring work, with over half a million people finding employment in this low-skilled, insecure sector. The next most commonly found jobs were in the service industry as waiters and cleaners. A quarter of jobs lasted for a period of just seven days, many of these in the hotel industry, adding to the insecure nature of the newly created posts. Only 6.7% of contracts, created in the first quarter of 2015, were permanent.
English: http://www.thelocal.es/jobs/article/truth-behind-spanish-job-figures

The FNV trade union organised a march and demonstration in Amsterdam on 1 May, calling for more `real jobs' instead of temporary contracts. The unified union that was created as the result of the merger of several trade union federations and the `old' confederation FNV criticised employers, including the government, who are turning real work into precarious and temporary contracts. Employers consider employees on permanent contracts a risk and for them there is only one thing that counts: making profits.
English: http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/05/01/unions-employers-fight-over-permanent-contracts/

Traditional May Day protests have ended in hundreds of arrests as demonstrators clashed with police. The demonstrators were marching on Taksim Square, the traditional destination of rallies which was banned by Prime Minister Erdogan in legislation passed in previous years. As the demonstrators ignored the ban in defence of workers' rights they were met by police with tear gas and water cannons. At least 140 people were detained.
English: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/turkish-police-fire-tear-gas-on-hundreds .

The latest labour force survey reveals that there was an increase of 21 000 in the number of unemployed persons from the 1st quarter of 2014 to the 1st quarter of 2015. This increase was mainly among the long-term unemployed. The share of long-term unemployed rose from 29% in the 1st quarter of 2014 to 38% in the 1st quarter of 2015. The actual webpage of the Q1 2015 LFS provides detailed tables that shed a light on several labour market characteristics.
English: http://www.ssb.no/en/arbeid-og-lonn/statistikker/aku/kvartal/2015-04-30

Midwives in Northern Ireland staged a four-hour strike in a pay dispute. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is calling for a 1% pay increase, as was given to their colleagues in Wales, Scotland and England. RCM members had voted by 9-1 in favour of strike action - the first such vote in the college's 134-year history. RCM warned of further industrial action by its members.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-32538050
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/21/midwives-northern-ireland-strike .

Some 200 workers, making up two thirds of the workforce, began a 24-hour work stoppage in a protest about their unsecure employment amid port privatisation plans. Workers were expected to congregate outside the venue of a Communications Committee meeting, during which discussion on port privatisation continued. The communications minister had appealed to the trade unions to cancel the strike at the Limassol port over the government's plans to privatise it. He stressed that differences were solved through discussions and not with strikes that only caused more problems rather than solving them, adding that he had already assured staff, during several meetings, that their rights would be protected.
English: http://in-cyprus.com/larnaca-and-limassol-port-strike-underway/

The government stated that with the actual economic growth it is about time to increase salaries and pensions this year (after a 10-percent cut in November 2014 due to fiscal consolidation measures). This increase would have an impact on improvement of the citizen's living standards. However, the Fiscal Council immediately opposed this idea. In its regular report, the Council said in relation to the developments in March 2015 that the reduction in pensions and public sector salaries is a key measure of the country's fiscal consolidation that brought about the biggest savings in the 2015 budget.
English: http://inserbia.info/today/2015/04/vucics-empty-promises-fiscal-council-no-room .