Collective Bargaining

In a survey it was noted that there is actually only a small rise in the country's happiness levels since 2003. Having studied people's economic habits, values, and happiness levels via the survey since 1985, the researchers conclude Norwegians (in the homogenous land of oil and money) also feel happier the more they earn. But, the authors think that the money=happiness pendulum is beginning to swing back more towards idealism than in the 90s.
English: http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/norwegians-happiness-wage-level-connection ... [close]

The parliament passed a new Law on the reduction of net wages for public sector employees. Other amendments provide for a two-year ban on employment of new workers in the public sector, in force until December 31, 2015. Under the adopted law, the total number of part-time workers will be limited to 10% of the total number of employees in an agency or institution that is directly or indirectly financed from the budget, and new workers can be employed only with the consent of a government body, on the recommendation by a ministry or other competent body.
English: http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business ...

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Fashion giant H&M announced that it could raise retail prices in the future in order to pay better wages to some of the world's poorest textile workers. The announcement came at a meeting with pressure groups in Stockholm where H&M unveiled plans to improve pay rates for textile workers in countries such as Bangladesh where the minimum wage is less than $70 (50 euros) a month. The company will use its size and influence with suppliers to push for fairer wages, training for workers, and recognition of the role of trade unions in pay negotiations.
English: http://www.france24.com/en/20131209-hm-may-raise-prices-pay-workers-more/

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A strike at electricity provider ESB was averted after management and unions reached a deal over the company's pension fund deficit. The deal includes that classification of the scheme as defined benefit instead of defined contribution, contains a clause saying that workers and management will engage in negotiations when new deficits arise and law suits brought by several ESB employees will be dropped. Only days after the deal, however, a new row arose as management and unions has different understandings of the ESB capital injection into the fund in order to turn it into a defined benefit scheme.
English: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/strike-averted-but-row-erupts-between ...

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EADS, the maker of Airbus, is set to announce a draconian restructuring plan to unions that may include thousands of job cuts and strain relations with shareholders Germany and France. The company's defence and space operations, both suffering a drop in orders, require urgent attention, not the successful Airbus business. In November 2013 trade union IG Metall held an industrial action as a warning against the company's plans. In a letter to the government, unions in France wondered why a company `with a 650 billion euro order book was not able to maintain job sites.'
English: http://www.thelocal.de/20131207/airbus-parent-eads-to-downsize ...

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Almost 100 staff at Heineken UK branches across Lothian are facing redundancy after the beer giant announced plans to shift the bulk of its operations to Poland. The job losses - mainly from the finance departments in Edinburgh and Livingston - are part of a major restructuring process `to maintain competitiveness' that leads to a transfer to the firm's global shared facilities in Krakow. Heineken UK is said to help redundant staff members find employment elsewhere. Most of the affected workforce is likely to be based in the Livingston office with a smaller number from their Edinburgh HQ being made redundant.
English: http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/lothian-job-losses-as-heineken ...

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The statistical office published complete figures for the year 2011. Though the country has been considered as relatively untouched by the crisis GDP in 2011 decreased by 2.7% (after an increase in 2010 of 8.1%). The share of financial services in the economy is high (27%). Whilst the overall income increase of wage earners almost stabilised (plus 0.2%), the overall increase for capital owners was substantial (plus 78.1%).
German: http://www.volksblatt.li/medienarchiv/pdf-llv-as-volkswirtschaftliche ...

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Workers were trapped in an improvised dormitory built above a warehouse in the Macrolotto industrial district of Prato, known for its large number of garment factories. Seven people died and three were injured. The disaster prompted immediate questions about the conditions on the site and in a network of similar workshops operating in the area between Florence and Prato, which is noted for its large number of Chinese-owned textile manufacturing businesses, many operating on the fringes of legality. The trade unions stated that the disaster underlined the unsafe conditions in which the hundreds if not thousands of people are living and working in conditions of near-slavery.
English: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/02/italian-textile-factory ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/world/europe/deadly-factory-fire-bares-racial-tensions ...
http://www.industriall-union.org/fire-kills-seven-and-injures-three-in-italy

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Gate Gourmet workers at Geneva Airport have their pay and working conditions governed since 1997 by a collective agreement negotiated by their trade union, the Public Service Workers Union (SSP). Despite improving profits at Geneva Airport, the company proposed salary cuts and fewer benefits in collective bargaining in 2013. Gate Gourmet skyjacked the bargaining process by summoning workers to one-on-one meetings to press them to sign new contracts. With 86 workers refusing to sign, the company upped the pressure by giving notice of termination effective December 30 with the possibility of re-engagement on new, poorer wages and conditions effective 1 January 2014. In reaction workers went on strike.
English: http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/2974

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Recruitment firm Randstad has reached an agreement over the restructuring of its operations in Belgium announced earlier this year and reported in the June 2013 newsletter. The restructuring will affect 114 jobs in management and support functions, as opposed to the 165 jobs that appeared threatened in June.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News/Belgium ...

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