Collective Bargaining

The new collective agreement for clerks and employees at notaries includes a 2.5% pay hike bringing the lowest employee pay scale to 1419 and technical staff to €1703. Force OuvriŠre representatives report that while the wage increase is modest, they are satisfied an agreement has been found.
French: http://www.info-tpe.fr/journal/clercs-et-employes-de-notaires ...

A survey commissioned by the three trade union confederations SAK, STTK and Akava shows that 45% of Fins believe trade union membership to be "very necessary" and another 45% rates it as "rather necessary". Respondents mention earnings-based unemployment security and job and working condition security as the most important reasons to join a union. While respondents aged between 15 and 25 score lower on the highest category (24% calling membership "very necessary"), a considerable 65% of young people called workers organisation "rather necessary".
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2012/p18

Despite large-scale reorganisations that cost approximately 1200 jobs, no new owner has been attracted for low cost carrier BMI. The International Airline Group, owner of British Airways, said immediately after the take-over of the company, that bmibaby and bmi Regional were not a part of its long-term strategy. IAG has now announced closure for September and has started negotiating a social plan with unions. Reductions in bmibaby's flying programme will be introduced from June to control the company's losses.
English: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/JOBS+SHOCK+AS+BMIBABY ... http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Long-term-unemployment-fears-Bmibaby ...

Negotiations between management and unions at the protein factory of American company Cargill were broken off after management presented its concrete proposals for a social plan. According to trade union representatives, the previously promised job guarantee turned out to be no more than a longer dismissal period. Workers at the factory organized a work stoppage mid-April when it became clear that the total vacancies in the company exceeded the number of foreseen lay offs.
Dutch: https://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/mijnbranche/branches/voedingsindustrie ...

Dutch and Polish metalworkers are offering a petition to RWE/Essent demanding equal pay on 11 May. Around 600 workers at the Eemshaven complex work for Polish subcontractor Remak, that does not comply with the same collective agreement as Essent does. The Dutch and Polish workers have united in FNV Eemshaven to fight the unequal pay and working conditions together.
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/acties_en_campagnes/gewoon_goed ...

Employers in the public service sector have suggested to stop paying staff during breaks. Unions have reacted that over half of hospital and elderly care staff reported regularly interrupting breaks to provide urgent care. The unions warned that staff would not interrupt unpaid breaks, leading to chaos.
Danish: http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse?newsid ...

Public sector union Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) has announced that unless collective agreement negotiations for all government employees are resumed, it will schedule industrial action. Negotiations have been ongoing since the previous agreement expired in 2010 but recently government officials have cancelled meetings and refused to schedule new dates.
English: http://di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID ...

The General Workers' Union (GWU) Professionals, Finance and Services Section has condemned the anti-union approach and attitude of the British High Commissioner in Malta after the Commissioner refused to meet with trade unionists claiming GWU does not represent the majority of workers any longer. GWU reports the refusal to negotiate follows a series of selective redundancies in which trade union members with indefinite contracts were laid off while non-unionised worker's temporary contracts were prolonged. The British High Commission has been subject to several cases before the Maltese Industrial Tribunal regarding breaches of employment law, which is either settled or lost.
English: http://www.gwu.org.mt/news/1890-details.aspx

On the first of May, a commission lead by former social affairs deputy minister Jetta Klijnsma presented its plans for a reformed trade union confederation, De Nieuwe Vakbond (The new union movement), to replace the country's largest union FNV. The commission stated the new confederation should be more democratic, more modern and transparent and its membership should have direct influence and say at every level. Proposals include the right for members to choose the union leader in direct elections and to call for referendums on strategy. The proposals will be put to a vote during the FNV congress at the end of June.
English: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/dutch-trade-union-federation-gets ... http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2012/05/newlook_trade_union ...

May marked by industrial action
May 26, 2o12
With negotiations going on in several sectors the country is marked by industrial disputes, but also by the conclusion of a long list of wage agreements. Fellesforbundet concluded this month a long list of agreements in several sectors (pulp and paper, glass, agriculture and horticulture, hotel and restaurant sector, the graphical trades, forestry, fish farming and rental services) whilst the public sector entered into a period of strikes affecting a wide range of workplaces and townships all over the country. Meanwhile also the oil workers have threatened with a strike after talks, centred on changes in the workers' pension system, between the unions and the Oil Industry Association failed.
English: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/05/25/heres-whos-out-on-strike ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120525-704180.html
Norwegian: http://www.fellesforbundet.no/Lonns--og-arbeidsvilkar/Tariffoppgjoret ...
State sector negotiations become a battle
May 24, 2o12
The negotiations in the state sector have turned into a battle on wage compensation after mediation failed. It is the first time in 28 years that civil servants at state level go on strike. A demonstration is announced for 30 May in Oslo, with other meetings planned all over the country. Government and union negotiators are arguing over the size of raises won by workers within industries that negotiate their wage agreement first, when annual talks get underway in the late winter and early spring. The union demands are in line with the wage development in several other branches. Negotiations were held on the hiring in of workers, on inconvenient working hours and work in evenings and on weekends.
English: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/05/25/nationwide-strike-set-to-spread/
Norwegian: http://www.lostat.no/loenn-og-avtaler-i-staten/streikero-i-pinsen ... http://www.lostat.no/forsiden/streik-i-staten-article497-6.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18188917

Danish trade unions 3F, HK, FOA, Sundhedskartellet, Dansk Magisterforening, Finansforbundet and the women's council have called on the Danish government to implement a range of measures to close the gender pay gap. Proposed measures include the extension of paternity leave and changes to equal pay legislation to make it easier to compare work of equal value across sectors.
Danish: http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse?newsid ...