Collective Bargaining

A list with labour costs, published recently by the economics weekly Talousel„m„ (issue 20/2013), comprises figures from the hundred largest employers (not including public sector employers). Number one on the list, the minerals and metals processing company Outotec, last year paid out €81,373 per employee in direct and indirect labour costs. The other end of the list comprises retailers and companies that offer property maintenance services, such as cleaning. The lowest labour costs per employee were for the property services companies Contineo (?24,823) and Solemo (?25,612). Also the globally operating service providers ISS and Sodexo and the German retailer Lidl's Finnish subsidiary Lidl Suomi are to be found among the bottom-10 companies with their less than €30,000 per employee labour costs.
English: http://www.jokinen.kaapeli.fi/index.php/trade-union-news-from-finland/161 ...

During the 2012 autumn bargaining round in the metalworking sector efforts were made by the sector's largest (mandatory) employer organisation and subsector organisation, the Association of Austrian Machinery & Metalware Industries FMMI, to opt out from the communal bargaining process (see the archive www.cbnarchive.eu for more details). For forty years, a (voluntary) collective bargaining community on the employer side has taken part in the sectoral collective bargaining process, consisting of six different employer organisations, which are all subsector units, including the FMMI. In 2012, the specific subsector employer organisations all conducted separate negotiations and concluded six agreements. In the fore field of this year's negotiations the FMMI has refused to come to the joint table. According to the unions the FMMI aim is to destroy the collective bargaining system.
German: http://www.oegb.at/servlet/ContentServer ...
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn1301019s/at1301011q.htm

The government has presented a new bill on strike, intending to replace the current legislation dating from 1996. Amongst other things, the bill covers minimum service, venues for staging strikes, protection of property, and the method of resolving labour disputes. One of the controversies revolves around the venues where industrial actions can be undertaken. Currently actions can only take place on the premises of the employer, whereas the new law proposes to allow strikes on other locations as well. Trade unions have declared their general satisfaction with the draft bill, while they would prefer the principle of collective bargaining to be more firmly anchored in the text; employers have protested against the bill, arguing foreign investment will dry up if it comes into force.
English: http://inserbia.info/news/2013/07/serbia-what-is-so-controversial-about ...
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business ...
Focus on Serbian industrial relations: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications ...

Voters will have a final say in September on a step towards liberalisation - allowing shops at some petrol stations to do business around the clock. A broad alliance of trade unions, left-wing parties and church groups sees the initiative for this referendum, heavily sponsored by the centre-right Radical Party, but also backed up by centrist parties, as a further episode in the fight to protect labour rights, as the reform might open the floodgates for the whole retail sector. The fear is that, if petrol station shops are allowed to sell the full range of products 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it will soon become the rule in the retail trade.
English: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Unions_challenge_parliament ...

Trade union TCO came up with the results of a Novus opinion poll that surveyed 1,125 people on close-ended contracts. Some 11% said they had worked without an open-ended contract for five or more years. According to TCO such a long chain of close-ended contracts normally means the employer has to skirt the rules meant to protect against abuse of close-ended contracts. The survey result therefore is concrete evidence that Swedish legislation permits this abuse. While the union recognises that many employers need to be able to call in subs, often at short notice to cover for illness or staff staying at home to care for a sick child, TCO argues that a longer period of uncertain working conditions put employees' wellbeing and health at risk.
English: http://witnesshr.blogspot.nl/2013/07/sweden-flouts-eu-law-worsening-workers.html http://www.thelocal.se/49078/20130716/

The 16,000 employees working in the hotel industry have a new collective agreement after the ministry of labour and social insurance presented a mediation proposal for the sector. The crisis-time collective agreement, which will be valid until the end of 2015, freezes pay and cost of living allowances at the current level and aims for labour cost reductions. Rates of pay on public holidays will be reduced to double, instead of the current triple rate; the Sunday rate will remain unchanged at 1.5 but workers will be guaranteed two Sundays per month off. Easter bonuses are reduced from 30% to 7.5% and employer contributions to provident funds from 10% to 3%. Critics signal that 4,000 immigrants working in the sector will not be covered by the agreement.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2013/06/articles ...

Medical professionals organised a nation-wide strike against cuts in the health care sector, which forced hospitals to cancel 500,000 check-ups and 30,000 non-emergency procedures. The doctors are protesting against the enormous reduction in the health care budget, which they claim undermines the quality of services as well as working conditions. Currently, only 10 new doctors are hired for every 100 that retire and hospitals are cutting back on the costs of equipment and maintenance to square budgets.
English: http://www.thelocal.it/20130722/30000-operations-scrapped-as-Italian-doctors-strike
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex ...

Research by Platy.cz, an online service to compare wages, shows that workers' wages grow in the first five years they hold a position, to stagnate for the next four and even drop after that. The results are influenced by the fact that many people are promoted to a higher position within five years, making a long stay in a single position a sign of lack of career advancement. The researchers report there are big differences between educational groups; workers without a secondary education degree see their wages rising for up to ten years, but earn considerable lower wages on average.
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2013/07/18/wages-%C4%8Dr-stop-growing-after-five ...

Workers at Crown Speciality Packaging went on strike after management refused to implement a wage increase of 7% that had been agreed earlier. Part of US-owned packaging group Crown Holdings, the Bootle site employs around 150 staff and produces metal cans and packaging for UK firms such as Cadbury, Jacobs and Jeyes. The wage increase is a compensation for higher productivity due to the intensification of work and new equipment. The action was suspended a week later as the management announced a proposed restructure, as part of a cost-cutting exercise, prompting staff to concentrate on action related to expected dismissals.
English: http://www.printweek.com/news/1191822/
http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf ...

The federal labour court has ruled that it is illegal for companies to hire temporary workers for an indeterminate period of time. Trade unions applauded the ruling, saying the practice to hire cheap temporary workers instead of permanent staff while not setting an end date for the employment contract goes against the spirit of labour law. The unions stated that the court ruling will close a loophole and will make it more difficult to exploit the replacement of permanent staff by temporary workers.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News/Germany ...