The European Commission's latest Employment and Social Situation Quarterly Review reports that future employment developments remain uncertain, unemployment still remains close to historical records, and the long-term unemployed represent a large and growing share of total unemployment, with almost 13 million people having been unemployed for at least one year. Section 6 summarises the data on productivity, wages and hours worked. Greece (-4.8%) and Cyprus (-5.1%) continued to see sharp decreases in compensation per employee, while Spain (+0.2%) recorded a modest increase. Estonia (+8.8%) recorded by far the strongest increase in compensation per employee, followed by Lithuania (+6.5%), Slovakia (+4.1%) and Malta (+3.9%).
English: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main ...
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The national statistics office CBS reported that average wages increased around 1.1% in the third quarter of 2014 which is almost similar to the inflation increase in August 2014 (of 1%). The cost of labour rose 1.7% because of changes in unemployment, sickness and health insurance payments. Year on year, wages have risen most sharply in the healthcare and welfare sectors and were down an average of 1.8% in the financial services sector. The office also published an overview of income-related allowances for housing, health and children in 2013. The government paid over 10.4 billion euro in 2013.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/10/wages_rose_in_line_with_inflat ...
http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/arbeid-sociale-zekerheid ...
State oil company Statoil, faced with falling oil prices and rising costs, reportedly plans to cut 500 jobs on its offshore platforms on top of the roughly 1,400 jobs eliminated so far as it tries to slim down its organisation. More land-based employees may lose their jobs as well, as the country's oil and offshore industry stops gushing. Management unveiled the new cuts at a meeting with the company's works council. Around 500 workers on Statoil's offshore installations will likely need to find something else to do, while an unclear number of other Statoil employees may also need to leave the company. The trade unions concluded that no one has a secure job anymore.
English: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2014/10/03/statoil-plans-to-slash-more-jobs/
The government is preparing legislation allowing for 280 million zloty (some 67 million euro) from the state budget to be spent on shutting down the Kazimierz-Juliusz coal mine, putting over 1000 miners out of work. The KHW-company, one of the country's biggest coal producers, had earlier decided that the colliery was not profitable and should be closed by the end of September 2014. The decision sparked a protest from workers, who also demanded the payment of overdue salaries. On September 27, the company's management reached an agreement with the miners, who then ended their protest. The firm agreed to find employment for the workers in other coal mines. The money set aside from the state budget is meant to cover costs of closing down the mine, including redundancy payments.
English: http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/183074,State-budget-to-pay-for-coal-mine ...
A Panasonic plant based in the eastern town of Krompachy (Kosice Region, a region with an unemployment rate between 15-20%) plans to shut down its production of Blu-ray players and recorders, DVD recorders and printed circuit boards (PCB) for TV sets, and move to Plzen, in the Czech Republic. The end of the production of all video products is scheduled for December 31, with the remaining production ending as of May 2015. As a result, at least 400 people will lose their jobs. The closing of the plant should actually concern 656 permanent employees, with 215 of them to be offered jobs in Plzen. Trade unions and workers' representatives heard from the company that it is ready to assist workers in their seeking new jobs while lending a hand in the organising of job fairs that will be attended by leading temp agencies.
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/55428/10/panasonic_will_close_plant ...
A long-anticipated 126-page expert report, commissioned by the public prosecutor, clearly states the Soma mining catastrophe (see our May Newsletter) was preventable. While eight high-level managers of the mine's operating company have already been arrested in connection with the tragedy, the report points the finger of blame at almost everyone involved in the mine, including ministry bureaucrats, with the exception of the miners themselves. `The only innocent group is the workers,' says the report.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/soma-mine-was-a-death-trap-report-shows
Members of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) voted in favour of walkouts by 82% (a margin of more than four to one) and will join other health workers on strike for four hours on October 13. The action is in protest at the decision by the Government not to pay all NHS staff a 1% pay rise, which was recommended by the independent Pay Review Body. It is the first time members of the college will go on strike in its 133-year history. Members of Unison and Unite, which between them represent about 400,000 NHS personnel including nurses, voted for the same four-hour strike, followed by a work to rule for the rest of that week.
English: http://www.middevongazette.co.uk/Midwives-strike-time-133-year-history ...
An annual report of a survey among employers shows that workers are still confronted with pay cuts (1 in 10 employers), though the economy is recovering. Almost a quarter of the responding employers reduced the provisions and working conditions, and almost 50% have started with the item of demotion or the positioning of the regular workforce in lower paid jobs. Workers are confronted with a lowering of the applicable wage scale, with non-application of entitled pay increases or the cut back of the 13th month payment.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/10/one_in_four_dutch_employers ...
Dutch: https://touchpoint.adp.nl/publicaties/hr-trends/salaris-inleveren-demotie ...
A 59-year-old Hungarian painter decorator has tragically died after falling from a ladder whilst working in Austria. The man was working on a building in Aspang-Markt in Lower Austria when he fell and was seriously injured. His boss, who was paying him in cash, refused to call an ambulance and made a fellow worker drive the injured for more than an hour - a distance of 90 km - to a hospital across the border in Hungary. The authorities are investigating the decorating company.
English: http://www.thelocal.at/20141010/illegal-worker-dies-after-ladder-fall-in-austria
The employer association Dansk Industri (DI) has stressed the importance of having an international workforce. Unemployment is at its lowest since 2006 and DI predicts that it will fall even more in the coming years. According to DI, almost half of their member companies employ workers from abroad, and foreigners currently fill 123,000 full-time positions. The organisation suggested reducing the income threshold for getting a work permit from 375,000 to 325,000 kroner per year so that the professional competences that are lacking domestically can be secured.
English: http://cphpost.dk/news/companies-can-t-cope-without-foreigners ...