Around 1500 people joined a protest against job losses and mid-term repudiation of the collective agreement at Cargolux and Luxair, reported in this newsletter over the last two months. The protesters gathered in front of the parliament in Luxembourg city on 13 November, demanding the government re-think its plans to sell shares to Qatari investors and speak up for workers. Only days later Qatar airways announced it is breaking up the relation with Cargolox, selling its 35% share in the business and that Cargolux chairman Albert Wildgen is to resign his position. Unions have asked the ministry for clarifications on the repercussions of the Qatari withdrawal and several other restructuring plans.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index ...
http://www.wort.lu/en/view/cargolux-confirms-qatar-airways-split ...
http://www.wort.lu/en/view/union-calls-for-clarity-over-cargolux-status ...
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Solidarity from unions abroad was initiated after a walk-out staged by workers during a night shift at a Renault facility in the north-western province of Bursa. The workers, who accused the management of Turk Metal, the `yellow' union entitled to collective bargaining at Renault's Bursa plant, of collaborating with the employer, staged a sit-in outside the management building and called for the leaders' resignation. Renault management in Turkey fired 23 workers following the protests. CGT Metal, one of France's trade unions active at Renault's plants, demanded the management rehire the fired workers and claimed that Turk Metal is not chosen freely by the workers.
English: http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/144948/french-south-korean-unions-call ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJTQjLSZs0&feature=youtu.be
Data released by the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber and published by the 24 Chassa (24 Hours) daily reveal that the average monthly wage went up by BGN 48 (?24.50) in the first nine months of 2012, from BGN 720 (?367.50) in January to BGN 768 (?392) in September. The report shows that only high salaries are going up, while the low ones, including the minimum wage, stay at the same level or register slim increases.
English: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=145252
Postal union officials have warned of long queues of people hoping to send parcels and cards this Christmas because of the shortage of staff. The union wants a fresh look at the human resources policy of the Post Office saying that up until now managers had refused to discuss the matter. An Austrian post office spokesman rejected the allegation that there had been 40 jobs lost in Salzburg. He also said that there was reserve staff to be called on during Christmas.
English: http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Business/2012-11-19/45524/Postal_workers ...
German: http://salzburg.orf.at/news/stories/2559491/
A broad coalition of trade unions, NGO's and other civic groups, united in the platform `Stop to the Government', mobilised thousands in a demonstration and a march in Prague on November 17. The leadership of the trade union CMKOS said the government had lost the mandate to lead the country after the recent regional and Senate elections and that this is the worst government the country has had. The protest event under the motto `Democracy Looks Different' was held on the day of the Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist regime in 1989.
English: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-stop-to-the-government ...
http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/827928.html
A report by auditors at Ernst & Young concluded that Ikea knowingly benefited from forced labour in the former East Germany to manufacture some of its products in the 1980s. Ikea had commissioned the report in May as a result of accusations that both political and criminal prisoners were involved in making components of Ikea furniture. According to one of the former prisoners there were many companies involved in this practice that all should be named and shamed.
English: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/business/global/ikea-to-report ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/16/ikea-regrets-forced-labour-germany
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has thrown its support behind trade unions who submitted complaints about the lack of collective bargaining and consultation in the austerity measures. The ILO committee agreed that rights to association and bargaining have been bypassed and urged the government and the troika to attribute the proper role to collective bargaining.
English: http://www.ilo.org/brussels/press/press-releases/WCMS ...
About 30,000 people gathered in a large square in the capital Ljubljana to call for an end to the austerity program. The government, struggling to avoid a bailout, cut public sector wages by about 3% in 2012. It plans a further 5% cut in 2013 to bring the budget deficit to 3% of GDP, from 4.2% expected in 2012. The demonstrators demanded the government to create conditions that would ensure the majority of people to have jobs and live a decent life.
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/17/us-slovenia-protest ...
Government representatives will resume talks with a teachers' strike committee soon, Human Resources Minister Zolt n Balog said after a first round of negotiations. Teachers' unions oppose government plans to bring schools, currently administered at the local level, under central government control from January and fear the move will mean job losses, as was reported in the August newsletter. Such fears are further fuelled by proposed changes that would increase their minimum working hours. The profession, which has seen staff numbers fall three per cent this year, is also angry about a recent austerity package that postponed a promised pay rise.
English: http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/11/17/teachers-govt-talk-amid-strike-threat/
A WSI-report states that 20% of the citizens living in the larger German cities can be classified as poor. The criterion for this classification is an income below 60% of the median net income (? 848 for a single person per month). Whilst the percentage is 15.1% for the whole population, the percentage in the cities increased from 17.5% in 2005 to 19.6% in 2011. Another important shift is the incidence of poor in East and West. In East-German cities the situation slightly improves. In some West-German cities, notably Dortmund and Duisburg, there is a dramatic increase of poverty. As the percentage of people living from social benefits is decreasing, this might indicate that an important part of the population with an income below the median can be classified as `working poor'. An English version of the report is forthcoming.
German: http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_wsi_report_08_2012.pdf
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/wsi-studie-in-deutschlands-staedten-steigt ...