Until recently, the Delta Lloyd insurance company had a rather good reputation with the unions, and its current economic position is strong. However, recently the Delta Lloyd management only proposed worsening pay and conditions for the new collective agreement, thus infuriating employees and their unions. According to FNV Bondgenoten union negotiator Bob Bolte working conditions deteriorated after the firm got a Stock Exchange listing two years ago. After a number of savings rounds, work pressure has been lifted to often unacceptable levels, employees say. On 24 November, the three unions involved (besides Bondgenoten also the CNV Dienstenbond and De Unie) have sent a letter to the Delta Lloyd management, asking them to come up with an improved offer.
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/mijnbranche/bedrijven/delta_lloyd/nieuws/425475_woede_onbegrip .
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In October, the public sector unions GD and GDG-KMSFB had initially submitted a 4.65% pay claim for 2012. The amount is based on compensation for inflation (2.95%) plus half the overall rate of economic growth (3.45%). The unions say they are determined to secure an increase in purchasing power for all public sector workers. In the third negotiation round on 25 November, the government delegation offered a 2.5% increase, which was rejected by the unions as being totally insufficient. Nevertheless, on 28 November the unions moderated their claim to 3.9%.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/446
German: http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at/servlet .
On Sunday 27 November, thousands took part in rally in Dublin city centre against government austerity plans. Organisers called on the government to reverse its policy of austerity ahead of what is expected to be another tough Budget next month. Addressing the rally, ICTU union confederation president Eugene McGlone said the government could make the necessary budget adjustments through taxes on high-earners, property, capital and corporate income, without the need for more spending cuts and attacks on social welfare. The march was backed by the ICTU, SIPTU, UNITE and Mandate (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 April, June, July-August and September 2011).
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1126/demonstration.html
Although there has been reached, after 1.5 year of talks, a budget accord between the six potential coalition partners at federal political level, the three major union confederations are dissatisfied with the outcomes. Both president Marc Leemans of ACV/CSC and his colleague Rudy de Leeuw of ABVV/FGTB state that the package is not oriented at all towards growth, that the taxation burden for the common people will go up drastically and that the division of the burden is anyway quite unequal. Both chairpersons emphasize that unemployment benefits, possibilities for early retreat and bridge pension arrangements will be heavily hit. Jointly with the third confederation, ACLVB/CGSLB, they have planned a major demonstration on 2ÿDecember in Brussels. Adaptation of the accord towards union demands will be a central demand.
Dutch: http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/5036/Wetstraat/article/detail/1354091/2011/11/27 ... http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/actions-nl/-/action/467385/&p_l_id=10188 http://www.acv-online.be/Images/Pamflet betoging 2-12-NL_tcm9-258558.pdf
French: http://www.csc-en-ligne.be/Images/Pamflet betoging 2-12-FR_tcm22-258533.pdf
From 24 November on, services of the Bulgaria State Railways (BDZ) are disrupted by a strike, that was already announced by the unions in September. High-level negotiations to avert the strike failed. The BDZ management stuck to its plan to lay off 2,000 workers and stop some 150 trains from operating as part of austerity measures, and the government refused to sign a new collective agreement with the railway unions. By 27 November, there was no sign of a solution in sight. BDZ management said that a total of about 800 of the railways' 27,000 employees were on strike, but had to admit that on 26 November over 60% of the scheduled trains had been halted. The BTA news agency stated that on that day not a single passenger train left the major train stations, including that of Sofia. Petar Bunev, chairman of the Trade Union of Bulgarian Railway Workers, confirmed that all employees of the National Rail Infrastructure Company and of BDZ at Sofia Central Railway Station were on strike (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 September 2011).
English: http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/11/26/1213255_bulgarian-railway-strike-heads-into-fourth-day;
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=134293
The 24-hour national strike called jointly by the two main trade union confederations, CGTP and UGT, shut down public services, transport facilities and factories in many parts of the country on 24 November. Most flights in and out of the country were canceled. Hospitals provided emergency services only and garbage was not collected. Workers chanting "let the banks pay" marched against austerity measures imposed by the government as a condition of the EU/IMF bailout. Figures on the participation in the strike were not available, but according to union leaders it was a greater mobilization of citizens than the November 2010 general strike in which some 3 million took part. The union confederations have announced that "the struggle will continue."
English: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2011/11/25/General-strike-shuts-down-Portugal ... http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/1245
Having declined for 11 straight quarters, real wages finally began showing growth in the third quarter 2011, even though the average monthly salary decreased compared to the previous quarter. Real wages grew by a modest 1.2% in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2010, according to Statistics Estonia. Most analysts had predicted a rise in purchasing power, but pay adjusted for inflation was still at a 1% decline in the second quarter. Hourly wages not adjusted for inflation increased by 4.7% compared to 6.6% for the average monthly salary since last year.
English: http://www.news.err.ee/economy/996fa495-262f-4785-9b5c-ed764b4e1e0f
On 24 November, the laboratory and cleaning staff at Geneva University Hospital (HUG) decided to continue their strike, when on 23 November the government of the Geneva canton refused to hear the strikers after breaking off negotiations a week earlier. Support for the strike is widening; 83 doctors and laboratory leaders at HUG signed a petition in favour of the strikers, asking the cantonal government to return to the negotiation table. The strike started on 20 October, with employees demanding for a reevaluation of their jobs, for which they were already waiting for 10 years. At the beginning of November they rejected an offer that would only have provided a salary upgrade for 430 of the 1,117 employed.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/446
German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/streik-am-genfer-unispital ... http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/streik-in-genf-laborantinnen-wehren-sich ...
Cyprus will almost certainly need a bailout from its eurozone partners if tougher spending cuts and tax hikes are not taken right now, the country's Finance Minister warned on Friday 18 November. Kikis Kazamias says his ministry is looking to freeze government workers' salaries for two years and save a total €355 million as part of an approach to prevent the country from joining Greece, Ireland and Portugal in seeking a bailout. He also wants to introduce a scaled surtax on private sector salaries above €2,500 monthly and an additional levy of 0.5% on domestic company turnover. The newly proposed measures are on top of a €840 million austerity package.
English: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/nov/24/eu-cyprus-financial-crisis/ via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Cyprus
Tensions between the FIOM-CGIL metalworkers' union and the management of Fiat Auto have gone up again. On Monday 21 November, Fiat sent a letter to the unions involved, stating it would scrap all labour contracts at factories in Italy after December 31 . In turn, FIOM is determined to take action against Fiat's plans to extend to all its plants the employment deals enacted earlier at Pomigliano d'Arco. FIOM's secretary general Maurizio Landini said that "FIAT has already been found guilty in court of enacting anti-union policies and we plan to take the legal route on this issue. We will also implement action, leveraging nationwide solidarity." The union called for a two-hour stoppage to protest plans by Fiat to scrap its existing labour contracts and could call a wider general strike, the union's secretary general added (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August, September and December 2010; Year 4 January and October 2011).
English: http://www.inautonews.com/fiom-union-threatens-fiat-with-general-strike