Collective Bargaining

In October 2011 Novartis announced the closure of a plant in Nyon and cuts in the rest of the country up to 1.100 jobs. After in mid-January, through trade union campaigning and mass mobilisation, the closure decision was reversed, a social plan was concluded on 22 February. Trade union Unia is satisfied with the overall result. The company has created a fund of CHF4.5 million (?3.7 million) for hardship cases and for training and retraining. Part of the deal are an early retirement scheme (from 58), compensation for workers over 55 to bridge the gap till the age of 58 and additional pay for dismissed workers (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 5 January 2012).
German: http://www.unia.ch/index.php ...

Citing public pressure, the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee on February 20 altered its draft amendments to the law on collective bargaining, mandating that parties give at least six month's notice before unilaterally pulling out of an indefinite agreement. Yet, the change marks a slight concession from the version of the Collective Agreement Act amendments approved by the committee on February 13, which allowed the parties to cancel with just three months' notice, but is nowhere near the two years that the nions had demanded. Under the law, a collective agreement becomes indefinite by default when it expires. But whereas the current law makes the terms of the agreement binding after that time, the amended version allows an employer to cancel the contract. On 18 February, several thousand workers on a union rally in Tallinn gathered to protest the planned changes to the law, which union leaders say are being rushed through without their input.
English: http://news.err.ee/politics/619ee017-b510-42cc-81b5-0d346dcaf7e1 http://news.err.ee/politics/61cce4da-ee2d-4a76-a9e3-03968caff6d8

A new collective agreement and promises of the new coalition for smoothening of cuts in early retirement arrangements have cleared the air for ship pilot workers at the port of Antwerp, Europe's second busiest. After a strike in late January, new industrial action included a five days' strike starting on Monday 13 February in particular in protest against a planned increase of their retirement age to 62 from 60, now also involving the ports of Ghent and Zeebrugge. The pilots ended their strike on Friday 17 February, when collective bargaining was resumed. On 20 February, a basic national collective agreement 2011-2012 was reached. It includes prolongation of the possibility for early retirement of workers at the age of 55. Both employers' and union membership still have to accept the agreement (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 5 January 2012).
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/17/belgium-strike-ports ...
Dutch: http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/996/Economie .

Workers within the Sovereign British Areas (SBA) of Akrotiri and Episkopi say they will strike over wages. Around 800 Cypriots currently work on the bases while an additional 400 work in companies within the SBA. The workers are complaining about the decision to impose a freeze on the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA). SEK union head over SBA matters, Christos Tziambouras, said that the measure was part of a protracted two-year SBA effort to violate its commitments to workers.
English: http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/bases-workers-strike-threat ...

The IG Metall union puts the rights of precarious workers at the centre of its collective bargaining this year, along with demands for a 6.5% wage increase in the metal and electrical engineering sector and permanent contracts for young people completing apprenticeships. The upcoming bargaining round starts 6 March. One of the union demands is more co-determination rights for works council members on the use of temporary work. The objective is to limit the use of temporary and agency work within the sector. In addition, through its bargaining in the temporary sector starting on 22 February, the union is demanding "sectoral bonuses" for agency workers engaged in the metal industry to ensure they earn the same wages as permanent employees in the same job.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=28916&l=2
German: http://www.igmetall.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID .

The country's main union confederation, GCTP, has called for a general strike on 22 March, in protest at the austerity measures being imposed by the troika of European Commission, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). "This is a general strike for everyone, all workers must unite and participate in the fight against this package," CGTP Secretary General Armenio Carlos said (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 November and December 2011).
English: http://www.neurope.eu/article/portugal-union-announces-march-general-strike

48 workers, contracted by the Romanian company Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) to work on its offshore rig GSP Britannia, berthed in Hartlepool, are complaining that they have not been paid since October 2011. An inspection of International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), as part of the week of action launched in Aberdeen on 7 February by North Sea trade unions and ITF affiliates, revealed that many workers appear to have been paid half the UK minimum wage - receiving only UKP3.50 (?4.15) per hour for a 12-hour day, seven days a week. One hundred other GSP company employees are seeking assistance from the ITF office in Constanta, Romania, for non-payment of wages. There are reports that the company and the "yellow" (employer-run) union threaten the workers if they seek ITF assistance.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/7042

On 13 February, the PRO-GE trade union concluded a new 12-months' agreement for the spice industry. The minimum wage according to the new agreement will be €1,223.60. Wages and apprenticeship payments will increase by 3.65%. In that same week a new agreement was concluded also in the yeast and spirits industries; here, the wages will raise with the same percentage. The minimum wage will be lifted to €1,553,48.
German: http://www.proge.at/servlet ... ; http://www.proge.at/servlet/Content ...

Research carried out by SIPTU has discredited claims by employers' organisations that the abolition of the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) wage-setting mechanism has resulted in the creation of extra jobs. Addressing the parliamentary Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education on 14 February, SIPTU Vice President Patricia King said that this research established that no extra catering and hotel jobs have been created since a July 2011 High Court decision suspended the operation of the JLC system. Instead, staff hours were cut and there was also evidence that pay and conditions had deteriorated since the abolition of the system (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January, February, March, Masy, July-August and December 2011).
English: http://www.siptu.ie/media/pressreleases2012/featurednews ...

GMB, the union for engineering construction workers, successfully pursued a claim for UKP 251,204 (? 297,700) in the Employment Tribunal in Cardiff for 14 Polish migrant workers who were employed as laggers by Darmar in the construction of the Uskmouth Power Station in South Wales. The compensation for the unlawful deductions amounts to almost UKP 18,000 (? 21,330) per migrant worker and shows the extent of exploitation by contractors of migrant workers in the engineering construction sector. GMB officers had found that sums on pay slips bore no relation to the money going into the workers' bank accounts. The tribunal backed the claims.
English: http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/tribunal-payout ...