Collective Bargaining

Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights states: `Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.' One of the longest and hardest disputes in this area is whether religious workers have the right (like any other sort of worker) to organise themselves and demand fairer treatment. In a ECHR verdict that concerns a dispute between Romania's Orthodox Church, to which the great majority of people in that country adhere, and a 35-strong group of priests and other religious employees who tried, in 2008, to form a trade union the ECHR upheld the church's point of view and said it was `not unreasonable' to have stopped the union from establishing itself. The reasons cited by the court were that the Archbishop had objected to the establishment of the union and the state had no right to meddle in church business because of the constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state. The Archbishop successfully appealed the initial decision of a lower court to register the priests' trade union, Pastorul Cel Bun (the Good Shepherd) in 2008.
English: http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/FS_Trade_union_ENG.pdf
http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng ...
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=18419
http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2013/08/01/no-trade-unions-for-clergy-if-the-archbishop-says ...

Dock workers in the port of Antwerp blocked the Katoen Natie terminal for six days, after union delegates performing work place inspections were denied access. The delegates were attempting to enter a warehouse of transhipment and goods storage company Logisport, where they expected illegally hired agency workers being employed. The unions were there to investigate a suspected breach of the Law on Docker Labour, which prohibits the hiring of non-registered dock workers. The conflict was resolved after six days, when the port's employers' consortium, the Katoen Natie Group agreed to refer the case to the Social Inspection Services and to refrain from any measures against the personnel that participated in the strike.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online ...

Some 400 life guards in Constanta county have started a work-in strike, while continuing to offer their lifesaving services to swimmers in distress. The life guards, most of whom are young workers, have not been paid for two months. According to local media, the Constanta county has already earmarked the funds to pay the life guards and other medical personnel on the beaches, but is awaiting government approval of the transfer of funds. The life guards' wages amount to about 1,500 RON per month, the equivalent of €340.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/romanias-lifeguards-go-on-strike ...

Research by the Romanian Statistics Institute has shown that in the first quarter of 2013, salaries made up half of the average household income and social provisions made up 23 per cent. The institute reports average monthly income decreased slightly to RON 2,521 (?567) per household or RON 882 (?200) per person. The researchers report that families spend nearly 92 per cent of their income immediately.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/average-romanian-household-spent-almost-entirely ...

A new law on collective bargaining has come into force, which severely limits the extension of collective agreements. In accordance with the new law, all agreements that have not been renegotiated by 8 July will automatically lapse. Unions throughout the countries had called on employers' organisations to press their members to ensure agreements had been renegotiated by then, but this does not appear to have happened. In the public sector the trade unions were disappointed because the FEMP local government employers' organisation failed to act on the question. Nevertheless, agreements have been reached at regional level in Castilla y Le¢n, Valencia and Castilla la Mancha.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/9620
http://www.epsu.org/a/9648

One of the biggest trade unions, Podkrepa, has called on the government to convene a grand national assembly to provide solutions for the corruption problems that have called protesters to the streets for nearly a month now. The trade union said that if the national assembly fails to address the concerns of the people, the union will stage a general strike to defend the interests of workers.
English: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=151825

A pay deal reached between trade union UFO and budget carrier Germanwings has avoided the crippling strikes suffered by mother company Lufthansa. After intensive, marathon negotiations the agreement includes a 5.9% wage increase over two years, a one-off payment of €1,500 and the right to an unlimited contract after successfully completing the probation period.
English: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/06/uk-germanwings ...

A renewed collective agreement covering the University Medical Centres (67,000 workers) has been reached. Under the agreement, workers will receive a 1% wage increase in October and another 1% in August 2014, plus a one-off payment of €500. Youth pay rates will be brought up to the general wage level and personal development budgets will be increased and these funds can also be allocated for extra holidays. The agreement will run for two years.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/9646
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/537898-koopkrachtbehoud ...
http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Onderhandelaarsakkoord-nieuwe-CAO ...

Trade unions have come together to design a common strategy against an upcoming liberalisation in the ports, which would allow de facto social dumping. The European Commission's directorate general for mobility and transport has recently challenged the practice that port workers can be hired only through a private company owned by the employers in the port. Arguing the practice constitutes an impediment to the freedom of establishment, the European Commission has taken the case to the European Court of Justice.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online ...

The Confederacion Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), Union General de Trabajadores (UGT), and Union Sindical Obrera (USO) have raised the alarm over strike-breaking actions by Swissport. Swissport workers at eight airports have been organising strikes since last month, when negotiations over a collective agreement broke down. The unions report that Swissport is hiring temporary agency workers to replace the employees on strike, as well as forcing administrative personnel to perform tasks usually done by the striking workers.