Heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar has announced it intends to not renew the contracts of 200 employees at the Gosselies facility. Caterpillar states the discontinuation of the contracts is due to a crisis-related drop in orders for the rest of the year and beginning of the next. Trade unions point at 13% increase in the quarterly dividend approved by the board of directors in June and call on the company to find different solutions. The unions have proposed to resort to other measures commonly used to prevent lay-offs such as early retirement for permanent staff and short-time working.
English:http://www.industriall-union.org/belgian-unions-spearhead-proposals ...
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While most actors in the public sector have considered current civil servants' pensions secure by the Croke Park agreement, the public expenditure minister has recently suggested this might not be so. The agreement does effectively protect pensions until 2014, yet a brief clause allows for pension overhauls after that date, which would not only apply to newly hired personnel, but also to current employees. The minister suggested that the pension schemes might be changed to receive increases based on the cost of living rather than any future pay rises. Meanwhile, a bill on public service pensions is discussed in parliament, which will average out pensions over the entire career rather than last earnings. Members of parliament complained at lack of information, particularly at not receiving a complete list of schemes and allowances affected by the reform.
English: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/public-pension-increases-to-be-based ... http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0712/1224319862153.html
The trade union congress has called on the troika to alleviate the pace of austerity measures and turn to investments in growth. The congress stated that the lack of growth and 26% drop in domestic demand indicate further austerity will only collapse the economy further. The trade union congress also presented a plan Delivering Growth &Jobs that contains an investment plan the unions say will not significantly increase the country's sovereign debt.
English: http://www.ictu.ie/press/2012/07/09/congress-tells-troika-do-no-further-harm/
The ministry of energy and economy has announced that the privatisation process of the troubled VMZ Sopot military plant will start this summer. The increasingly debt-ridden company was set to be privatised after a vote in Parliament in 2011 but no actions had been taken. According to the minister there will be interested private partners. 1 million BGN has been set aside to pay part of the delayed wages for the 3,700 workers at the plant. As reported in last month's newsletter, workers of the VMZ Sopot military plant have threatened industrial action unless they receive their delayed salaries. The workers state that payment of salaries was repeatedly delayed for the last 1.5 year and that wages for January, April and May are currently due. VMZ Sopot is the largest military plant in the country and produces both military and civil products.
English: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=140985
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n282133
In May Hewlett-Packard has announced it is cutting its work force by 27,000 worldwide, of which 8,000 jobs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). HP has now announced 520 of those jobs will come from France, representing around 10% of its employees in the country. In a statement, HP said the redundancies are expected to be arranged by voluntary departures through an early retirement scheme. Unions are angered by the lay-offs in an otherwise healthy company and have announced mobilisation of their members across Europe. Especially painful, unions report, is the simultaneous announcement that 210 young people will be hired in the next three years; the same period 520 older people will be let go.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf ... http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf/pages ...
Workers at the loss suffering Kofinou slaughterhouse have gone on strike to draw attention to their unpaid salaries and benefits. The workers have not yet received their 13th month salaries, 29 employees that were laid off earlier have not received their compensation payments and retired workers report not getting their pensions. The minister of commerce has gotten involved in the conflict and promised the redundant workers will be compensation and to do their best for the 13th month salaries.
English:http://www.cyprus-mail.com/kofinou/kofinou-strike/20120705
After Unite recently backed Dutch FNV dockers in a pension campaign, the unions have now joined forces to protect jobs. Increasingly, the unions report, staff who are not trained dockers are employed for lashing because they are cheaper. FNV and Unite have announced the start of a joined campaign to reserve lashing activities for professional dockers.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online ...
Oil sector conflict forced into obligatory arbitration but far from over
August 24, 2o12
As reported in last month's newsletter, Norwegian off-shore oil and gas workers launched a limited strike on Sunday 24 June, demanding higher wages, the right to early retirement and to 14 days paternity leave. Just half an hour before the start of a sector wide lock-out by off-shore workers that would stall all production, the government forced the conflict between the unions and the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) into obligatory arbitration.On-shore workers, however, who were still negotiating their collective agreement and tabled similar demands as the off-shore workers', have broken off talks. The on-shore industrial conflict will now move into mediation, a necessary step before another strike can be called.
English:http://www.industriall-union.org/norwegian-government-enforces ... http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/norway-oil-idUSL6E8IC5MK20120716http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/24/norway-strike-idINL6E8JODZS20120824
The north-eastern cantonal government of Sankt Gallen has announced it intends to cut civil servants' wages by 1.5% in order to reach its retrenchment target. The regional government states that overall wage cuts are necessary to avoid redundancies. Public sector union vpod has announced it is fighting the decision and says the government strategy to cut wages for the sake of tax competition is unsustainable, suggesting incomes need to be increased rather than expenses cut.
German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/sparen-in-sankt-gallen ...
The government coalition has granted the request of public service trade unions to give a job security guarantee for employees of municipalities for the duration of the upcoming municipal reform. The municipalities are facing a grand overhaul and unions have argued the job security guarantee will get municipal workers behind the reform. The unions furthermore claim the job security guarantee is needed to prepare the municipalities for an upcoming retirement wave: 150,000 of the 430,000 municipal employees will reach the pension age in the next eight years.
English:http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en/news/archive/?bid=2107
A collective agreement has been reached at Damp hospitals, part of the Fresenius/Helios group. The agreement come after an intense conflict between trade union Ver.di and the management, reported in last month's newsletter, in which a 1000 workers were dismissed for going on strike. The dismissals have been annulled and the new collective agreement includes a 3.5% wage increase starting from 1 May 2012 and another 1.4% from 1 January and 1 August 2013. Further agreements include a raise in the Christmas bonus.
German: http://www.verdi.de/themen/geld-tarif/brennpunkt-damp ...