An analysis of Eurofound describes the labour market situation of young people in Europe, focusing in particular on their school-to-work transition, while also monitoring their more general transition to adulthood. The report investigates the ability of young people to remain in employment against the odds during the crisis and charts their transitions from temporary to permanent contracts. In many Member States, temporary jobs are associated with lower wages and more difficult access to training opportunities and benefits (such as paid holidays, sick leave, unemployment insurance and other fringe benefits). The crisis increased the proportion of temporary employees making a transition to unemployment (from 11.6% to 18.5%). More than a quarter of temporary employees in Europe moved to permanent contracts in 2006-2007, and this transition rate slowed down slightly to around 23% during the crisis period.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications ...
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Trade unions organised a general strike to protest against the mounting pressure on wages and working conditions in the country. Pressed by foreign business interests, the government has approved changes that worsened minimum wage entitlements, employment provisions, pensions and disability insurance without any form of consultation. After various requests for social dialogue were ignored, unions resorted to organising a general strike.
English: http://www.ituc-csi.org/serbia-general-strike-to-protect ...
http://www.industriall-union.org/industriall-global-unions-affiliates ...
Cosco Pacific workers at Pireaus dock have earned a seat at the negotiation table after threatening a three-day strike. The dock workers are angry that their labour contracts do not allow them to unionise. The furthermore protest against the secrecy surrounding wage agreements, with rumours that some workers are paid less than they should, and against company practices to call in workers via cell phone messages. The strike was cancelled when company management said it was ready to meet some of the demands and invited the workers to negotiations.
English: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/07/19/strike-at-cosco-dock-in-greece/
http://www.seatrade-global.com/news/asia/pireaus-dock-workers-withdraw-strike-threat.html
Workers of the Avtomagistrali-Tcherno More construction company have started an ongoing protest. They first staged a peaceful protest due to unpaid salaries for April and May. A total of 600 employees gathered in front of the Regional administration in a silent protest. The company stated that the payment is delayed by the Road Infrastructure Agency. During the third protest of the employees within two weeks, they again urged to receive their payments for activities done on Hemus motorway. There were several police teams at the place who observed for strict compliance with the order during the blockade, but did not stop the protesters to express their position. Workers ask the head of the Road Infrastructure Agency to resign.
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles/161890/
http://www.novinite.com/articles/162127/
http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2014/07/15 ...
Members of the Finnish Electrical Workers' Union working for railway company VR Track have gone back to work, but announced new strikes might be organised. The workers, who fall under the labour agreement for railway workers demand to be treated equal to electric installation specialists under the Electrical Workers' Union collective agreement. The parties are not hopeful that a solution to the conflict will be found soon, with VR already announcing it is considering a two week lockout from 31 July.
English: http://yle.fi/uutiset/vr_strike_ends_but_labour_disputes_continue ...
Trade Union Unite is taking legal action against Northampton General Hospital (NGH) for replacing striking workers by agency workers. The hospital's haematologists have been on strike for three weeks over an imposed 6,000 ($10,272) cut in out-of-hours pay and a proposal to double their night-time shift patterns. To cover their workload, the hospital has started to encourage agency workers to set themselves up as limited companies in order to exploit a loophole in the regulations against strike breaking.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News ...
The 64 unions representing energy workers have reached a new collective agreement with energy company Energias de Portugal (EDP Group). The agreement covers some 6,700 employees working in 23 companies controlled by the EDP Group. The agreement includes a standard working week of 38 hours as well as the retention of compensatory rest for overtime, a 25% premium on night work and 24 days of annual leave.
English: http://www.edp.pt/en/Investidores/informacaoprivilegiada ...
With negotiations are still ongoing a labour dispute that saw a cargo ship with 18 Romanian sailors and their Russian captain stuck in Canada for two weeks without food and water has been partially resolved. A trade union spokesperson said eight of the sailors and their captain, on the ship owned by German company Intersee, have been given three months' worth of wages that were owed them. Seafarers' International Union of Canada added they will be flying home, while the others will stay to handle cargo the crew wouldn't deliver during the strike. The sailors went without food and water for two weeks and got so desperate they yelled at passing fishermen for gear so they could catch something to eat, though supplies were later delivered by supporters.
English: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/dispute-partially-settled ...
The 165,000 municipal workers have a new collective agreement. The agreement was reached after 1.5 years of negotiation and its clauses will apply retroactively from 1 January 2013 until 1 January 2016. The agreement includes a one-time payment of €350, a 1% pay increase as of 1 October 2014 and a €50 per month increase from April 2015 onwards. Due to the flat rate increase, the pay rise will represent about 4% for the lowest earning employees and 2.5% for the average employee. Workers who have worked for a municipality for at least 24 months or have had three temporary contracts will get permanent contracts. The agreement also includes a pledge to employ 1500 young workers (under 27) for at least one year.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/10655
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/over-ons/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/2014/07 ...
Negotiators of employers and trade unions have reached a collective agreement that will run from 1 September 2014 until 31 December 2015 if approved by the union members. The agreement includes a wage increase of 1.25% from 1 September 2014 and another 0.75% from 1 June 2015. Secondly, the performance related end-of-year bonus will be converted to a fixed bonus of 2.75%. The agreement also includes a more flexible leave system to accommodate employees from non-Christian religious backgrounds.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/10663
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/over-ons/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/2014/07 ...