Trade unions, employers and the state have validated the national wage agreement that was reached a month before (see September newsletter). While the central wage agreement between unions' and employers' confederations was reached on 30 August, its validation remained dependent on the support of the member unions and employers who had until 25 October to negotiate 280 collective agreements. The first good news for the agreement was the support of technology industries, including metal, whose agreements are seen as leading for the country. By 25 October, enough unions and employers signed up to the agreement for it to be validated by the confederations. Several industries, including the food and construction workers, have dropped out of the agreement. No agreement has yet been reached in the aviation sector. The national wage agreement includes a €20 flat rate increase in the first year and a 0.4% increase in the second.
English: http://jokinen.kaapeli.fi/index.php/en/trade-union-news-from-finland/229-union ...
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/8172-labour-market-organisations ...
http://yle.fi/uutiset/national_wage_agreement_is_born/6902308
Focus on Finland's national wage agreements: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/country/finland_4.htm
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Workers from across the globe are keeping up the pressure in support of striking Turkish Airlines (THY) workers who were unfairly sacked by phone, email or text. Aviation workers have been in dispute with THY over their right to strike and the dismissal of 305 workers who took industrial action in May 2012. The latest wave of action, which ran from 7-20 October, aimed to raise awareness of the workers' situation among THY passengers. THY workers have been striking for nearly 170 days. The action is organised by THY workers' union Hava-Is. The company refuses to reinstate the 305 and to accept any bargaining proposals put forward by Hava-Is.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/9727
http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/2875
In a protest against plans to move their work from Tampere to Helsinki-Vantaa airport workers handling air traffic control threatened a strike from the end of October. The threat was intended to add a sense of urgency to current negotiations on terms and conditions in addition to protesting at the Tampere switch. However, the latest news is that an agreement has been reached and the industrial action has been cancelled.
English: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2013/10/30 ...
http://yle.fi/uutiset/air_traffic_controllers_threaten_go-slow/6881289
A newspaper reports that staffing agency Werk & Ik, which has been praised for its 'creative approach', is exploiting workers from Eastern Europe. The agency, with a turnover of €12m and with Schiphol airport, Swissair and Amsterdam's RAI exhibition centre among its clients, requires temporary workers to work long days, often for less than the official wages. The company, set up in 2009, does not give its workers pay slips and deducts €2.50 an hour from wages for a bed in a garage. This takes the price of a place to sleep up to €150 a week.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2013/10/praised_staffing_agency_accuse ...
Dublin Bus has said it will begin to implement a €11m cost cutting plan without delay, after a ballot of drivers resulted in 55% voting in favour of the cost-reduction measures. However, the ballot has split the drivers' unions, with the National Bus and Rail Union passing the plan and SIPTU rejecting it. The long-running row about pay cuts led to a three-day strike in August.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1025/482657-dublin-bus-ballot/
http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/2013/10/30/dublin-bus-to-press-ahead-with-cuts ...
Bank employees are to hold a national strike Oct. 31, the first such action in 13 years, in a dispute with the country's banking association over employment contracts. The FABI union, which represents most of the country's 330,000 bank tellers and other employees, has agreed with other union groups to hold a strike in response to the Italian Banking Association's (ABI) decision to annul the sector employment contract nearly a year before it expires. In the September Newsletter the cancellation of the collective agreement in the banking sector was already signalled.
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/28/us-italy-banks-strike ...
http://www.4-traders.com/INTESA-SANPAOLO-SPA-68944/news/Italy-Bank-Workers-to-Strike ...
The national federation of private employees (Oiye) has called a 24-hour national strike in a row between the government and workers in the retail sector over a measure providing for stores to stay open on Sunday. Under law 4177, which was passed a few months ago, stores remain open on a number of Sundays every year. The strike is called to defend the day of rest as well as to urge the 'reinstatement of all the main workers' rights' which according to the union were scrapped with the implementation of the Memorandum signed by the government with its international creditors as part of an economic recovery plan.
English: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/economics/2013/10/30 ...
The minister of labour and social policy announced the government aims to increase the minimum wage from the current level of BGN 310 (?158) to BGN 340 (?173) next year. The employers' organisations came with a statement against the increase of the minimum wages. The government is also considering increasing monthly child payments to families to the same level.
English: http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n317921
Trade unions have announced they are preparing a Christmas strike at Amazon. The strike is one in a row of walkouts that have been underway since April 2013 (see consecutive newsletters). A trade union spokesperson said that previous strikes had not affected customers, but that in the face of lack of results in the pay negotiations, this action will. Trade unions said they would hit Amazon where is hurts most, in order to force management to return to the bargaining table in good faith. The unions have organised several short strikes in an attempt to force Amazon to accept a collective agreement on employment conditions similar to deals for the mail order and retail sector, more generous than for the logistics sector. In addition to criticism over pay and working conditions for logistics workers, Amazon has come under fire for a low tax bill. Consumers' faith in the online retailer had fallen on the back of doubts whether it is `fair and ethical'.
English: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/29/amazon-staff-strike-germany
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-06/news ...
Trade unions PEO and DEOK called on municipality workers to go on a four hour strike against cuts, whereas trade union SEK refrained from industrial action. PEO and DEOK are protesting against the 12% cut in state funding in 2014. SEK has said that in a difficult time where all need to make sacrifices, they continue to participate in talks to preserve jobs.
English: http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/10/29/municipal-workers-nurses-and-pensioners-protest ...
http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/10/25/some-municipal-workers-to-go-on-strike/