Collective Bargaining

The three public sector union federations supported the national strike action on Thursday 22 December in protest at the new government's plans for pension reform and its failure to have any consultation with the unions concerning these plans. The changes to pensions will mean working longer for a lower level of benefit as the effective retirement age is increased and the period for calculating pensions is increased from the last five years to the last 10 years in the job. Workers of all ages would be affected if the reforms go through unchanged. On Wednesday rail workers already started wildcat strikes in the south of the country and parts of Brussels. The Belgian rail system as a whole stopped operating from late on Wednesday evening and other public services including buses, trams and the metro, as well as postal deliveries were shut down in the 24-hour strike. Government buildings closed and hospital worked on emergency schemes (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 November 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/22/belgium-strike-idUSL6E7NL36T20111222
Dutch: http://www.acodonline.be/artikels/persbericht.aspx?nr=2974
French: http://www.cgsp.be/code/fr/frame910d.html?id_page=8

On Wednesday 21 December, negotiations on a collective agreement covering local government have restarted. Earlier, informal talks of the FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak public service unions with VNG, the employers' organisation in the municipal sector, suggested some openings for fruitful bargaining. The last collective agreement expired in June 2011 and the unions have been organizing protest actions over several months to keep the pressure on the employers. The central issues for the unions are maintaining purchasing power, job security and quality of work (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 March, May and November 2011).
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/onderhandelingen-cao ...

The union confederations and the main employers' associations, negotiating in the so-called Group of Ten, have been working for some weeks in December on an interprofessional accord (national agreement) on pay and conditions, but on 21 December they told the outgoing cabinet that there were still disagreements and that they would not reach an agreement before the new year. At the same time, the Group of Ten asked the government to prolong the package of anti-crisis measures, including the temporary unemployment arrangement, due to end by 1 January 2011. On 23 December, the government answered that these measures were prolonged by just one month.
Dutch: http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/press-releases-nl/-/press/71265/&p_l_id=13635; http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/press-releases-nl/-/press/72985/&p_l_id=13635
French: http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/press-releases-fr/-/press/72993/&p_l_id=14124; http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/news-fr/-/article/84204/&p_l_id=10624

The government has published legislation to reinstate elements of the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system of wage setting. The system, which provided legal guarantees of pay and conditions for around 200,000 workers, was found to be unconstitutional earlier in 2011. However, the new system will see a reduction in pay and protections for many workers. Under the new provisions, the number of JLC's will be cut from 13 to six. Previously there were around 300 different pay rates depending on experience and other factors but in future, JLC's can only set a basic adult rate and two increments for experience. Employers can either pay a premium for Sunday work, previously obligatory, or give the worker time off in lieu, which could hit take-home pay. The government insists that workers continue to be protected by their existing employment contracts, but some employment experts acknowledge that the new system gives fewer guarantees to workers (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January, February, March, May and July-August 2011).
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1222/jlc.html

The ver.di services union reports that campaigning and industrial action at the CFM facilities management company have produced some initial improvements for workers and the promise of further negotiations in 2012. The union began negotiating with CFM in May 2011, but has been in dispute with the company since September 2011. The company provides cleaning, catering and other services to the Charit‚ hospitals in Berlin. In January 2012 all low-paid employees will get a minimum wage from the company of €8.50 an hour and employees will also receive a €300 lump sum payment (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 October 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451
German: http://www.verdi.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/++co++aee9 .

The vida and GPA-DJP trade unions have been involved in the first round of bargaining of the private health and social services agreement (BAGS-KV) that covers 90,000 workers. A starting point for wage increases is the rate of inflation in the year to October (3.04%). Although the unions found the negotiations constructive, they were disappointed that the employers' initial offer was well below this level. The next round of bargaining will be on 12 January.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451
German: http://www.vida.at/servlet/Content ...

The ver.di services union has negotiated a new agreement at the Alpenland care home company in Berlin, which will mean minimum increases of 2.5% from 1 January and a lump sum payment of €235. Care assistants and nurses will get higher increases of 5.9% and 8.3%. The negotiations over a new agreement have been going on for over two years and led to a long dispute in 2011 involving protest and strike action (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 July-August and September 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451
German: http://www.verdi.de/themen/nachrichten/++co++237d .

The public sector union federations FP-CGIL, CISL-FP, UIL-FPA and UIL-PA organized a joint strike action on 19 December in protest at the latest austerity measures. The federations were very pleased at the level of support, taking account of the fact that they had only one week to organize the action. They are calling for negotiations with the unions over national and decentralized bargaining as well as over issues such as the threat to privatize local services.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/20732 http://www.fp.cisl.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2640 ...

Over 6,500 people took part in a major event in Den Bosch on 10 December that brought together trade unionists, political activists, unemployed, and workers in the sheltered employment sector. The anti-austerity event focused in particular on the government plans to cut 70,000 of the 100,000 jobs in the sheltered employment sector. If the government plans are approved by parliament this would mean many disabled workers being employed on rates below the statutory minimum wage (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 May and November 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/archief/281576/385409/armoede .

The STAL public service union is planning to maintain its protest and campaign activities into the new year following the general strike against austerity measures on 24 November 2011. In particular, the union wants to organize a month of protest in February in opposition to public sector cuts and attacks on public sector workers pay and conditions and trade union rights (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 November 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/451
Portuguese: http://www.stal.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task ...