Postal workers went on strike recently, as the Trade Union of Postal Workers and the management of the national postal company Pošta Slovenije have failed to find common ground on the workers’ demands, including higher wages. The union demands the number of employees to be increased by 300 so that Pošta Slovenije can meet its obligations and the workers can perform a normal number of hours.
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[close]Journalists are striking for the first time in over 40 years, RÚV reports. Reporters for online media, photographers, and videographers at Icelandic National Broadcaster RÚV, Fréttablaðið, Morgunblaðið, and Sýnar, who are members of the Union of Icelandic Journalists (Blaðamannafélag Íslands) were on strike between 10.00 AM and 2.00 PM.
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[close]The Labour Court has recommended a pay increase of 2.25% for 5,000 workers at Penneys. The recommended pay increase falls short of the 3.4% increase that the Mandate union was seeking on behalf of its members at the Primark company. In the recommendation, the Labour Court has backdated the pay award to January of this year.
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[close]The trade union of public servants in Attica organised an event – under the slogan: ‘The class-oriented movement is moving forward with solidarity and internationalism’ – to inform its members about the upcoming Congress of the Trade Union International of Public & Allied Employees (TUI PS&A) that will take place. The participants discussed the TUI Report of Action in Europe, the goals of the conference and the need to further strengthen the action on sectoral struggles.
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[close]IndustriAll European Trade Union and IndustriALL Global Union have written a joint letter to their Italian affiliates FIOM-CGIL, FIM-CISL and UILM to express full support and solidarity with the 24-hour strike scheduled on 8 November across all of the ArcelorMittal (ex Ilva Group) facilities. The strike comes in response to the disappointing meeting of the Italian metal trade unions with the top management of ArcelorMittal.
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[close]On 16 October 2019, the Swedish Parliament voted in favour of the government’s proposal regarding a raise of the age limit for the national public pension, and for amendments to the Employment Protection Act (the EPA) regarding the right to remain in employment. The amendments will enter into force on 1 January 2020. There is no general retirement age in Sweden. However, there are pension-related age limits in different regulations which will affect an employee’s decision on when to retire. The age at which the national public pension can start being drawn will be raised from 61 to 62 years as from 1 January 2020.
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[close]The financial sector pays among the highest salaries in the country, but within this sector a huge gap exists between top management and the more common jobs such as working behind the counter. Employees of UniCreditBank recently came to work wearing badges with the message: ‘strike alert’. Their main aim was to highlight the issues of salary, conditions, overtime and work stress, and to support the unions in their struggle to negotiate a new collective agreement. The reluctance of the bank to increase salaries stands in contrast to their willingness to pay management annual bonuses at 100% of their salary, the trade unions claim.
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[close]At the end of October unemployment had fallen to 1.4%, compared to 1.5% the month before. In October 2018 the general figure was 1.6%. There was an even sharper year-on-year decrease in youth unemployment, by 0.6%. The 25-49 age group had an average unemployment rate, while the 50+ employee group was the best off at 1.2%.
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[close]Just before the announced strike the government offered a one-time €460 million boost. Nevertheless, teachers are standing firm for structural increases in funding that can preserve the profession and guarantee quality education for all. More than 4,000 schools closed on 6 November to fight ongoing austerity and growing work pressure due to staff shortages. The first strikes occurred in 2017 and 2018 and were followed by a national strike at the beginning of 2019 (see Issue 3 of the Collective Bargaining Newsletter, 2019). On 25 November the trade unions announced further strikes for 2020. This time it will be a two-day action to increase the pressure.
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[close]From next year on, authorities, working together with employers, will identify industries lacking qualified candidates and facilitate the hiring of foreigners to fill the gap, the Labour Minister said. Currently, employers have to justify why a French citizen cannot be hired in a complex administrative process, which resulted in around 33,000 economic migrants being granted visas last year. Construction, hotels and restaurants, and some retailing sectors have long complained of a shortage of people willing to take what is often low-paying work.
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