Several strikes are announced for the month of May as talks with Business Iceland ended without results. Worker demands in all cases concern wage increases, but the trade unions have also emphasised the need for new terms regarding job-related education. Earlier on workers in the trade union of General and Special Workers (SGS) voted overwhelmingly in favour of work stoppages culminating in a general strike on May 26. Opinion polls indicate that the general public not only supports union demands to raise the minimum wage - they would demand even more than unions are asking.
English: http://grapevine.is/news/2015/04/27/more-large-unions-joining-strike/
http://grapevine.is/news/2015/04/30/public-overwhelmingly-supports-union-demands/
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More than 30,000 employees of town halls around the country have gone on strike to demand higher wages. The workers, who staged a one-day strike, are demanding a 10% salary increase and meal tickets, which are used to purchase food. The trade union stated that talks with the government have failed and that the government hasn't honoured promises it made during the 2012 election campaign.
English: http://www.oaoa.com/news/government/article .
A dispute between Malta Public Transport and the General Workers Union has been resolved. The trade union had given MPT an ultimatum to reverse a decision to decrease workers' wages and refund the difference or face strike action. The dispute came in the wake of an announcement by the public transport provider warning that workers' pay would be docked if they fail to clock all the hours they were contractually obliged to do. An agreement was reached following a lengthy meeting on 30 April. The company committed itself to pay back monies due to engineers on May 10 and to drivers on May 17. Both sides also agreed to start negotiating a new collective agreement with the aim of concluding negotiations in the next two months.
English: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150501/local/bus-strike-averted .
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/52399/gwu_issues_friday_ultimatum .
Pilots from TAP Portugal and its associate Portugalia will begin a 10-day strike on 1 May in an ongoing dispute on the privatisation process. The industrial action will strongly affect operations. An arbitration tribunal has ruled that minimum services will be assured during a strike, including flights between the Portuguese mainland and the Acores, Madeira, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and seven European cities.
English: http://atwonline.com/labor/tap-portugal-pilots-start-10-day-strike-may-1
On 30 April the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave a verdict on a case for the Woolworths and Ethel Austin members of the UK trade union Usdaw. The companies failed to consult about redundancies with the workforce and their trade union. A protective award was made by a UK employment tribunal (in January 2012) and workers in stores of over 20 staff were paid compensation. However, workers in stores of less than 20 employees (1,200 former employees of Ethel Austin and 3,200 of Woolworths) were denied compensation based on a narrow interpretation of the law. In May 2013 Usdaw won a landmark legal case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) that should have seen those excluded staff back into the compensation scheme. The Court of Appeal decided on 21 January 2014 to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. According to EU law an employer proposing to make collective redundancies is required to consult in advance with representatives of the affected employees and the consultation must be completed before any notices of dismissal are issued. The ECJ however, ruled in favour of the UK government. According to the ECJ the term `establishment', which is not defined in the EU directive, is a term of EU law and cannot be defined by reference to the laws of the member states. The ECJ stated that, where an undertaking comprises several entities, it is the entity to which the workers made redundant are assigned to carry out their duties that constitutes the `establishment'.
English: https://www.usdaw.org.uk/About-Us/News/2015/April/Former-Woolworths-and .
https://www.accountancylive.com/ecj-upholds-uk-view-woolworths-collective-redundancies-case
France and Germany have asked the Bulgarian labour inspectorate to apply tighter control on workers sent on `business trips' by their companies. The step was requested amid fears that `social dumping' might be practiced by such employees. The government has agreed to take part in an initiative aimed at fighting the grey economy across the EU by sealing partnerships among labour inspectorates of member states.
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles/168214/Germany%2C+France .
Presenting its annual report for 2014, the Labour Inspectorate has pointed to different forms of precarious work that are becoming increasingly wide-spread. One of the most controversial cases of bending the law is when companies demand that a person becomes self-employed only to work for the company as if it employed them. The inspectorate also pointed to student work, another precarious form of employment widely used to compensate for lack of staff in regular employment.
English: http://www.sloveniatimes.com/ever-more-people-forced-to-become-self-employed
The management of the Cleaning company DJM Bedrijfdiensten has decided to remove the youth minimum wage. From summer 2015 onwards, employees under 21 will receive the normal minimum wage, not the lower minimum wage for youth. The country introduced in the past different minimum wages depending on age. An 18-year-old working full time is entitled to at least 683 euro, a 21-year-old doing the same work will earn no less than 1,089 euro. That is still over 400 euro less than the minimum wage paid to a 23-year-old. The company calls it morally irresponsible that a younger worker receives less for doing the same job.
English: http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/04/29/cleaning-agency-scraps-youth-minimum-wage/
At the height of the recession, as the numbers joining the dole seemed to be rising by cricket scores weekly, many workers found themselves in a position where they were simply happy to have a job, where possible, to maintain the terms and conditions they had until the worst effects of the downturn moved on. Now though, even employers' bodies admit there is a genuine expectation in many sectors that as firms feel the benefits of the recovery, their staff should be rewarded for the sacrifices they made. Workers are less fearful for the future of their jobs. As more and more sectors begin to recover, employees feel more and more empowered to demand the better terms and conditions from their employers. In the absence of Registered Employment agreements, which were struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2013, there are whole sectors where wage negotiation has been rendered almost impossible.
English: http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/industrial-action-inevitable .
Enterprise Estonia (EAS) announced a restructuring including staff cuts. The business promoting government agency, one of the largest institutions specialised in promoting entrepreneurship, counselling and training, will merge several structural units and cut 5% of its total workforce.
English: http://balticbusinessnews.com/article/2015/4/29/enterprise-estonia-to-cut-staff