Collective Bargaining

The George Eliot Hospital has been saved from the clutches of the privateers thanks to a coalition of staff, patients, Unite activists and local community campaigners pressing to keep the hospital under public control. A community campaign, in which trade union Unite played a significant part, led the boards of George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) to take the decision not to pursue the procurement process to identify a partner organisation.
English: http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/victory-for-george-eliot-hospital-campaigners/

Activists in the UK, France and Germany are joining forces to take on Amazon over workers' rights and the level of tax the internet giant is paying. Activists say that 90% of Amazon's staff is on temporary contracts whereby they work very long shifts and are paid below the living wage, a concept that calculates how much people need to earn in order to not live in poverty. In the UK an activist group that cooperates with the trade union GMB has collected over 59,000 signatures asking Amazon to raise its wages and improve worker rights, demanding breaks longer than 15 minutes, an end to compulsory overtime after 10 hour shifts and the monitoring and timing of toilet breaks during working time in the online superstores' giant warehouses.
English: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/protesters-fight-against-amazon-over-living-wage ...

The Office of Statistics published provisional employment figures for the year 2013. Although the total employment increased the job growth was lower than in 2012.
German: http://www.llv.li/pdf-llv-as-beschaeftigungsstatistik_2013_vorlaeufige_ergebnisse

The employers' organisations in the private sector and the trade union federation GSEE have agreed on a national collective agreement (EGSEE), retrospective from 1 January 2014 and ending 31December 2014. Social partners did not discuss the issue of minimum wage, which is set by law. Nevertheless, a special clause was introduced according to which, if this legislation changed while the current agreement is in effect, then direct negotiations would start regarding the wage levels of the national collective agreement. Thus, the negotiations were limited to the renewal of existing rights. However, a new arrangement of parental leave was introduced.
English: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/03/26/social-partners-sign-new-collective ...

The public sector trade union JHL sees the compromise reached during tripartite negotiations between trade union confederations, the employers' federation and the government concerning the alternation leave system as a bad decision as it sets `unreasonable limits on or to becoming a substitute'. Job alternation leave is an arrangement whereby an employee and employer can come to an agreement allowing the employee to take leave for an agreed time of between 90 and 359 days. The employee gets an allowance that is 70-80% of his/her estimated unemployment benefit. The employer undertakes to hire a registered unemployed jobseeker for the duration of the employee's absence. To be entitled to the allowance the employee must have worked for at least 10 years. Under the new rules this will be 17 years.
English: http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en ...

The trade union for dental surgery assistants has ordered Mater Dei Hospital's staff not to make use of any communication devices related to work, including telephones and e-mails in a dispute that follows a meeting held earlier on between the union and the management. According to the union the management is not open to discuss the union's proposals.
English: http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-03-26/news/dental-surgery-assistants ...

In a published pay earning top list for the banking sector asset management companies are at leading positions. With employees at four funds, salaries exceed even law firms. Average salary at the number one, Danske Capital, is five times the country's average, and thrice the average of financial sector. However, the pension funds managed by these companies face criticism due to poor results. According to an OECD report the pension funds are the most expensive and the worst in European Union. The Financial Supervision Authority has also criticised pension funds for their excessive salaries.
English: http://news.postimees.ee/2740948/pension-funds-staff-at-wage-list-top

Thousands of public service workers resumed strike action across the country after negotiations over pay rises broke down. Strike action disrupted numerous airports, with the national carrier Lufthansa cancelling 600 flights. Public sector trade union Ver.di focused on major hubs such as Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf. The strikes stem from a large dispute over a pay raise of 3.5%, plus a 100 euro one-off payment, for 2.1 million federal and municipal workers. Talks aimed at settling the dispute are due to resume by the end of March.
English: http://www.thelocal.de/20140324/public-sector-strikes-to-sweep-germany ...
http://www.dw.de/lufthansa-cancels-600-flights-as-strike-hits-german-airports ...

Data released from the economy ministry revealed that 350,000 citizens lost their jobs during the country's double-dip recession, while more people became self-employed. Three quarters of the job losses were claimed in 2008, as the first recession got underway, with most of the rest being lost during the second and longest post-war recession that began in the last quarter of 2011. The details were part of the ministry's report into tax declarations between 2008 and 2012. As the recession took hold, more people set up their own ventures, with the number of self-employed growing by 128,000 during the same period, while there were 198,000 fewer people drawing retirement income. The country's jobless rate hit a record 12.9% in January 2014.
English: http://www.thelocal.it/20140326/italys-recession-claimed-350000-jobs

Eurobarometer survey data revealed that 8% of Lithuanian respondents admitted undeclared paid activities, apart from regular employment, in 2013. The country was also among the group of states where respondents are more likely to be on a variable salary, with a substantial part based on results.
English: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/65724/lithuania-third-in-undeclared-work ...