The Eurofound report Pay in Europe in the 21st century provides comparative time series on wage-bargaining outcomes across the EU Member States and Norway and investigates the different systems and levels of minimum wages in Europe at present, evaluating the implications of a hypothetical scenario of a minimum wage set at 60% of the median national wage. Collectively agreed pay remains an important driver of actual pay in many countries. In a majority of EU Member States, minimum wages are set by government regulation. Germany together with Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden are the exceptions, where minimum wages are set by collective bargaining agreements and do not cover all workers.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications ...
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Bus drivers unions have warned a new round of strikes may set off soon if threats of pay cuts are realised. After recent industrial conflicts ending in bus drivers accepting a 15 percent decrease in salaries, the workers may be faced with more cuts as management has argued the heavily subsidised transport services should be considered as being part of the public sector.
English: http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/03/06/more-trouble-at-bus-companies/
Workers at Aldi managed to stop plans to open the supermarket's coastal stores on Sundays and public holidays during the tourist season and school holidays. Aldi management announced its intention to open the stores on Sundays in the beginning of February. The supermarket offered higher wages for work on Sundays as well as stating that no employee would be forced to take Sunday shifts. A trade union survey indicated that 99% of the staff did not want to work on Sundays. In subsequent negotiations trade union representatives positioned themselves fervently against Sunday openings and the proposal was withdrawn.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/news/belgian-aldi-workers-victory-against-work-sundays
The Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, seeking to start controversial mining operations that made news around the world last year, has suspended the contracts of 392 workers, sending them into structural unemployment. The corporation's management has said the suspension of the contract is done in reaction to repeated delays in the evaluation and permitting procedures of the operation. Management said the workers will be reinstated if permits are granted to start the mining operations, but that they will be laid off if no permits are received.
English: http://www.balkans.com/open-news ...
Over a 100 agency workers have occupied recruitment offices in Nantes, Lyon and Paris to protest against changes that would reduce their rights to unemployment insurance after the completion of assignments. Amongst others, offices of Synergy, Randstad, Adecco and Derichebourg were occupied. Trade union officials noted that agency workers are already in a precarious position, which would be further deteriorated if their access to unemployment benefits is reduced.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News/France ...
A draft education bill that is being debated in Parliament foresees in large scale privatisation of education and the dismissal of all school managers in the country. The current school managers have been elected by school communities. Under the new bill, they would be dismissed and replaced by new school managers to be appointed by the provincial governors. Trade unions have organised protests and started strike actions against the reform.
English: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/news_details/2901
Workers from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have massively fallen victim to job scams in Sochi. NGO Astra reports that an estimated 500 Serbians worked in Russia in the preparations for the Olympic Games, many of whom did so under dire circumstances. The NGO has received over twenty reports of workers who had not received the salaries they were promised or were even deported after work permits turned out to have been false.
English: http://www.eurasiareview.com/02032014-russia-workers-fall-victim ...
Data from Eurostat indicated that the unemployment rate of non-studying Bulgarians under 25 years of age has risen sharply in 2013. Rising by about 63,000 people, the youth unemployment rate was 30% in January 2014. The overall unemployment rate was 12.5% for women and 13.4% for men.
English: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php ...
The latest statistics on wage released by Sedlak&Sedlak show that the highest average wages in Poland are earned in Warsaw. The average wage in Warsaw was PLN 6,000 (?1416). Wages in the capital are followed by Gdansk and Wroclaw (?1109) and Poznan (?1062).
English: http://www.newpolandexpress.pl/polish_news_story-6371-warsaw_tops ...
The Living Wage Commission that watches over the payment of the statutory minimum wages released the report Working for poverty. The report provides a detailed analysis of the rise of low pay and working poverty, shows that spiralling living costs and stagnating wages at the bottom create a `double squeeze' on the lowest paid. The 5 million people in low paid employment have the smallest budget elasticity, and are therefore hit hardest by rising living costs. The trade union confederation TUC stated that a government's announcement that came later this month and named and shamed five employers for not paying the minimum wage was a welcome start towards a more transparent enforcement of the legal minimum wage.
English: http://livingwagecommission.org.uk/new-report-from-the-living-wage-commission ...
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/britain-needs-pay-rise/tuc-welcomes-government ...