Senior ministers from the Fine Gael and Labour parties have clashed over the impact of proposed changes to the joint labour committee (JLC) system, under which pay and conditions for low-paid are set through employment regulation orders (ERO's) proposed by JLC's. According to the bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU this system should be changed, but the method to do this and its impact has been a source of division between the coalition parties. Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton brought his proposals to cabinet on 28 June, insisting changes to rules governing overtime and Sunday pay would lead to a reduction in the welfare bill. Labour ministers believe such reform could lead to pressure on the social welfare bill by pushing more families into the poverty line. Moreover, a coalition of unions and social justice groups has exerted pressure on Minister Bruton, calling on him to release the economic logic of his proposals. Following lengthy discussions, ministers failed to reach agreement on the proposals, which will be discussed again in July. The unions have made their position quite clear. Jack O'Connor, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) confederation, said in a statement: "The Cabinet should not waste time working out ways to crucify the lowest-paid 20% of the workforce through further cutting their pay. Reducing basic wages and employment rights will make no contribution to job creation, as the Government's own independently commissioned Duffy-Walsh report has established" (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January, February, March and May 2011).
English: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/coalition-ministers-clash-over-wage ...; http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bruton-pushes-ahead-with-plan-to-slash ...; http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0628/breaking7.html
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On 21 June, the Tariff Board decided to make parts of the collective agreement in business cleaning generally applicable. The central precondition for doing so is documented proof that foreign workers are subject to wage and working conditions inferior to the conditions established in relevant collective agreements, or inferior to what is the norm in a profession/occupation. A decision made by the Board lasts for as long as the relevant collective agreement is in force. When the new regulation is implemented, probably in autumn 2011, the hourly wage rate for cleaners will be NOK 148 to 157 (? 19.00 - 21.80), depending on length of service. The decision constitutes a landmark, as it is the first agreement that has been made generally binding within the service sector and as it has a standard wage rate and not a minimum rate like previous agreements made generally applicable. The Tariff Board's decision is highly welcomed in the sector by both the dominant employer's association and the union. However, enforcement will likely be demanding as the cleaning industry is notorious for its problems with undeclared work and social dumping.
English: information of Line Eldring, FAFO, Oslo
Pay freezes have made an unwelcome return to the private sector, contributing to subdued settlements across the board, according to the Labour Research Department (LRD). LRD Payline, which monitors agreements across all UK sectors, showed the median basic pay rise in the three months from March to May 2011 to be 2.7% - a fall from the 3% level reached earlier in 2011. This partly reflects the fact that one in five new deals in the latest period implied pay freezes. Widespread pay freezes in the public sector are beginning to make their mark on pay trends, accounting for four out of 10 public sector pay deals monitored since the pay round began last August. Yet, freezes are also returning to the private sector, where until very recently they seemed to have faded out. LRD Payline also found that the spread of settlements continued to widen in the three months from March to May. At the higher end, a quarter of settlements were worth 3.9% or more but at the lower end a quarter were worth 1.5% or less. The overall median increase of 2.7% comes as inflation hits 5.2% on the RPI measure or 4.5% on the CPI measure.
English: press release Labour Research Department (LRD)
The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK will demand substantial wage increases. It argues that the improved position of industries on world markets is due to a series of modest wage raises. Pressure for higher wage demands is growing, especially as a spurt in inflation has cut purchasing power. Inflation for this year is projected at 3.4%. "Finland's competitiveness has quickly recovered to pre-recession levels and now, according to forecasts, it is more or less headed toward a record high, better than it has been for 20 years," said Olli Koski, Chief Economist of SAK. He added, "Real earnings will decline this year because of increasing inflation, and this is rather exceptional. It will undoubtedly create pressures for wage negotiations."
English: http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2011/06/unions_better_competitiveness_should ...
The Railway Workers Union (VSz) has postponed a two-hour strike scheduled for June 29 to a later date, the union's strike committee said on on Tuesday 28 June. The union decided to put off the strike until the Budapest Municipal Labour Court makes a ruling in a case launched to define minimum services. Until a decision on the matter is taken, the strike cannot be legally held, the VSz said. The strike was urged for by train drivers and drivers employed by the Budapest Transport Company (BKV) and of coach company Vol n in the southern Transdanubia region, in protest over the abolishment of existing early retirement arrangements.
English: M t Komiljovics, union correspondent; http://www.bbj.hu/politics/railway-workers-union-postpones-wednesday-strike_58608
The Unison and Unite unions have decided to step up their action concerning the Southampton City Council, in response to the Council's decision to sack 4,300 employees across a range of services and re-employ them on new contracts with an overage 5% lower pay. Recent talks with the Council have failed to produce any progress and so the unions are now involving more workers in the industrial action. As a first step, on 28 June 300 library workers, refuse collectors, street cleaning workers and bridge toll collectors and garbage workers started a seven-day strike.
English: http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=6957
The leader of CGTP, the country's largest union confederation, is urging workers to continue protesting the planned labour law changes tied to the current bailout package of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission. The package conditions include cutting costs by lowering severance pay, introducing more flexible working hours to improve competitiveness, and keeping the minimum salary at €485 a month. On Monday 27 June, the Secretary General of CGTP, Manuel Carvalho da Silva, says his members must fight the measures, arguing "If we accept this remedy, in two years' time we'll be poorer and in recession" (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 May 2011).
English: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/markets/portuguese-trade-union ... via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Portugal
Several thousand trade union members gathered in Zilina on 25 June to protest against proposed changes to the Labour Code, an overhaul of the tax and levy system, rising prices and poverty. The rally, organised by the KOVO union, began with a march through the town. The head of KOVO, Emil Machyna, stressed that the union movement regards the current Labour Code as appropriate and sees no need for changes. "If the Code is to be changed in order to benefit capital, to facilitate lay-offs and controls over people, then this is the wrong path to take," Machyna said (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January and April 2011).
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/43140/10/kovo_trade_union_protests ...
Public transport workers have launched a campaign to secure branch agreements for their services. The campaign is part of a wider global union programme to defend public services. The Lithuanian Transport Workers' Federation (LTWF), backed by the Forum of Transport Trade Unions in Lithuania, began a series of actions on 8 June, to continue daily until 22 June. They included pickets at the government buildings in Vilnius and rallies along the main business street, stopping at the ministries of transport and justice. Demands are that public transport employers reach agreements with unions that will increase minimum wages, index pay in line with inflation, and retain the existing pension age rather than raise it. Part of the action was participation, on 23 June, in the worldwide Action Day "Promote Public Transport", co-ordinated by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/6089
The UGT and CCOO union confederations are continuing their campaign against the public sector pay cuts and labour law reforms. The unions have successfully collected over a million signatures in support of a popular legal initiative to challenge the labour law reforms. They point out that the announced reforms including changes to the collective bargaining framework have neither calmed the financial markets nor done anything to prevent the increase in unemployment. The unions have also been pursuing legal action to get the public sector pay cuts reversed, but the latest stage of this process has not been successful with the Constitutional Tribunal ruling that the pay cuts are not unconstitutional. On 10 June, after negotiations between the CEOE employers' federation and UGT and CCOO failed and under openly pressure of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of Spain, the Council of Ministers approved a royal decree reforming the framework of collective bargaining. The text introduces mediation to solve conflicts, facilitates internal flexibility for businesses and prioritises company collective agreements over provincial collective agreements. The text still needs to be approved by Parliament to become an Act (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 May 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426; http://www.planetlabor.com/Articles/plone ...; http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4899878
Spanish: http://www.ugt.es/actualidad/2011/junio/b16062011.html; http://www.fspugt.es/UGT_rechaza_la_decisin_del_Constitucional_de_avalar_el_recorte ...