Collective Bargaining

Teachers are expanding an ongoing strike, making it nationwide in their demand for higher wages. The strike has been (partially) ongoing since last month, with classes halted in certain municipalities on particular days. Unions said they are now launching a nationwide strike and that they also plan street protests. The teachers’ strike is supported by 47 trade unions out of solidarity and because they believe that defending the education sector is a priority.

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The OECD has published a new report which provides a comprehensive assessment of the functioning of collective bargaining systems and workers’ voice arrangements across OECD countries, as well as fresh insight on their effect on labour market performance today. The publication also discusses how collective bargaining can be mobilised to address emerging challenges in the labour market and identifies the type of government intervention that may be required to do this. The report provides a detailed review of existing collective bargaining institutions and workers’ voice arrangements. It analyses the role of these institutions for employment, wages and labour market inclusiveness, as well as non-monetary aspects of job quality.

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Read on: the executive summary and the report

A strike by women footballers in Spain’s top division because of a dispute over pay saw all eight fixtures postponed. They are demanding a professional agreement that regulates minimum working conditions, rights to minimum wages and measures for maternity leave.

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The National Federation of Public and Social Workers’ Unions has scheduled a national strike of non-teaching workers in schools to protest the ‘chronic shortage’ of these officials. The federation decided to call a national strike of the non-teaching workers from both the schools grouped under centralised leadership and the non-grouped public schools.

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The two biggest trade unions and the Minister of Labour agree that the minimum wage should be half of the average monthly wage. This simple formula is a response to the employers’ long-time request for transparent methodology for passing a minimum wage. However, they consider 50% of the average wage to be too high. For their part, the unions will not accept any minimum wage below this threshold.

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To meet the high cost of living and decreasing purchasing power, say trade unions, wages should rise. They also state that people should even receive a 13th month’s salary in order to pay bills including health insurance premiums. The union demand is supported by a study the union conducted with the Bern University of Applied Sciences. According to the results of this study, 12.4% of employees think their wages are too low. This is a substantial increase compared with the 9.4% of three years ago. The study also points towards other areas that need improvement like health protection and job security.

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The European Commission published a paper which analyses the reasons why the labour participation rate in Ireland has yet to recover from the crisis. According to this paper, in recent years the Irish economy has experienced a sustained expansion phase and the unemployment rate is approaching pre-crisis levels. However, ten years after the crisis, the labour market participation rate, a crucial determinant of labour supply, has not recovered as strongly as expected.

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Plans from the two biggest political parties to raise the minimum wage would boost pay for millions of people, a leading economic research group says. The move would also double or treble the number of people whose wages are set by government, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said. Some have argued that current minimum wage levels are too low, leaving people in work struggling. Labour’s manifesto will reaffirm plans for the biggest shift in conditions for employees in Britain since the 1980s – including changing the way wages are set for 20 million workers.

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For the tenth day in a row, bus drivers working for the Flemish local transport company De Lijn are taking strike action. Action and disruptions were especially noticeable in Flemish Brabant. During the strike, unions and management reached an agreement. The planning teams will be strengthened, holiday plans will be honoured and new drivers will be recruited.

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A report published by the Labour Productivity Board of the European Commission aims at reviewing labour productivity developments and assessing the relationship between labour productivity and changes in value added, labour compensation and exports in the domestic economy. According to this report, over two decades Lithuania was one of the fastest growing EU Member States in terms of labour productivity and GDP growth. Between 2000 and 2017, Lithuania’s labour productivity per hour worked (at constant prices) almost doubled, in comparison with 21% in the EU Member States. This was influenced by the application of modern technologies in industry.

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