Figures collected by the NGO Vlaams Netwerk tegen Armoede (Flemish Network against Poverty) show that, in Flanders, organisations providing help to the poor have seen a 20% increase in the number of people asking for help in 2013 compared to 2012. This increase comes after a 30% rise in 2012. A new trend is that those asking for help are often partners that both have a job in the family. It means that people that earned enough money in the past and lost their well-paid job due to the crisis accepted a job that earns a lot less. However, the mortgage on the house and other costs in the household remain unchanged.
English: http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News ...
Search results
Find articles
8810 articles found.
According to the trade union NGG, which represents food industry employees, most workers in the meat industry are eastern European, employed under `miserable' conditions. In recent publications also the `hidden' costs of the sector are highlighted. The sector employs a vast underclass of low-paid workers - proportionately, the biggest such sector in Western Europe - who represent the underside of the country's admired economic success. As in other advanced economies, technological change and globalisation have weakened the bargaining position of workers in routine jobs. Research suggests that many others are also missing out on the benefits of the country's robust economy. About 24% of all workers are in a `low-paid job', defined as earning less than two-thirds of the median salary. In 2006, the low pay sector accounted for less than 19% of all workers.
English: http://www.ft.com/intl ...
Focus on the environmental consequences:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/analysis-of-the-hidden-cost ...
An industrial dispute at the logistics centre of H&M in le Bourget that started already on 5 November with a strike has not been solved yet. The Court has rejected the demands of the management to end a blockade by a picket line of strikers. The protest of the workers is against a downgrading of their working conditions. They also fear the transfer of their work to a Belgian subsidiary. After interventions from the local government a round table has been initiated.
French: http://www.lefigaro.fr/social/2013/11/14 ...
http://www.leparisien.fr/espace-premium/seine-saint-denis-93/une-table-ronde ...
http://www.leparisien.fr/espace-premium/seine-saint-denis-93/statu-quo-chez-h-m ...
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK) forecasted that the national economy's output could grow between 1.3% and 2.4% next year, while investment could increase by 2-3%. Employment could grow by as much as 1.5% and MKIK expects real wages to go up by about 2% in 2014, contributing to a 1.5% higher domestic consumption than in 2013.
English: http://www.politics.hu/20131227/chamber-of-commerce-says-employment-may ...
Workers at the oil refinery plants of Total went on strike to demand higher wages for all Total workers. Negotiations had been suspended over a disagreement of the appropriate level of negotiations; Total national management refused to enter negotiations, arguing pay raises should be agreed locally. Strikes started at sites in La Mede, Gonfreville and Feyzin, while workers at the Donges plant returned to work after signing a pay deal. Later on all of Total SA refineries resumed operations after employees at Gonfreville voted to return to work, the last to come back after a strike that took 2 weeks. The trade unions CGC-CFE and CFDT agreed to a pay deal with the company. CGT that called for the industrial action didn't sign.
English: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-27/total-s-five-french-oil-refineries ...
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/27/uk-total-strike ...
The trade union confederations CCOO and UGT made a government's proposed minimum wage freeze for 2014 public in joint statements in which they rejected the government's plan. The unions said they had not been informed until a few days before the planned approval. The plan would mean that salaries will remain at a monthly minimum of 645.30 euro in 14 payments. In other words, workers who put in a full day's work will earn at least 9,034.20 euro annually. CCOO and UGT said that the purchasing power continues to fall since 2007 and many workers cannot make ends meet at the end of the month. For 2013 the Rajoy government had decided to increase the national minimum wage by a slight 0.6% after a freeze for 2012.
English: http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/12/26/inenglish ...
German airline Lufthansa cancelled four flights to and from Paris after most of its workers there called in sick. The company is in the midst of a cost-cutting programme that aims to improve profits by 1.5 billion euros. The trade unions fight for a social plan in a restructuring that threatens 199 jobs.
English: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/26/uk-lufthansa-strikes-paris ...
French: http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/2013/12/26 ...
Minimum wage will be at the centre of the talks of the social partners in their attempt to negotiate a new social pact in 2014. The theme remains one of the toughest issues of social dialogue. Employers want the system to change so as to ensure greater competitive edge and some business representatives even called for abolishing the minimum wage in 2013. The calls died down somewhat after trade unions responded with threats of massive protests. The unions insist minimum wage is a basic human right and should be adapted to inflation also in the future. Abolishing the adaptation of minimum wage to inflation would further reduce purchase power.
English: http://www.sloveniatimes.com/minimum-wage-in-focus-of-social-dialogue-in-2014
The Labour Inspectorate registered nearly 124 000 violations of labour law in the period June - November 2013. The non-payment or delay of salaries was among the most serious problems found during the inspections at around 24 000 companies with a total staff of 990 000. Trade unions reacted with a list of legislative solutions, including a proposal to abolish the option of a company experiencing financial difficulties to be entitled to pay 60% of the salary.
English: http://www.novinite.com/articles/156684/Bulgaria ...
The 305 workers that were fired after a strike in May 2012 will be reinstated following a deal between Turkish Airlines and the civil aviation union (Hava-Is). The deal includes the reinstatement of the 305 workers, a collective agreement covering the period 2013-2015 and an agreement not to hire part-time cabin crew and to shift existing part-time cabin crew contracts to full time jobs.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online ...