Collective Bargaining

The FO civil service federation is supporting strike action by driving test examiners and other workers dealing with driving licences and road safety. The Ministry undertook to revalue their salaries in 2007 but four years later with increasing pressures of work and lengthy negotiations, the civil servants are still waiting for the salary review to be implemented.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/443
French: http://www.fo-fonctionnaires.fr/

In early October, the FIOM-CGIL metalworkers' union called a nationwide strike at Fiat on Friday 21 October. The strike was decided after Fiat's CEO Sergio Marchione some days earlier announced that his company was to quit the employers' group Confindustria in a dispute over labour contracts. FIOM leaders argued this could be a precursor for a gradual disengagement from Italy. Yet, in a reaction on the strrike Marchione threatened to continue shifting manufacturing to sites in Eastern Europe and North America, pointing at the productivity gap between these locations and the firm's Italian facilities. About 12,000 Fiat workers joined the strike (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August, September and December 2010; Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/08/fiat-strike-idUSL5E7L80CK20111008; http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/fiat-threatens-to-quit-italy-10272011.html

On 13 October, for the first time in four years union confederations agreed on Thursday to a central collective agreement. Union economists expect the 25-month agreement to slightly improve the purchasing power of wage and salary earners. The signatory parties are the union confederations Akava, SAK and STTK, the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the employer organs of the State, municipalities and the Lutheran church. The agreement includes two pay rises of 2.4% and 1.9%, a €150 lump sum payment and changes in working life regulations. In addition, the government has promised to make the agreement more attractive by tax cuts for both employees and companies. The agreement will not come into effect unless a substantial proportion of national unions and employer organisations agree on sectoral collective agreements, respecting the framework set up by the confederations. Rejecting this framework would mean losing out on tax cuts as well as putting at risk the concessions made by the employers in the confederation-level negotiations. Confederation presidents - SAK's Lauri Lyly, STTK's Mikko M„enp„„ and Akava's Sture Fj„der - place much emphasis on the increase in purchasing power and the qualitative improvements of working life (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 July-August and September 2011).
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2011/o41

Representatives of the UNIA union and the watch-making industry association have signed a new collective agreement for the watch and micro-technology sector.ÿ It will apply to about 400 enterprises in the industry (mostly small and medium-sized enterprises) and 85% of workers or 48,500 employed. ÿThanks to grass-roots mobilization, major progress was made in the area of social benefits, the minimum starting wage and the creation of a flexible retirement scheme. In addition to an increase in the employers' contribution to the health insurance fund, a family and training benefit of CHF 30 (?24.60) will be added to the existing amounts. As regards the starting wage, the union obtained an increase of CHF 100 (?82.10) per month for those cantons where wages are lowest, and CHF 80 (?65.70) for the others. The employers' attempt to raise fluctuating weekly hours from 30-45 to 30-48 hours was rejected. Concerning flexible retirement, workers are now able to reduce their working time by 20% two years before the legal retirement age, with the assurance that the employer will cover half of the lost pay.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=27808&l=2
French: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=27808&ol=5

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) argues that major changes in Romania's labour laws, introduced at the behest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB), have stripped away key protections for the country's workforce and are denying large numbers of workers the right to union representation. Recently, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow stated, "The IMF prescription in Romania contradicts the positive signals about workers' rights from its Washington Headquarters, and the government has ignored the advice of the ILO despite promising to respect international labour standards." The new laws, which the country's union movement is trying to have amended, exclude workers in the "liberal professions" from the right to union membership, and introduce a series of legal and procedural obstacles to effectuate workers' collective bargaining rights (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 June 2011).
English: http://www.ituc-csi.org/romania-s-imf-inspired-labour-laws.html

According to Prime Minister Emil Boc in an interview with a financial magazine, the government will only give in on trade union claims as much as the available budget allows and when the consultation process with the employers' associations and with the trade unions has been finalized. This seemed a polite way to put notably union demands to increase the legal minimum wage in 2012, from RON 600 (?140) per month to RON 750 (?175), on hold and postpone decision-making.
English: http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=74242

According to the ver.di union, the management of utilities giant EON is considering to create a so-called transfer company in which it would put thousands of its workers. This gives the impression of EON being in a difficult financial situation. This is not acceptable, argued Sven Bergelin, verdi's national energy officer, saying that workers are particularly angered by EON's plans as the company is making good profits. He announced that workers will seek strike action if the company does not come to terms with demands for job guarantees. Bergelin stated that EON has developed plans to get rid of up to 11,000 of its 79,000 workforce worldwide, whereas ver.di wants to negotiate a job security agreement that would exclude compulsory redundancies after 2012.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/8041 ; http://www.epsu.org/cob/441 http://world.seenews.com/news/Ver_di_says_strikes_at_E_on_not_excluded___report_152519

The Kommunal municipal union has criticized the National Mediation Office for its narrow view of the scope for pay bargaining and failure to acknowledge the need for action to close the gender pay gap. The union agrees that wage developments should take into account the pressures facing the manufacturing and export industries, but emphasizes that there has to be scope for some flexibility: otherwise the lower paying sectors that are dominated by women workers will never catch up with other sectors and the gender pay gap will never be closed.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/437
Swedish: http://www.kommunal.se/Kommunal/Nyheter/2011/Oktober/Svensk-lonebildning-och-Medlingsinstitutet-star-vid-ett-vagskal/

Talks between unions and the government on the collective agreement in the state sector have broken down. At one point it appeared that the Minister of Internal Affairs would consider a lower pay rise along with an agreement on job security but in the end the employer was insisting on a pay freeze with no commitment on jobs. FNV Abvakabo is planning action in November to put pressure on the employer while CNV Publieke Zaak is still considering its next move (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 June 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/441
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/archief/281576/365207/overleg-cao-rijk-definitief-vastgelopen; http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Geen-zicht-op-CAO-akkoord-Rijk?referrer=272

A new 22-month basic agreement covering 80,000 workers in the mental health sector (the so-called GGZ) will be put to members for approval. The three main unions in the sector have secured a 3.25% overall pay increase that includes a 0.75% rise in August 2011, with a 0.25% one-off payment (minimum €25) in November 2011 and an additional 0.5% on the end-of-year bonus in December 2011. In 2012 there will be a 1% increase in salaries in September, another 0.25% (minimum €25) payment and the end-of-year bonus will rise by another 0.5% taking it to 6.75%. While this keeps salaries rising in line with the rest of the health sector, unions are concerned that mental health will suffer disproportionately from planned cuts. The sector accounts for around 10% of total health expenditure but will account for 35% of the overall budget cuts.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/441
Dutchÿ: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/archief/281576/372442/eindbod-ggz; http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Eindbod-CAO-GGZ?referrer=272