Collective Bargaining

Firefighters mobilised in Rome on 22 February to expose the scale of the problems facing the service, particularly in Rome, because of underfunding. The service is understaffed and there is inadequate training while firefighters have seen a decline in their pay in real terms along with serious delays in payments for overtime work.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/461#a8480
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/21572

The FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak public service unions have given provincial government employers a deadline till 2 March to provide a better offer, or they will consult with their members and consider industrial action. After lengthy negotiations the employers have offered a basic pay increase of only 0.69% over 19 months and nothing in respect of the unions' calls for employment guarantees, disability benefit and a cut in the use of contract staff. The unions want a 1.5% pay increase over 12 months and are also calling on the employers to implement unfulfilled commitments included in the last collective agreement covering 11,000 workers.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/461#a8480
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/provincies-niet-bereid ... http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Ultimatum-Provincies?referrer=266

Cleaners continued their strike combined with creative action, demanding a new collective agreement for 150,000 workers laying down better pay, including sick pay, but also enough time to do the job properly, and more respect and appreciation. In already nine cities they organised, jointly with their union, FNV Bondgenoten, "Marches for Respect". On 27 February, some 2,000 cleaners held a sit-in at the Utrecht University campus. The strikers have got quite some support, both national and international. For example, on 28 February, a delegation of the 10,000-member Union of Clients of Financial Institutions, employees of the ING Bank and cleaners handed over a petition in support of the cleaners' demands to ING management in Amsterdam. Earlier, on 15 February, a delegation from the Belgian ABVV/FGTB confederation and UNI Europa gathered in front of the Dutch Embassy in Brussels and met with the representative for Social Affairs to express their solidarity (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 December 2011 and Year 5 January 2012).
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf/pages ...
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/mijnbranche/branches/schoonmaak/

As a response to a recent reform of labour law by the federal government to increase flexible hiring and firing practices, the two main union confederations, UGT and CCOO, have announced mass protests. UGT and CCOO state that the reform is an attack both on labour rights and on collective bargaining. Local protests held in 57 cities on 19 February mobilized as many as 1,800,000 people. More actions have been announced for 29 February. The confederations have initiated legal actions against the law and its adoption without consultation of the social partners, before the Spanish constitutional court as well as the ILO. They argue that the reforms will make dismissals easier and will undermine collective bargaining, allowing company-level agreements to undercut branch-level bargaining and giving employers more scope to impose changes unilaterally.
English: http://www.eucoban.eu/EMF/Reports/Massive-demonstrations ... http://www.epsu.org/cob/461#a8480
Spanish: http://www.ccoo.es/csccoo/menu.do?Informacion:Noticias:310718 http://www.fspugt.es/Cientos_de_miles_de_trabajadores_se_movilizan_contra ...

Local government unions UNISON, GMB and Unite have attacked the municipal employers' organisation for imposing a pay freeze for another year and again refusing to pay out the minimum UKP250 (?295) increase to the lowest paid, allowed for by the government. The unions estimate that taking account of inflation the three-year pay freeze will leave municipal workers 13% worse off. Local government workers in Scotland are also facing a second year of pay freeze.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/461#a8480 http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2613 http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/latest_news/gmb_action_on_pay_freeze_sct.aspx

Besides job cuts at Nokia Siemens in Finland and Germany (see message under heading Finland), Nokia has announced to lay off 2,300 workers at its plant in Komarom in northwestern Hungary. According to the cell phone giant, ssembly would be replaced to Asia from Komarom, which currently employs around 4,400. The 2,300 jobs will be axed in two or three steps by the end of 2012, Nokia told its workers, adding that most of the losses would be blue-collar, manufacturing positions. The move hurts the labour market in Hungary as well as in Slovakia, from where about a third of Komarom workers have commuted.
English: M t‚ Komiljovics, union correspondent

Mal‚v Hungarian Airlines, the state-owned Hungarian airline, on 3 February ceased flying after the government withdrew financing. It has been announced that the airline will lay off 2,060 of the total of 2,600 employed. Budapest Airport has announced that a process of mass redundancy, covering 250 workers, has been started in connection with the bankruptcy of Mal‚v. The Airport management has notified the labour market authorities and has called on the unions to start consultations about the lay-offs (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 5 January 2012).
English: M t‚ Komiljovics, union correspondent

After a 20-day strike the workers at the Satu Mare plant of the Swedish giant Electrolux went back to work on 21 February after management agreed to most of their demands. These included a wage increase of RON 100 (?23) per month to be implemented in January and another negotiable increase of up to RON 100 in September 2012, as well a new collective agreement providing for more advantages (bonuses and overtime pay), facilities for carrying out trade union duties and compensaion in case of layoffs (severance pay) than that provided by legislation alone. The workers also maintained the breaks they were entitled to and need to take given the nature of their work (at conveyor belts). The local unions expressed their thanks for all the support and expressions of international solidarity they received.
English: http://www.emf-fem.org/Areas-of-work/Solidarity/Successful-end ... http://www.planetlabor.com

After the latest bailout deal was secured by the parliamentary vote on Tuesday 22 February, the popular fury at the terms of the rescue showed no signs of ebbing. "Two years ago we were demonstrating about wage and pension cuts but now they want to take away everything," said Ilias Iliopoulos of the civil service confederation ADEDY, adding: "People are literally hungry and the number of homeless is growing every day . soon they won't take anymore. There'll be a popular revolt." The unions, ADEDY and the GSEE private sector confederation, emphasize that the new austerity measures include a 22% cut in the minimum wage, 15% cut to supplementary pensions and a further cut of 15,000 public sector jobs. International union federations have also reacted on the social effects of the measures and the exclusion of the unions from decision-making. For example, on 21 February David Cockroft, general secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), said in a letter to the Greek government that Greek workers were being "disregarded and damaged" by efforts to meet the conditions, imposed on the country by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Eurozone countries.
English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/22/greek-unions ... http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/7076

After a marathon bargaining round over the weekend of 11 and 12 February, the trade unions, led by the eight making up Co-Industri and including 3F, Dansk Metal and HK/Privat, concluded an agreement for 240,000 manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri. The recommended minimum wage increase is €18 per hour effective 1 March, and the same amount again on 1 March 2013. A pay supplement of 1.4% each year is available for performing difficult work, and apprentices, trainees and interns will get a 2.25% pay hike in each year. Exact wage increases will now be negotiated at local levels and inside company agreements. Improvements were also achieved concerning training (accumulation of training rights, new possibility for training during short-time), precarious workers (new measure against social dumping), senior workers, and dismissed workers (severance pay).
English: http://www.co-industri.dk/uk/agreement-history ...
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