Collective Bargaining

A pay offer of 1%, made by the Local Government Association, received differing responses from the trade unions representing local government workers. GMB, UNISON and Unite are to ballot members over the offer. With this offer a three-year pay freeze is broken, but there is disappointment that only 1% is on the table. Local government workers have seen a 16% decline in the value of their pay in the last three years, coupled with significant local attacks on terms and conditions.
English: http://union-news.co.uk/2013/04/local-government-unions-to-ballot-members ...

A long road to a legal minimum wage must end soon. That is the slogan of the initiative for a legal minimum wage. The country is one of the few in the EU without a minimum wage (see also the March Newsletter). Political parties agree it's time to end that anomaly. Welfare reforms have increased the pressure on workers to take up low-paid jobs and led to a rise in the number of working poor, which in turn has fuelled a national debate on social justice. Around 5 million workers - some 16% of all employees - currently earn less than the envisaged national minimum wage of €8.50 per hour.
English: http://olafstorbeck.blogstrasse2.de/?p=1828
German: http://www.initiative-mindestlohn.de/handelblatt.pdf
www.sueddeutsche.de/thema/Mindestlohn

In a book published by the ILO the impact of the austerity measures on the public sector is analysed. The immediate pressure to make savings and reduce public spending has led most governments to make cuts to expenditure, jobs and wages - often hastily. The neglect of social dialogue in the reform process and the abolition of a number of provisions that encouraged collective bargaining, have contributed to worsening working conditions in the public sector. Previously known as a `model employer', public sector practices are now converging with those in the private sector.
English: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/comment-analysis ...

Hidden unemployed are potential workers not reflected in official unemployment statistics due to the way the statistics are collected. The number of 'hidden' unemployed workers has doubled during the five years of the financial crisis. Before the crisis, there were about 35,000 hidden unemployed. Today, around 62,000 workers are lost in the shadows of hidden unemployment.
English: http://cphpost.dk/news/national/jobless-numbers-underreported

Healthcare unions, ministers and employers agreed a joint approach to reducing spending on healthcare, but the biggest trade union Abvakabo will not sign. The deal involves slashing entitlement to home nursing and shift the care burden to family and friends, leading to a 40% reduction in home nursing levels (against an originally planned 75% cut). The trade unions have agreed to moderate their wage demands and freeze other wage-related spending until 2016. The Abvakabo is particularly angry that tens of thousands of jobs will be lost.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2013/04/agreement_reached ...

Employers and workers in any sector or enterprise can agree minimum rates of pay and conditions of employment and can than have that agreement registered with the Labour Court in a list of Registered Employment Agreements (REA). When registered with the Court, these agreements are legally binding, not only of the parties to the agreement but also to others who are in the class, type or group to which the agreements are expressed to apply. A proposed code of practice on compliance with the construction industry Registered Employment Agreement would allow accredited union officials access on building sites.
English: http://www.irn.ie/
Focus on the REA rates of pay:
http://www.labourcourt.ie/labour/labour.nsf/LookupPageLink/HomeRatesOfPay

In the International Trade Union Confederation's report ITUC Frontlines April 2013 the impact of the policy of the International Monetary Fund on collective bargaining is treated. Whilst the report provides empirical evidence demonstrating that there is no sound economic case for the attack on workers' rights, one of the conclusions is that the IMF policy is a straightforward attack on collective bargaining traditions, based on the experiences in four EU countries (Romania, Greece, Spain and Portugal). Moves from industry- and economy-wide collective bargaining to enterprise bargaining will result in extremely low levels of trade union membership and equally low levels of collective bargaining coverage. And this attack is not confined to the peripheral countries of Europe. Even more successful economies in Europe have been pressed to match or better draconian reforms to maintain their own `competitive edge'.
English: http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ituc_frontlines_report_april_2013_web.pdf

The trade unions that organised a two-hour general strike in the Silesia region, reported in the March 2013 newsletter, have now warned they will resort to a nationwide general strike if the government fails to address trade union issues in its labour law reform. The trade unions have repeatedly expressed themselves against so-called `junk contracts' but talks with the government on 24 April 2013 failed to yield any agreement.
English: http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/133801,Solidarity-threatens-nationwide-strike
http://sofiaglobe.com/2013/04/25/unionists-in-poland-threaten-general-strike-as-talks ...

Workers at Sanitec, a subsidiary of the foundry group MLM went on strike demanding payment of their wages. Some 200 workers protested for their wages as well as for clarity on the future of the firm, whose mother company MLM is facing large financial problems.
English: http://www.sta.si/en/vest.php ...

The ministry of labour, Cyprus Airways and trade unions are meeting to discuss the implementation of the social plan accompanying the rescue of the airline. One of the issues to discuss is the liquidity of the airline's funds after the 27% tax on its deposits at the former Bank of Cyprus. Presumably, the 450 employees who will be laid off will receive 50% of the conditions in the existing social plan. The arrangement will enter into force on 1 April 2013 and last for three years.
English: http://famagusta-gazette.com/minister-of-labour-to-meet-cyprus-airways ...