Collective Bargaining

After intensive negotiations, trade unions and PostNL have concluded a collective agreement that will run until April 2013 and foresees in a 1.7% wage increase and another 0.4% once an agreement is also reached in the matter of pension fund contributions.
English: http://www.4-traders.com/POSTNL ...

A day after Iberia crews said they would strike for six days before Christmas to protest against job cuts Spanish pilots were sued by BA over strikes late 2011 and early 2012. BA's lawsuit is against Sepla, the Iberia pilots' union, and the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association in relation to the strikes that Sepla embarked on to protest against the creation of Iberia's low-cost subsidiary Iberia Express, which it said violated its collective wage bargaining agreement with Iberia. Later, unions have made known they will not be organising any strike before Christmas, in order to avoid hurting passengers. In the absence of any agreement, however, unions are leaving the way open for new actions in January.
English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/30/international-airlines-group ...
http://www.thenewsonline.es/news/national/8717-iberia-strike-called-off

Fish processors in small towns across the country are facing hard times, many of them being threatened with bankruptcies. Increasing numbers of workers are being laid off by about 10 to 30 per company. Fish processors are an important part of small town economies. Representatives explain the fish market is hit by a fall in demand in salt fish in Southern European member states, lack of haddock quota and unsold lumpsucker roes.
English: http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news ...

In response to some regional governments' refusal to implement federal level wage increases, unions have started exploring the possibilities of negotiating separate collective agreements for local and regional government employees. The unions hope to reach the first collective agreement by 2015.
German: http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename ...

The national equal rights agency, Ligebehandlingsn‘vnet, has ruled in favour of trade unions that brought a case of age discrimination against the government employment office. Trade unions accuse public sector employers of dismissing the oldest workers during restructuring processes, purely on the basis of their age. The unions argue that the policy, which the government denies, is utterly incompatible with policies of increasing the pension age. Unions have announced they will be bringing more cases to court, amongst others against the foreign affairs ministry and the tax office.
English: http://cphpost.dk/news/national/state-employer-guilty-age-discrimination ...

Political scientists Kurt Vandaele (ETUI) and Jean Faniel (CRISP) have published a report analysing union density in Belgium. Contrary to the rest of Europe, density rose in the new millennium, from 56.9% in 2001 to 60.5% in 2010. The researchers conclude that unions thank their strong position to a combination of their crucial position in the social security system, strong representation on the work floor and member militancy.
English: http://unionrenewal.blogspot.nl/2012/12/in-belgium-union-density-is-on-rise.html
Dutch: https://works.bepress.com/kurt_vandaele/108/
http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1123&context=kurt_vandaele
Focus on industrial relations in Belgium:
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/country/belgium.htm

The Belgian government has stated that wages in both the public and private sector will be frozen during 2013 and 2014 as part of its announced budget for 2013 designed to economize €3,700 million. The freeze is not total and involves only a prohibition of any new increases negotiated between companies and trade unions via the collective bargaining system. Individually negotiated salary increases will remain possible, as will already existing scale increases based on age and seniority. There are also exceptions for low income earners who do not earn more than the minimum wage, for whom a 0.9% increase during 2013-2014 will be possible. The automatic linking of wages to a special cost of living index has not been abolished and will remain in effect.
English: http://legalknowledgeportal.com/2012/12/07/belgian-government-announces ...

Data published by the Statistics Department indicate that the majority of strikes staged in Lithuania over the past 12 years were held in education institutions. Over the first nine months of 2012, education workers went on 193 strikes, including 187 warning strikes. A total of 5,558 employees participated in the strikes.
English: http://www.15min.lt/en/article/in-lithuania/teachers-are-the-most-active ...

According to preliminary findings by Poland's Ministry of Labour, unemployment rose from 12.5 to 12.9% in November. The rate is expected to rise still further in December, to between 13.2 to 13.3%, due to a suspension of construction sector over the winter months. Data from the Central Statistical Office show that, in the years 2007-2011, (with the exception of 2009), a growth in the number of the employed in the national economy was observed. It reached the level of 14,232.6 thousand persons at the end of 2011, which means an increase by 0.9 %.as compared to the previous year.
English: http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/120779,04-percent-rise-in-November ... http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/ls_empl_in_nat_economy_2011.pdf

Due to the government's willingness to engage in negotiations the trade union of Workers in Education and Science of Slovakia (OZ PSaV) announced the suspension of its strike after three days. OZPSaV was asking for an increase of 10% in teachers' and education employees' salaries. Education Minister Dusan Caplovic said he understood the trade union's demands but would not allow for more than a 5% pay hike and tenure - i.e. guaranteed employment - for teachers aged 55 and older. This was confirmed by the government after marathon negotiations with trade union leaders. On December 6, the government announced that it would increase the salaries of teachers and non-pedagogical employees in the education sector by 5% regardless of whether the unions agree to or reject the deal. The trade union will decide about potential further strikes and protests after January 8, 2013.
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/48577/2/relay_strikes_by_teachers ...
http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/48481/2/teachers_reject_pay_offer.html