Collective Bargaining

Workers at a Kimberly Clark plant reached a settlement after two particularly major demands of the strikers were accepted by the local management. With the new collective agreement, notice periods have been substantially increased which trade union Tmka-Is considers a remarkable step forward towards job security. The union members also gained high wage increases. Particular regulations have been made for lower-wage earners which has brought more equality in wage scales.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/kimberly-clark-workers-in-turkey-end ...
Hard fought victory for Georg Fischer workers
July 24, 2014
A new collective agreement at Georg Fischer Hakan Plastik was negotiated under harsh conditions and finally came about after a long fight and an international solidarity campaign in alliance with IndustriALL. Trade union Lastik-Is began fighting for such an agreement immediately after it had been certified as the official trade union by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Hakan Plastik management came to the negotiation table after several attempts to dispute the certification and continued its union busting practices throughout the process (reported in the April 2014 newsletter). Amongst others, the company fired several union activists, attempted to bribe employees not to join the union and tried to exclude mechanics, electricians, quality controllers, forklift operators and experienced workers from the collective agreement. After a long battle and union action against the Swiss based multinational in both Turkey and Switzerland, an agreement was reached.
English: http://www.industriall-union.org/international-union-campaign-delivers ...
Collective agreement at Amcor Tobacco Packaging plant Izmir
July 17, 2014
Weeks after being recognised as the plant's official union, Basin-Is reached a collective agreement that will cover all 200 workers at the Amcor Tobacco Packaging Izmir plant. The union fought for recognition for over three years, overcoming both legal and business obstacles. After receiving recognition, the union and management quickly agreed on a collective agreement that includes an additionalÿsocial premium, increase ofÿwages and financial benefits, paid annual leave, health and safety and participation in decision making.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/news/collective-agreement-signed-amcor-tobacco ...
Collective agreement for journalists at BirGn newspaper
July 14, 2014
The Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) and BirGn newspaper have reached their second collective agreement. The agreement includes a 12% wage increase, a child allowance of 500 TRY (? 175), marriage or partnership allowance of 500 TRY bonus and protection against harassmentÿat workplace. The agreement also includes a holiday for female journalists on the International Women's Day, 18 weeks paid maternity leave, 1-day paid leaveÿper month on request for female workers during theirÿmenstruation, holiday for all journalists willing to participate to the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia on 17 May. A workers' committee will be set up to ensure the editorial independence of the paper.
English: http://www.ifj.org/nc/news ...

The governmental Office of Statistics published the results of the regular economic survey for the 2nd quarter of 2014 with separate figures for several industries. The companies that participated react rather optimistic about the economic outlook. However, expectations with regard to the employment development stabilised.
German: http://www.llv.li/files/as/14Q2Konjunkturumfrage.pdf

The central administration SECO has reported (in several languages) on the employment situation. The number of registered unemployed people inched up in the month of July for the first time in six months, although the national jobless rate remained at 2.9%, unchanged from the previous month. Youth unemployment increased to 11.3%.
English: http://www.thelocal.ch/20140808/swiss-unemployment-inches-higher-in-july
French: http://www.news.admin.ch ...
Italian: http://www.news.admin.ch ...
German: http://www.news.admin.ch ...

The national statistics office Statec is expecting the next indexation of wages to take place in the first quarter of 2015, with inflation to stay below 1% this year. For 2014, Statec estimates that inflation will be at 0.9%. Because of low inflation there will be no indexation of wages this year, by which wages are matched to inflation in order to maintain purchasing power. The next indexation payment is expected within the first quarter of 2015, following the 2% increase in VAT in January 2015.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/business/inflation-indexation-of-wages-in-early-2015 ...
French: http://www.statistiques.public.lu/fr/actualites/economie-finances/prix ...

The Wall Street Journal has published a background article that describes the poor perspectives and the financial and psychological struggle that comes with being older and unemployed in a country where the economy has shrunk by almost a quarter in six years. Experts say that the shock has been so severe that older workers are unlikely to ever hold full-time jobs again. While youth unemployment is still a record for the EU-almost 60% of people aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2013-the unemployment rate among older males is about twice the euro-zone average. Recent pension reforms, meanwhile, mean older men who have lost their jobs could be looking at several years of no income.
English: http://online.wsj.com/articles/older-greek-men-feel-pain-of-job-losses ...

The workers' representatives in a plant of PKC Estonia, a subsidiary of the Finnish owned company, which manufactures electronics for the automotive industry, were informed by the management that the factory in Haapsalu will close by the end of the year, which will result in 347 local jobs being terminated or transferred. The plant in Haapsalu manufactures wiring components. The PKC-plant in Keila, which employs 826, will remain open. About 100 of the employees will be offered positions at Keila, which is expanding its role within PKC to become the company's main centre for Europe- and Brazil-bound products. In 2012 PKC won top honours at the Entrepreneurship Awards, the country's most prestigious annual business award.
English: http://news.err.ee/v/economy ...

Employees of Larnaca bus company Zinonas cut short a 24-hour strike after the confirmation that they will receive in full their wages for July. They had requested the immediate pay by the company of last month's wages so that tourists and other public transport users were not inconvenienced by the work stoppage. According to the workers' union the delay in the payment of wages was due a disagreement between the employer and the Ministry of Communications.
English: http://incyprus.philenews.com/en-gb/Top-Stories-News ...

IT company KMD announced the cutting of 120 positions. The job cuts - motivated by dropping prices and greater competition - will be scattered throughout the company. The move is the third round of firings in recent history for the company. There were two in 2013, the first costing around 100 jobs and the second trimming another 244.
English: http://cphpost.dk/news/kmd-lays-off-120 ...

The central employers' organisation has stated that the fund of gross salaries in the public sector must be reduced by 25%. The organisation said that it is better to do it now and avoid bankruptcy, than to afterwards cut salaries by 40%. The employers also requested a reduction of taxes and contributions paid for salaries from 65 to 40%. They claim that this would make workers more competitive than those in the Czech Republic, where the gross wage is the same as in Serbia, `but workers take home more money and give less to the state and less to the pension fund.'
English: http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business ...

A collective agreement for academic staff at the University of Malta and the Junior College for the period between 2014 and 2018 was settled. It was signed by the University Rector, the trade union for academic staff union UMASA and the teacher's trade union. The agreement places salary increases for academic staff in parallel with those of other civil service workers. In the meantime, the situation in the island's trade union movement is quite turbulent with much infighting and rivalry. Efforts are made to bring unions together and several new unions or union sections are set up in the wake of a Bill which would grant members of the police force, army, civil protection, detention services and prison warders the right to join a trade union.
English: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/42023/collective_agreement ...
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140728/editorial/New-bid-to-bring-unions ...