Collective Bargaining

Hourly pay rates of self-employed without personnel have fallen by 15% over the last year and by 42% when compared to 2010 rates.People working in marketing, copywriting and website administration were among the group most affected. Self-employed secretaries and personal assistants increased their pay rates.
English:http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News ...

Unions have organised strike actions at the Gruppo Monte Paschi di Siena (MPS) to protest against massive lay-offs as the company struggles in the financial crisis. The MPS management announced in April that it foresees 4,600 redundancies, cuts on supplementary contract, the outsourcing of back office services and the closure of 400 branches. Trade unions have condemned the lack of dialogue and willingness to find a better solution.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf ...

Report on the evolution of minimum wages
July24, 2012
A detailed EUROMOD country report (2007-2011) comes up with figures on minimum wages, social benefits and guaranteed minimum income benefits (GMI).In order to be eligible for GMI benefit income per family member must not exceed 50% of the minimum wage. Theminimum monthly wage is set every year by the Cabinet of Ministers. The minimum wage rule covers employees in all sectors and is not differentiated between the types of employees. The level of minimum wage was 120 LVL in 2007, 160 LVL in 2008, and 180 LVL in 2009 and 2010, and 200 LVL (?290) in 2011.
English:https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/files/euromod/country-reports ...

The immigration policemenat the Charleroi airport responsible for security and border controls have been distributing leaflets to passengers at the airport explaining their work-to-rule action. From mid-July on they carried out strict checks on passengers. A representative of the police union NSPV stated that the number of passengers at the airport has more or less doubled in recent years and that it needed 77 officers and not the 61 currently doing the job.The delegates' demands were met by the responsible ministry and a strike announced for 31 august was cancelled.
English: http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/1.1370724http://www.xpats.com/en/features/todays-top-stories-july-24-2012
French: http://www.dhnet.be/dhjournal/archives_det.phtml?id=1277560

This report is based on the input of the national Eurofound correspondents. According to the authors many concessions seem to have been made by the trade unions in favour of employment guarantees in the harsh economic climate during 2008, running into 2009 and 2010. But, industrial relations systems are deeply entrenched in national traditions, and there continues to be great diversity in the outcome of collective bargaining and in the number of workers covered by collective agreements. Some countries, having a major deficit, were limited in their capability to `grease' social bargaining outcomes with extra financial means (for example, the Anglo-Saxon or southern European countries). Others have invested a considerable amount of public funding in an upswing of their socioeconomic constellation.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/studies ...

The state-owned Permanent TSB bank has announced it is closing 16 branches and cutting 250 jobs. The job losses are foreseen to be voluntarily and under an improved redundancy package of three weeks per year of employment, plus statutory entitlements. Permanent TSB made known it will reorganise into a small bank.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0724/permanent-tsb.html
Lagan Brick redundancy dispute continues after non-binding recommendation court
July 24, 2o12
After the independent mediation process over redundancy payments at Lagan Brick failed last month, as reported in the June newsletter, a non-binding recommendation of the labour court appears to have no more effect. Twenty-five former employees of closed down Lagan Brick plant in Kingscourt have been seeking redundancy payments in a conflict that has gone into its seventh month. The labour court, ruling in the absence of the employer who refused to attend, recommended the workers be paid an improved redundancy package. The recommendation outlines a package of the statutory three weeks per year of service, instead of the statutory two. The court ruled that the statutory part as well as half of the improved package should be paid to the workers immediately, whereas the second half should be paid when the remaining stock of brick has been removed or the company changes hands. Lagan Brick has not commented on the recommendation.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0724/lrc-rules-on-lagan-brick-redundancy ...

The labour court has recommended workers at Keeling Distribution, a Tesco supplier, to accept the company's wage offer of 2% increase. Keeling offered the pay increase to match the hike accepted by workers at Tesco, but trade unions at Keeling asked for a 6% increase because the 300 staff accepted a nine-point cost reduction plan two years ago. Union members will now be balloted to accept or reject the 2% increase.
English: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/300-staff-at-fruit-firm-get ...

The builders' union has announced it will help its members apply for an announced 400 job openings in the Canadian building industry. After Canada announced it is recruiting hundreds of Portuguese for construction work in Toronto, the union was flooded with enquiries from members about the procedure. 22% of the 700.000 construction workers in Portugal are currently unemployed. A union representative explains the union is getting involved in order to avoid illegal practices. The job offers in Canada, where a constructor earns €5500 per month, is very attractive to Portuguese workers who can expect to earn €545 per month at home.
English: http://theportugalnews.com/news/builders-union-pledge-full-legal-support-for ...
Health workers hold two-day strike
July 11, 2012
Doctors and other health workers held a 48-hour strike against announced €800 million cuts in health care forced by a new EU-IMF package. The strike caused the cancellation of nearly 400.000 doctor's appointments and 4500 operations. The health workers say quality of services is endangered and the poor are being barred from health care services. Amongst the measures is a €20 charge for services in emergency rooms. The health care workers also protest against increasing privatisation.
English: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_21050505/portuguese-doctors-strike ... http://news.msn.co.nz/worldnews/8497765/portugal-health-workers-strike-over-cutshttp://www.economywatch.com/in-the-news/portugal-healthcare-strike-to-affect ...

US companies continue to invest
July, 2012
Several US companies (IT, food, energy, infrastructure, financial services) have increased their investment in a country with a market that they still expect to emerge.Managers of involved companies pinpoint many strategic advantages, such as growing service areas, adaptability, human intelligence and ability to innovate continuously.
English:http://www.thediplomat.ro/articol.php?id=3668

American-based Remy Group has told its employees that the Mezok”vesd plant will be closed this year. The company's collective staff dismissalannouncement to the Employment Centre of the Government Office of Borsod-Aba£j-Zempl‚n County is said to still be pending. Management stated the necessity to cut production cost as the primary motive for the plant's closure. The factory will finish production by the end of the year; the production will be relocated to plants in Mexico, China and South Korea.The majority of the over 200 workers at the Mezok”vesd plant will be dismissed. An estimated 50 people will be able to continue their work at the group's Miskolc plant.
Source: Mat‚ Komiljovics
English:http://www.autopro.hu/news-in-english/Remy-s-Mezokovesd-factory ...

The trade unions and the employers' organisation Algemene Bond Uitzendondernemingen (ABU) have renegotiated the universally binding Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers. The agreement which will affect 600,000 agency workers is set to increase pay rates for contingent staff and continue the battle against rogue agencies. Monitoring of staffing firms will be increased through the SNCU (Stichting Naleving CAO voor Uitzendkrachten), the compliance office of recruitment companies with collective agreements for temporary workers. The five-year agreement will provide better training opportunities for low-skilled agency workers. It is set to come into force on 5 November 2012 and will see better working conditions for agency staff.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News ...

Carmaker BMW has concrete plans to hire 3,000 contingent workers on a permanent basis. After unions and work councils massively criticised the BMW's HR policy which has heavily relied on temporary staffing lengthy negotiations followed between workers representatives and the management. The trade union IG Metall confirmed that the new deal was ready to be signed, which will oblige BMW to take over 3,000 new workers, mainly temporaries, by the end of 2013. The union claims that this will drastically cut the number of agency personnel from up to 20% down to 13%.
English: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News ...
German:http://www.igmetall-bmw.de/