Trade unions and ArcelorMittal will meet at the national conciliation office on 1 August, after efforts to come to a bilateral agreement have failed. As reported in the December 2012 newsletter, ArcelorMittal announced last year that it wanted to renegotiate its collective agreement. The atmosphere of the negotiations after the one-sided termination of the previous agreement has been strained and not led to any agreement. Ahead of the conciliation meeting, trade union OGBL demanded a one-off bonus for 2012 and 2013 for all employees before negotiations for 2014 can begin. OGBL demands the 2014 collective agreement include guarantees of social benefits, employee training and equipment. Reacting to the company's closure of one of the steel plants in 2012 (see the October 2012 newsletter), the union has requested the parties discuss the production of steel `on a permanent and sustainable basis'.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/view/unions-and-arcelormittal-conciliation-date-set ...
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The mining company OKD has announced a massive lay-off in the course of this summer. The company has to let go 250 technical support and administrative workers due to the adverse economic situation. The company's staff will be down to 2,700 by September 2013, ca. one-third less compared to the end of 2012. So far the company failed to find a buyer of the Dul Paskov mine in northern Moravia and it is considering a closure of that mine. In the negotiations between the management and the trade unions the unions presented a draft of the collective agreement in relation to the bad economic situation.
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2013/07/16/nwr-fails-find-buyer-d%C5%AFl-paskov
http://www.okd.cz/en/media/press-releases/okd-continues-its-cost-cutting-actions ...
Although the entrance for migrant labour is still restricted the German trade union confederation DGB has announced to take the interests for Croatian workers serious. The last two EU enlargement rounds in 2004 and 2007 already showed that employees from eastern European countries entered the labour market despite restrictions. Many of them became victims of shady job agents or irresponsible employers. Butchers and building workers, for example, had to take service contracts or work as sham independent contractors for starvation wages. Therefore, the project `Fair mobility' that supports employees from the new EU member states in asserting their rights has been extended to help employees from Western Balkan countries.
English: http://www.dw.de/german-trade-unions-set-to-help-croatian-workers ...
http://www.faire-mobilitaet.de/en/ueber-uns
The banking trade union FIBA has calculated that in 2012 directors and CEOs of the major Italian banking and insurance groups have earned, on average, salaries about 42 times higher than the average wage prescribed in the respective national collective bargaining agreement, with peaks of 108 times. Together with the confederation CISL the trade union wants to introduce clear and enforceable rules. FIBA proposes a cap on fixed remuneration of €294,000 (equal to that of public managers) and a 1:1 ratio for the variable salary (as per EU directives) and therefore, the reduction of the average contractual relationship between figure and maximum pay to 1:20.
English: http://sindacale.wordpress.com/2013/07/
After four years of negotiations, trade unions OGBL and LCGB have reached an agreement with employers in the construction sector. The collective agreement narrowly averts a strike that was called for 17 July 2013 and includes hikes in tariff wages as well as end-of-year premiums and better safety provisions on the work site. A working group will be established to investigate how former employees can benefit from the wage increases. The new agreement does neither include re-negotiated working hours, annual leave and bad weather compensation, which employers wanted, nor any retroactive wage increases, demanded previously by the trade unions.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/view/construction-sector-strike-averted ...
http://www.wort.lu/en/view/lcgb-and-ogbl-at-odds-over-construction-sector-strike ...
http://www.wort.lu/en/view/construction-workers-to-strike-in-july ...
Government officials, statutory officers and trade unions are in negotiations over raising the wages for police and fire-and-rescue officers and border guards. A spokesperson confirmed the government is considering allocating 100 million litas (28.9 million euro) to increase salaries. The president of the association of national trade unions of officers welcomes the concession, explaining this amount would allow monthly salaries to increase by 150 litas (?43.15).
English: http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/44573/100-million-litas-may-be-allocated-to-raise ...
An agreement concluded by the employers and 4 unions in the rail & infrastructure building was backed up by the affiliates on both sides. The agreement starts retroactively per 1 January 2013 and runs 18 months. As per 1 July 2013 the wages increase with 2%. The partners also signed a 4-years convention with a job security clause and a guarantee that dismissals, if necessary, only take place through natural turnover.
Dutch: http://www.spoorpro.nl/personeel/2013/07/12/vakbondsleden-stemmen-in ...
Workers of Milne Foods in Birr, County Offaly, have gone on strike over pay and working conditions. The workers have previously sought constructive negotiations and even took the case to the labour court. While the labour court recommended Milne Foods to revise its pay and working conditions policies, nothing has been done. A trade union representative stated they felt all other options had been exhausted and explained that strike action was the only recourse left to the workers.
English: http://www.siptu.ie/media/pressreleases2013/mainnews/fullstory ...
The European industrial relations observatory online (EIRO) has published two reports, one on monitoring developments in pay and the other on collectively agreed working time. The average collectively agreed working time in 2012 was 38.1 hours per week, which is equal to the year before. More changes were found in the pay report. Only Sweden (+1.7%), Austria (+0.8%), Germany (+0.6%), France (+0.4%) and Belgium (+0.4%, including indexation) experienced increases in real wages in 2012. The only sectors where real wages rose in 2012 were metal, banking and local government. EIRO researchers found that indexation mechanisms worked to compensate for rises in prices in 2012 to a much greater extent than in 2011.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn1303028s/index.htm
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn1305017s/index.htm
Public service federations FP-CGIL, CISL-FP, UIL-Fp and UIL-Pa have concluded an agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The agreement commits both parties to cooperate in the reorganisation of the civil service in order to cut expenditure where possible. Important for the trade unions is that the agreement specifically includes their consultation in all reorganisations.
English: http://epsu.org/a/9647