Trade union IG Metall and employers in the metal sector have started negotiations for a new collective agreement. The first round of negotiations, which took place on 14 January in Bavaria, ended without results, as expected. Further talks took place on 28 January, with trade unions already signalling their readiness to organise warning strikes. IG Metall has demanded a 5.5% pay hike. The metal and engineering sector employs 3.7 million workers and its wage developments set the pace for negotiations in other sectors. The union, which represents 3.7 million workers, rejected an offer from employers for a 2.2% pay increase for 2015 from 1 March and started warn strikes. Wage negotiations between employers and the union are due to continue on 6 February in North Rhine-Westphalia and on 11 February in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Usually the first region to strike a deal sets a precedent for the whole country.
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/29/germany-strike ...
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The international trade union movement has repeatedly challenged Qatar Airways dictatorial treatment of its workers. As a result Barcelona football club is considering dropping its lucrative sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways, over what club president Josep Maria Bartomeu described as `social issues'.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/press-releases/2015/january/barca-fcs ...
After President Kiska vetoed an amendment to the Labour Code, which could make the conditions for temporary employment stricter, the parliament overrode this veto. The president was objecting to, among other things, what he said were inappropriately evaluated impacts of the changes on employment and job creation taken into consideration the opinion of employers who fear the inappropriate increase in their costs and the bureaucracy. The amendment introduces the so-called shared responsibility principle. This means that temporary employees must earn the same salary as regular employees if they both do the same work. If a temporary employee earns less, the agency would have to pay the difference from its own budget.
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20053297/mps-override-veto-on-temporary-employment ...
Bike producer Campagnolo has announced a relocation of a part of its production to Romania. As a result 68 out of 399 workers of the Vicenza plant will be dismissed. The management decision to lay-off 68 people caused a real turmoil and workers marched on to strike. The trade unions object to the plan, not only for the loss of jobs and partial demolition of the historical site of Campagnolo, but also because the plan does not include any real intention to invest to make the Vicenza plants more efficient and increase competitiveness, in order to face the new challenges of the global market.
English: http://www.bike-eu.com/Home/General/2015/1/Campagnolo-Hit-by-Strikes ...
The government took a stand against the European Commission that had criticized recent measures for the labour market, including an increase in the national minimum wage. Suggestions in a commission report that they represented backtracking in the reforms undertaken over the past three-and-a-half years were rejected in a letter to the EC. According to this letter the government had always expressed the intention, once the Economic and Financial Assistance Programme had ended, to agree with trade unions and employers the link between the updating of the national minimum wage and the increase in productivity.
English: http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/government-denies-reform-backtracking ...
Ryanair laughed off criticism of its controversial labour practices, with commercial manager David O'Brien ridiculing the 'Danish model'. The manager expressed a total lack of interest in the issue, despite the fact that it had been widely discussed in the newspapers. The trade unions remain unhappy with the terms Ryanair offers its employees. Pilots and flight attendants are working under conditions that are unacceptable; the unions want to get an agreement with Ryanair with Danish conditions.
English: http://www.thelocal.dk/20150129/the-danish-model-helena-christiansen
The two main trade unions at Spanish airport operator AENA called 27 strike days between February and August in protest at the partial privatisation of the firm. The first strike is scheduled for 11 February, the day the state will list a minority stake on the world's largest airport operator. The trade unions totally reject the entry of private capital in Aena.
English: http://www.thelocal.es/20150129/spanish-airport-staff-call-rolling-strikes
In the report An employment-oriented investment strategy for Europe the ILO reveals that, against a backdrop of sluggish economic conditions and continued weak job creation, the European Commission's Investment Plan proposed by President Juncker could provide a rapid economic stimulus that would foster Europe's competitiveness at the same time as boosting much-needed employment creation. The report states that, if careful consideration is given to the design of the programme and its allocation, over 2.1 million net new jobs could be created by mid-2018. The ILO is critical on the current labour market reform policy: while decentralization of collective bargaining can help improve firm flexibility, there are a number of risks, including the reduction of worker coverage and fragmentation of collective bargaining, giving rise to a lack of transparency in working conditions and regulations, leading to less predictability for investors. In the area of collective bargaining, appropriate solutions in each country have to be sought through a joint tripartite process, and by putting emphasis on the autonomy of bargaining parties to decide on bargaining levels and coordination of issues.
English: http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books ...
After occupying the company headquarters last year, as reported in the November 2014 newsletter, miners gathered for a large protest against the closing of four mines in Silesia. Some 2,000 miners and their families in Silesia called on the government's decision to close four mines on 7 February. The miners insisted that the business could be profitable in restructured form. After 11 days striking underground, thousands of miners ended their protest following an announcement that the mines, and their jobs, had been saved. Shortly after a protest started in the pits of Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA (JSW), the EU's largest metallurgical coal producer. The JSW coal workers are protesting against plans to scrap some social benefits, as well as the dismissal of union leaders. They are also demanding removal of the management.
English: http://www.equaltimes.org/polish-mine-closures ...
http://www.worldcoal.com/mining/28012015/Coal-workers-strike-in-Poland-1806/
http://www.industriall-union.org/framework-agreements-signed ...
Zero-hours contracts should be outlawed. This is the wish expressed in a citizens' initiative aimed at the parliament. If the initiative succeeds in collecting enough signatures, the parliament will debate and deliberate on the matter. Behind the initiative are young trade union activists that started Operaatio vakiduuni (Operation steady job) to fight against zero-hours contracts. They are demanding that zero-hours contracts be outlawed and part-time jobs should guarantee at least 18 hours of work per week.
English: http://heikkijokinen.info/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/700-citizens-initiative ...