The trade union confederation DGB has presented a 260 billion Marshall Plan for Europe aimed at providing a decisive impetus for qualitative growth as well as new jobs with a future in all 27 European Union (EU) countries for a 10-year period from 2013 to 2022. The plan includes proposed investments and investment subsidies of €260 billion annually comprise direct investment and investment grants of €160 billion and ten-year low-interest loans of €100 billion to private investors. The DGB expects this combination of long-term, low-interest loans and investment grants to kick-start further additional private investment and thus promote wide-scale private modernisation measures. These in turn are projected to lead to further private investment and annual additional growth impetus totalling €400 billion.
English: http://www.indepthnews.info/index.php/global-issues/1385-german-trade-union ...
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The trade union JHL opened a special information exchange channel on their web pages for their members working in the municipal sector. It collects information on what kind of plans the municipalities have regarding the reorganising of their services. The idea is to involve union activists in gathering relevant and useful information, which can then be made available to other activists. Topic headings to be perused are such as outsourcing, privatisation, social enterprises, service vouchers and buying back municipal services.
English: http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en/news/archive/?bid=2502&y=2013
Trade unions CFDT, CFTC and CFE-CGC and all employers' organisations have signed an agreement instating board-level representation in companies with more than 5,000 employees in France or more than 10,000 employees worldwide. Each company will have one employee representative, unless the management or supervisory board consists of more than twelve members, in which case two employee representatives will be the norm. The government, who requested the start of negotiations on the issue, welcomed the agreement and announced it will be transposing it into law. Trade unions CGT and FO have not signed the agreement.
English: http://www.seeurope-network.org/cgi-bin/netkey_module/boerse ...
After troublesome negotiations (as reported in last month's newsletter), trade unions CFDT, CFTC and CFE-CGC and all employers organisations have reached an agreement on labour reform. Last year, President Hollande demanded the social partners to negotiate an agreement on the reform if they wanted to have any say in its outcome. The deal includes a cap on compensation for layoffs, limiting the amount of time workers can dispute unfair layoffs to 24 months, allowing companies to cut wages and work time temporarily in a downturn, as well as broader rights to complementary healthcare insurance, more seats for worker representatives on company boards and an increase in welfare charges paid by employers on short-term contracts. Trade unions CGT and FO have not signed the agreement.
English: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/11/uk-france-labour ...
A recent study found that women in Luxembourg earn more than men. The authors, however, note that women's higher salaries are notably affected by the high wages of teachers and did not compare women and men in comparable jobs.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/view/women-in-luxembourg-earn-more-than-men ...
The Estonian Central Union of Trade Unions (EAKL) started training its activists on how to organise a successful strike. The training course focused on the strikes that were organised last year, with people in charge of actual strikes giving advice and sharing their experience. Participants also discussed legal issues and the impact of strikes on the public and employees.
English: http://balticbusinessnews.com/article/2013/1/14/trade-unions-train ...
After three days of negotiations Estonian Air and its pilots union reached a collective-bargaining agreement, averting a strike. The Airline Pilots' Association signed the accord after it was approved by the company's board. The pilots' association cancelled the strike after signing the agreement, which expires in February 2014. The agreement leaves the wage conditions of pilots unchanged but introduces changes to work and resting time conditions.
English: http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/32349/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-07/estonian-air-reaches-initial-deal ...
On the 16th of January, the first meeting between Turkish Airlines and trade union Hava-Is for collective negotiation will take place in Istanbul. In 2013, the conflict between Turkish Airlines and trade unions over working conditions and the right to strike escalated when the company fired 305 activists who participated in strikes, as reported in the June, August and January newsletters. Hava-Is has made known that it welcomes constructive negotiations on the condition that the 305 employees that were fired will be reinstated.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm ...
Trade union HK Commerce that holds a seat on the PFA Pension board made the announcement that the fund will no longer invest in Walmart because of the company's appalling record on workers' rights. PFA Pension withdraws an investment of 50 million Danish kroner ($8.79 million). The fund said it had pulled out of its Wal-Mart investment in the past, but then bought back in as it started to see improvements. Trade union UNI global has produced a blog that documents Walmart's strategy to undercut workers' rights.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Blogs/walmart.nsf/
http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf/pages ...
Compared with November 2011, the average nominal monthly wage increased in most surveyed sectors is stated in a Raiffeisen report. The strongest increase was in sale and repair of motor vehicles by 6.2%, in wholesale by 4.2% and in accommodation by 3.8%. It decreased only in information and communication by 3.1%, in construction by 1.8%, in selected market services by 1.4% and in retail trade by 0.2%.
English: http://www.friedlnews.com/article/slovakia-wages-growing-moderately