Collective Bargaining

The Fagforbundet municipal union and other local authority unions in the LO confederation are working together to raise the issue of social dumping. In the light of recent scandals involving contracting and sub-contracting in refuse collection and care homes, the unions are urging their members and local residents to use the right of the citizen's initiative (requiring the support of 2% or 300 local citizens) to get municipalities to deal with any cases of social dumping. The unions want to see equal treatment of all workers and ensure that they are covered by the relevant collective agreement.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426
Norwegian: http://www.fagforbundet.no/forsida/?article_id=65004

The energy and services union ver.di has signed a new 19-month collective agreement in the energy sector (Tariffgemeinschaft Energie) that covers 30,000 employees, mainly those of the E.ON energy company. There will be a 3.2% increase on 1 June and then 1.7% on 1 June 2012. The increases also apply to apprentices. Ver.di board member Erhard Ott called the deal reasonable and in line with other agreements in the sector.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...

In early June, the FNME-CGT energy union organised a day of strike action at the RTE electricity network company, part of the EDF group. The union wants to defend pay and conditions in the face of the company's preoccupation with profits and its minimalist view of itself as a public service provider. The management also argued that it had to respond to calls from the EU for austerity measures to improve competitiveness as part of the Euro-Plus Pact.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426
French: http://www.fnme-cgt.fr/pages/communique.php?id=178

After tough negotations in six bargaining rounds, the negotiating team of the VIDA services union has reached agreement with the board of the national railway company, ™BB, for a collective agreement covering 1 July 2011 - 3o June 2012. It includes a basic pay rise of 2.4% for both white and blue collar workers, which equals the inflation rate of the last 12 months. As VIDA vice president Wilhelm Haberzettl explained, the detailed wage figures show a slight nominal improvement for the lower paid and a zero outcome fo the better paid, the latter according to Haberzettl justified by the recent dramatic economic situation of the company.
German: http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03/Page/Index ...

Over 16,000 workers joined the national demonstration on 9 June calling for new, long-term agreements in the non-profit sector, covering a range of health and social services. The unions are looking to negotiate deals at national, regional and community level and emphasise the need to improve employment conditions in order to make it a more attractive sector in which to work and so increase recruitment. Two ministers receiving a union delegation, Jo‰lle Milquet en Laurette Onkelinx, said to agree with a long-term agreement but pointed at the country's current political insecurity.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426
Dutch: http://www.bbtk.org/nieuws/Pages/socialprofitmanifestantenmassaalopstraat ... French: http://www.setca.org/News/Pages/nonmarchanddesmanifestantsvenus ...

At its recent Conference the International Labour Organisation (ILO) acknowledged trade union accusations of attacks on public sector workers' pay and conditions as well as government action to undermine collective bargaining in both Greece and Romania. In the case of Romania, the government there has been asked to work with an ILO technical team to review the recent changes to the Labour Code and collective bargaining legislation to ensure they comply with ILO convention 98, on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining. Details of the discussions are in the ILO report PR No.18 / Part 2 - Report of the Committee on the Application of Standards: Observations and information concerning particular countries, pages 72-75 (Romania).
English: http://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/100thSession/reports/provisional-records ... ; http://www.epsu.org/cob/426

A demonstration at Schiphol airport on 21 June meant the start of a campaign by trade unions calling for a new collective agreement in the state sector. With the last agreement formally expiring 31 December 2010, negotiations over a new agreement have stalled since February. The action focuses on civil servants' purchasing power, a jobs guarantee and employment initiatives for young workers. Renewed negotiations between a government delegation and the four unions involved, on 22 June, led to the conclusion that the Cabinet sticks to its zero wage increase policy and refuses to free an extra budget for measures to accompany redundancies socially. The unions continue to demand such measures, as well as a 2% wage increase. They have indicated to prepare for further action after the holiday season.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/426
Dutch: http://www.rijkscao.nl/; http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Actie-Rijk-op-Schiphol ...

The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has described the first review of the Croke Park Implementation Body as positive and encouraging. The report confirms that public servants have delivered the required savings and reforms in the first year of the Croke Park agreement. The report also showed that public service payroll savings delivered under Croke Park in the year to March 2011 exceeded their targets. Although this was mainly due to reductions in staff numbers, the report also details how services have been maintained - and in some cases expanded - because of staff redeployment, workplace reforms and increased productivity. The report also highlights the significance of sustained industrial peace in achieving savings and contributing to the restoration of the country's international reputation. The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU), mainly representing lower-paid civil servants, has said it wants the issue of reimbursing public service staff for pay cuts introduced over the last year or so to be examined in the autumn. The Croke Park agreement included the potential that public staff could get money back from generated savings. General Secretary of the CPSU, Blair Horan, said that while he never expected the issue of reimbursements for staff to be addressed in the first review of the deal, the issue had not gone away. However, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin replied there was "no likelihood of anybody getting money back in the foreseeable future" (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August 2010 and Year 4 April 2011).
English: http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/impact-welcomes-confirmation-savings-croke ...; http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/public-services-committee-ictu-describe-findings-croke ...; http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0615/1224298938102.html; http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0616/1224299000484.html

Three unions, MWB-FGTB/ABVV-Metaal, ACV-CSC Metea, and CGSLB/ACLVB, reached accord over two-year collective agreements covering 150,000 workers in metal manufacturing, including aeronautical, automotive, and metal construction, as well as in the iron and steel industry. The agreements did not come without discord, however. Contentious bargaining over early retirements, unemployment benefits, contract and temporary workers' rights, and layoff notices led to issuance of a strike notice that was to take effect on 24 June. But wage terms were reached in late May between the unions and employers' federation Agoria in metal manufacturing, and agreement came on 6 June between the unions and the iron and steel grouping GSU. The unions won extension of early retirement provisions and longer periods of notice before layoffs can take effect. The indexation of wages from cross-industry negotiations agreed early in 2011 with the government will take hold in metalworking. Wage rises of 0.3% higher than inflation will go into effect on 1 July 2011 and 1 July 2012. In addition, an economic "green" bonus of €250 will be awarded, intended for purchase of environmental friendly products or services. The contracts will run until 30 June 2013.
English: http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4512-Two-Year-Metalworking ...

On Sunday 19 June, over 200,000 protesters - young and old, those with jobs and those without - marched in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and nearly 60 other cities to drive home their anger over high unemployment, bleak economic prospects, and austerity measures. After this weekend, the country's one-month-old protest movement was regarded as gathering momentum. The movement demanding democratic reforms had demonstrated its capacity to peacefully mobilise large numbers of people, and could no longer be ignored by political and economic leaders, commentators said.
English: http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Spanish-marchers-protest ...; http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1646500.php/Spanish ...