Collective Bargaining

Hourly labour costs increase year-on-year in Cyprus (6.1%) in Q3 were nearly three times the eurozone average (2.6%) and double that of the EU28 (3.1%). In the second quarter of 2019, hourly labour costs increased by 2.8% (euro area), 3.2% (EU28) and 6.1% (Cyprus), according to data published by Eurostat. In Cyprus, the costs of hourly wages and salaries rose by 4.0% and the non-wage component rose by 16.7% in Q3 2019. In Q2 2019, annual changes were +4.1% and +17.1%, respectively.

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After two years that saw heavy investments offshore salaries in oil industry rise. For the 225,000 Norwegians who work in oil and gas, this is good news. Wage inflation has pushed the average oil industry salary for academic- and science-based jobs to NOK 1 million a year (€100,000), the engineer-heavy union, Tekna, says in a statement.

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Due to the disproportionately low allowances, six surgeons out of the total of seven submitted their resignation in a South-Pest hospital. According to the Director General, the situation does not affect the institution’s high level of health care services. He revealed that negotiations are still going on – the doctors have not yet accepted the increased allowances and the improvement of working conditions.

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After already having laid off 2,000 employees since 2018, new reorganization plans add an extra 900 people redundant. In 2018, Samsung closed down another plant, in Voderady, and moved a part of the production to Hungary. The trade union will try to negotiate good terms for the people involved.

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Nearly 70% of surveyed entrepreneurs consider the lack of skilled labour as the biggest obstacle in their work, said the chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA). He presented the annual survey among BIA members on the business climate over the past year and expectations for 2020. The survey was conducted among 792 company managers.

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The Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftsbund (SGB, Swiss Trade Union Confederation) examined the average pensions in sectors with a high proportion of women and part-time employees. In many of these sectors, second pillar pensions are extremely low. There is an urgent need for improvement in the pension situation for women in part-time jobs.

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The radical Workers’ Party (PvdA/PTB) started a petition for a minimum pension of €1,500 a month. The petition gathered 100,000 signatures in just three months. The goal of the petition is to launch a citizens’ initiative law, which has to be voted on in parliament, and which requires 25,000 signatures to a petition. That threshold has already been reached and more. The party intends to go on to gather 250,000 signatures.

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Trade union Verdi called for workers at a key Amazon (AMZN.O) logistics center in Germany to go on strike over the crucial final shopping days before Christmas, demanding better pay and conditions for workers there. Since 2013 workers at Amazon have repeatedly gone on strike for better pay and working conditions. This year 2,000 workers were called by the union to strike at six logistics centres during one of the most important shopping days of the year, Black Friday, just before Christmas. Amazon refuses to recognize the conditions under which other retail employees work and that are agreed upon in collective agreements.

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Currently, minimum wage is € 9.65 per hour or €1,340 euros net per month. According to the socialist trade union FGTB/ABVV this is not enough to meet every day’s expenses. Therefore, the trade union started a campaign, the “Fight for €14”, aiming at an increase of minimum wage to €14 per hour (€2.300 per month). This plan was debated in federal parliament. While waiting for the decision on the proposed bills, the union asks for at least a 3.5% increase of the minimum wage.

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More than 300 flights to and from Italy were cancelled due to a planned one-day strike by workers from Alitalia and Air Italy. The 24-hour strike, which involved pilots, flight attendants and ground personnel, was called by three unions to draw attention to what they called ‘the ongoing crisis at Alitalia and Air Italy’. Money-losing Alitalia has been under special administration since 2017 when employees rejected a restructuring plan that would have laid off 1,700 workers out of an approximately 11,000.

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