Collective Bargaining

Striking bricklayers at a site in Kishoge, west Dublin are to continue their picket, after the High Court ruled that they were entitled to maintain the protest. However, they have agreed to limit the number of picketers, and to ensure that all future picketing will be lawful. The strike centres on allegations of low pay and irregular subcontracting which have been denied by the company JJ Rhatigan. The company had taken legal proceedings in a bid to halt the pickets, which brought the site of a Department of Education-funded school building to a standstill.
English: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/high-court-judge-refuses ...

Around 2,000 hospital support workers belonging to the trade union SIPTU have voted by 95% to go on strike if the Health Service Executive reduces their premium payments by replacing weekend staff with interns. The dispute centres on a new HSE internship scheme for support staff including porters, catering and household personnel, and some laboratory and sterilisation employees, earning between 85% and 95% of the standard entry rates. SIPTU said staff believe the lower paid interns would be assigned to do weekend work, resulting in a significant drop in the weekend earnings of established employees.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1010/651403-hospital-support-staff-strike/

The governmental Office of Statistics published its annual employment report. Migrants and commuters from surrounding countries build the majority of the workforce (almost 53%, with Swiss nationals up to half of the commuters, Austrian nationals more than 40%). By the end of 2013 the growth in employment was 1.4%. A detailed report with statistics (in German) is available.
German: http://www.llv.li/#/11367/beschaftigungsstatistik-

Thousands of students are taking to the streets to protest against the government's labour and education reforms. Protests are taking place across 60 cities and towns across the country as students demand `better schools, jobs and a different country', which they believe premier Renzi's so-called Jobs Act, which passed a vote of confidence, will fail to deliver. The Union for university students said in a statement that Renzi's controversial labour reforms, which will make it easier for companies to hire and fire, will not guarantee security or jobs for young people: `In reality, the Jobs Act will only increase the precariousness without guaranteeing protection to those entering the labour market...the reforms were carried out without listening to young people'.
English: http://www.thelocal.it/20141010/italian-students-protest-labour-reforms

The Frente Comum, the main platform for trade unions representing public sector employees, has announced plans for a national demonstration in Lisbon on 31 October, to protest against pay cuts and the erosion of employment rights in the public sector. The decision was taken at a meeting of the platform's leadership, which is demanding the restoration of the 35-hour week (from 40 hours currently), an end to austerity-driven pay cuts, and a salary increase of 3.7%, equivalent to a minimum raise of €50 a month, as well as an end to the erosion of employment rights.
English: http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/public-sector-unions-call-protest ...

The official office Statistics Iceland (SI) reported that a total of 8,042 households, consisting of 13,130 individuals or 4% of the country's population, received municipal income support in 2013. This income support on the municipal level is defined as the welfare system's `last resort'; it is provided to those households with low or no income, that verifiably do not meet the requirements for state-level welfare measures, such as unemployment benefits.
English: http://www.statice.is/Pages ...

Talks between LuxairGroup and the trade unions in the dispute over a new collective working agreement (CWA) are set to resume, following a meeting at the national conciliation office. At the conciliation office meeting LuxairGroup agreed to extend two collective working agreements currently in place and issued a job guarantee. The agreement reached at the conciliation office comes into force on November 6.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/business/strike-averted-for-now-luxair-talks-to-resume ...

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority, the institute that licenses the supply of temporary labour will appeal the sentence given to an illegal gangmaster (labour provider) who kept fellow Romanian workers in inhumane conditions in County Armagh. Migrant workers were employed as apple pickers, working in orchards in County Armagh under extreme working and living conditions. They were paid £100 per week, which is well below the minimum wage. The sentence was a mere £500 fine, a punishment that was described by the GLA as "shocking". The institute stated that it simply fails to see how this punishment fits the crime and how it can act as a deterrent for someone who preyed on vulnerable men. The maximum sentence under the Gangmasters Licensing Act for working as an illegal gangmaster is 10 years in jail.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29547874

Most trade unions and employers' organisations seem to be satisfied with the cost of living adjustment expected to be announced in the upcoming budget, which is set to be €1.16 per week. However, one union labelled the increase a `measly' amount and branded it a `gross injustice'. The increase is the lowest since 2011. The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is automatically set by a mechanism that has been agreed to by the social partners, the trade unions and the employers' bodies, and the government.
English: http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-10-08 ...

The Canadian Media Guild and BECTU are joining forces to highlight the problems with working conditions in the non-fiction TV sector. The unions are delivering principles aimed at improving the situation to production and broadcast executives attending an industry conference (Realscreen), taking place in London. Workers in both countries have reported similar concerns about excessive and unreasonable working hours, unpaid time, inadequate rest time and poor health & safety management in non-fiction/factual production. The principles the unions are presenting, supported by the Writers Guild of America East, are modelled on the Code of Practice that BECTU developed in 2013 to improve working conditions for factual workers.
English: http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/unions-join-forces-for-better-working ...