The German based metal parts distributor Kloeckner has sold its Czech, Bulgarian and Romanian operations as part of a restructuring program. According to a company press statement the plan is to relieve the firm of its entire East-European block of operations. The workforce will be cut by 1,800 employees and 60 sites will be closed or sold. By the end of the 3rd quarter of 2012, the company had already closed 20 sites and cut 800 jobs. Poland and Lithuania are next on the list, with plans for sale to be completed in the 1st quarter of 2013.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/kloeckner-sells-romanian-czech-bulgarian ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20121221-906540.html?mod=crnews
German: http://www.wallstreetjournal.de/article ...
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According to the Unite Bargaining Brief of December 2011, the signs for collective bargaining remain gloomy. One is starting to see the anticipated reduction in inflation rates, but this will likely be a slow process. Bargaining in the public sector is again under political attack both through salary capping and the prospect of decentralising pay structures. The Brief refers to some very positive bargaining results in the automotive sector over the last couple of months. Indeed, new agreements at Jaguar and Land Rover, valid from 1 November 2011, saw standard pay increases of 6.1%, whereas according to Incomes Data Services (IDS) inflation in the fourth quarter (RPI index) stood at an annual rate of 5.3%, with the prospect of falling to 3.2% in the fourt quarter of 2012.
English: Unite Bargaining Brief, via EUCOBAN network of EMF / EFFAT / ETUF-TCL / EMCEF
Negotiations between employers and trade unions about labour market flexibilisation that are due by the end of 2012 are reported to be very far from a deal. After taking office, President Hollande charged the social partners to come up with common proposals that would ensure greater flexibilisation in the labour market whilst providing more security at the bottom. So far, only small agreements have been reached about health care coverage, wage and work-time adjustments and joblessness entitlements for people who already found a new job. Underscoring the challenges facing the Presidency, predictions released by the national statistics agency INSEE forecast the economy stagnating until mid-2013 while the jobless rate creeps up to a 15-year high of 10.9%.
English: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/127550
French: http://www.liberation.fr/economie/2012/12/28/l-insee-rabote-le-chiffre ...
The HSE has announced details of a plan to recruit graduate nurses and midwives on 80% of the current entry pay scale. The proposed rate of pay for the newly recruited graduates is approximately €22,000 per annum. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and Psychiatric Nurses Association, which represent more than 45,000 nurses and midwives, have called for a boycott of the scheme. Siptu welcomes the recruitment of 1,000 graduate nurses and midwives, but calls it abhorrent that the HSE would seek to exploit them by offering vastly reduced rates. The unions have called on all 2012 graduates not to apply for any posts until they are offered the full salary.
English: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland ... http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1221/breaking40.html http://www.irishexaminer.com/budget/news/government-to-appoint-1000-nursing ...
Workers who were fired from the Jadrankamen stone and marble plant in Pucisca on the island of Brac as the company went bankrupt are protesting for their wages. The workers never received delayed salaries when the firm seized operations.
English: http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/General_News/2012-12-21 ...
Government, employers and trade unions have agreed on a pay increase of 5.4% from 1 January 2013. A long time union demand, negotiations started in October (see that the October newsletter) and brought the first increase in the minimum wage since 2007. The monthly minimum wage will be increased to €339, whereas the guaranteed wage minimum for skilled labour will go up to €394.
English: http://www.xpatloop.com/news/72173
Each year, Latvians abroad send home around 350 million lats (?500 million), according to Foreign Ministry data. The diaspora numbers 350-400,000 people and the largest communities are in the UK - approximately 100,000 persons, the US - 96,000 persons, Canada - 26,000, Ireland - 25,000-30,000, Sweden - 5,000-30,000 (depending on various sources), Australia - 25,000, Russia - 20,000, Brazil - 20,000, Germany - 20,000. The population dropped by around 300,000 persons in 2000-2011, mostly due to emigration.
English: http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/32279/
ArcelorMittal, which just recently announced the closure of its Schifflange site as reported in the October newsletter, has now said it intends to re-negotiate the collective agreement governing the firm's employees. Unions have reacted angrily and claim the company aims to lower wages and increase working time. The LCGB union had previously said that this announcement was `a declaration of war against social peace', and 250 unionists joined the demonstration in Esch/Alzette to voice their anger.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/view/lcgb-protests-against ...
Trade unions and Ford Genk's European management board had several meetings to discuss the future of the plant's workers along the lines of the procedure stipulated in the Renault act. This act requires that an employer planning a closure or collective layoffs should first explain his plans to his employees and consult with them on the matter. The union intended to address a letter by registered post to the board in which they wanted to reproach them to have broken their promise of the Future Agreement forged as a collective labour agreement at the factory in September 2010. According to that agreement, jobs would be safe until 2020. In return the employees accepted in 2010 cost-cutting measures totalling 12% or 25 million euros. The closure will lead to unemployment for its work force (4,337 jobs) and for its suppliers (2,816). Another 1,042 jobs will be lost as a result of the drop in purchasing power. In total, the closure of will leave more than 11,750 people unemployed. A draft agreement has been reached that will be balloted over the New year's break.
English: http://www.expatica.com/be/news/belgian-news/unions-at-ford-genk-plan ...
http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/economists-discuss-closure-ford-genk
Dutch: http://www.tvl.be/nl/2012-12-25/jaaroverzicht-2012-sluiting-ford-genk ...
Akavalainen, the magazine of the union confederation Akava, recently published an article on the trend wise growth of the number of highly-educated unemployed people under the headline `A record, not to be cheered'. The story describes the changes taking place concerning the unemployment of highly-educated people. Among the highly-educated people the risk of being unemployed is now somewhere around half of the risk in the entire labour force. At the beginning of the year 2000 the risk of the highly-educated was a third of the risk faced by the entire labour force.
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2012/p52
http://www.akava.fi/en/