Collective Bargaining

The Labour Relations Commission with officials from the Department of Education and from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform failed to resolve a four-year dispute at the Tyndall National Institute. The institute is the country's largest research centre with around 460 researchers and support staff. Workers are University College Cork staff, but currently there is a gap of 10% to 20% between their pay and that of their colleagues in UCC. The trade unions warned of further industrial action.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0122/499421-tyndall-institute-cork/
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ucc-concerned-after-tyndall-staff-picket ...

According to the Labour Force Survey the number of persons in the labour force in December 2013 was 185,100, of those 8,200 persons where unemployed. The activity rate was 80.9%, the employment rate was 77.3% and the unemployment rate was 4.4%. Comparison between December 2012 and 2013 shows that activity rate has increased by 0.8 percentage points and employment rate has increased by 1.6 points. At the same time the unemployment rate has decreased by 1.1 percentage point. Real wages decreased in December 2014 by 0.6% from the previous month.
English: http://www.statice.is ...
http://www.statice.is ...

A TUC report shows how people's chances of having a job have fallen in four English regions - the West Midlands, the North West, the North East and the South West. The North East and London have performed best over the last twenty years, with employment rates increasing by over five percentage points since the 1990s, in spite of the recession. However, even between the London boroughs there are big local differences. On the other hand, a report from the temporary agency sector suggests that a growing proportion of businesses have no capacity to take on more work without creating new jobs. Technical and engineering, computing and IT, and education and training are the areas in which employers expect to have the most difficultly sourcing appropriately skilled candidates for permanent roles.
English: http://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Economic ...
https://www.rec.uk.com/news-and-policy/press-releases/employers-lack-workforce-capacity ...

A High Court judge ruled that a safety rep from trade union UCATT blacklisted for his safety activities was treated unjustly, but the worker has no legal redress because he was an agency employee. Dave Smith, a founder member of the Blacklist Support Group, was repeatedly dismissed and refused work after his name appeared on a blacklist (see several items in our database www.cbnarchive.eu). A large file held by the blacklisting company, The Consulting Association-TCA, itemises concerns raised by the safety rep about asbestos, poor toilet facilities and contaminated waste on building sites controlled by Carillion companies. The judge identified human rights violations and expressed concern that Smith had `suffered an injustice from blacklisting', but said that UK employment law does not protect agency workers.
English: http://www.hazards.org/blacklistblog/2014/01/22/blacklisting-case-highlights ...

Portuguese workers at a large tunnel site near Maastricht, who had nearly €1,000 a month deducted from their wages for housing and travel, will get back around €400 for each month they have worked on the project. The building consortium will not refund all the living costs deducted from the wages of foreign workers involved with the project. The foreign workers' working hours are now being closely monitored and they have all now been brought under Dutch employment law. An independent report into union claims had concluded that the official pay and working conditions were not respected.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/01/a2_builder_will_not_pay_back ...

In a briefing published by the European trade union federation EPSU the arguments of those promoting austerity are analysed and found wanting - rather than any beneficial effect on confidence, the opposite is the case: austerity makes matters worse by undermining confidence. The briefing argues that the austerity advocates totally ignore the role of the public sector and cuts in social expenditure that fundamentally increase insecurity in society, resulting in excessive precautionary savings. Secondly, these advocates tend to forget that our economies are still suffering from a deep financial crisis.
English: http://www.epsu.org/IMG/pdf/2014_01_21_Briefing2_austerity.pdf

Because of low salaries the country loses about 500 physicians a year to emigration. The doctors' trade union stated this in an alert. According to a 2011 study, Bulgaria ranks lowest among EU countries in terms of remuneration for doctors, which for that year was 307 euro compared to 2,180 euro in the UK, 3,842 euro in Germany, and 4,569 euro in France.
English: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/bleeding-doctors ...

The national rail operator SJ announced that it was laying off 400 staff members in part of a savings package. The majority of the jobs will be cut back in the administration department where 237 people will be culled, mostly in the Stockholm head office but also in Gothenburg, Malm” and Krylbo in eastern Sweden. The management said to be willing to look in the negotiations with the unions at different packages and offers for those who are leaving.
English: http://www.thelocal.se/20140121/sj-cuts-400-jobs-as-passengers-turn-to-web

The pharmaceutical giant Novartis is cutting up to 500 jobs at its Basel headquarters and pharmaceuticals division as part of a restructuring plan, a move that could include layoffs. The company said the job reductions were necessary to guarantee the `necessary resources' for the launch of products this year.
English: http://www.thelocal.ch/20140121/novartis-lops-500-pharma-jobs-in-basel

The European Transport Federation of trade unions (ETF) called for a European Action Day to demand a social dimension as part of a raft of industry reform proposals under the title Single European Sky. Controllers will hold parallel walkouts, rallies, meetings and strikes across Europe calling on the European Parliament to stop a `never-ending process of liberalisation and cost cutting in the ATM industry'. The Air Traffic Controllers European Unions Coordination (ATCEUC) has planned a strike on 29 January. The actions coincide with a vote on 30 January by the Transport Committee of the European Parliament on the package called SES2+ based on market principles, top-down approach and cost reductions which the ETF claims will jeopardise safety and the number and quality of jobs.
English: http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2014/01/air-traffic-unions-team ...
http://www.etf-atm.org/single-european-sky/229-european-action-day-on-30-january-2014.html