The trade unions have won agreement from employers for a one-time `holiday bonus' for all pensioners. The money will be paid in the middle of 2011 as a compensation for inflation. While specific amounts have not yet been determined, it is expected that agreement will be reached with employers and the government before the summer.
English: http://paper.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2011-05-10&article=36239
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The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) has called for better legal protection of the social and labour rights of the country's workers. "We expect some engagements to be undertaken with regard to future actions on behalf of the National Assembly," said CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov. According to Dimitrov, social protection in Bulgaria has not reached the European level. He says his confederation has grounds to require legal amendments in relation to trade union association, especially in small private companies, and that there is also a need for amendments concerning collective negotiations and the right to strike.
English: http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n249111
To coincide with the opening of the German labour market to citizens of the eight central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004, services union ver.di has launched a petition calling for decent work in the health sector across Europe. Ver.di argues that it is more important than ever that health workers have decent pay and conditions and that they get equal pay for work of equal value at the workplace. The union has called on German health employers to adopt the ethical code on cross-border recruitment and retention in the health sector as agreed by EPSU, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, and HOSPEEM, the European hospital employers' organisation, in 2008.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/420
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...
The ver.di services union has negotiated a new collective agreement at the Helios hospital company which employs around 17,000 workers across Germany. The agreement runs from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012 and includes a 2% increase for 2011 (backdated to 1 April) and a 3% increase from 1 May 2012. Increases for doctors are different as they get on average a 3% increase from 1 January 2011 and a 2.4% increase from 1 March 2012. Their 15% increase on the supplement for night work which will now also be paid for on-call time at night.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/420
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...
Municipal unions have negotiated a pay increase for 2011. Workers get a 1.72% increase from 1 May 2011, with a minimum rise of NOK 7,000 (? 882). There will be a new minimum annual salary of NOK 222,200 (? 28,028) for workers aged 16-18 while the lowest rate for unskilled workers rises to NOK 246,800 (? 31,131) (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 March 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/420
Norwegian: http://www.fagforbundet.no/forsida/?article_id=63382
The FOA public services union says that the number of employees in the municipal sector fell by 21,300 between March 2010 and January 2011. The union argues that the government has overestimated the impact of the crisis on the economy and that there was no need to implement a standstill budget. FOA maintains that the level and quality of services cannot be guaranteed with the current high level of staff cuts. In a separate statement the union also highlights problems in the childcare sector with childminders being required to look after too many children.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/420
Danish: http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse?newsid=.
Police and rescue workers will demand a wage increase of at least 8% as of next year, says Kalle Liivamagi, chairman of the public workers' union association, ROTAL. The increase would restore wages to the level earned before budget cuts in 2009, according to Liivamagi. He added that unions will also demand that all public workers get their wages raised back to the levels of 2008. The state's budgetary strategy for 2012-2015, approved late April by the government, prescribes zero growth in operating costs of state institutions for the next four years. Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi said that this does not mean that all public sector wages would be frozen; yet, total payroll costs cannot grow much.
English: http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/28598/
On 30 May, the long-running dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew came a step close to ending as the ballot on the settlement negotiated between the airline and Unite the union opened. Unite has posted ballot papers to nearly 10,000 crew with a letter from its general secretary, Len McCluskey, recommending a vote in favour of the agreement. The poll on the latest attempt to end the industrial conflict will close on 22 June, 18 months after Unite opened its first strike ballot on the dispute. The agreement includes a two-year pay deal and the return of travel perks for 6,700 of staff who took part in 22 days of walkouts in 2010. It also gives the ACAS conciliation service a role in arbitrating the cases of staff who were sacked or disciplined during the dispute. If accepted by the crew, the deal will be implemented with immediate effect.
English: http://www.unitetheunion.org/news__events/latest_news/ballot_of_british ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/29/british-airways-unite-strikes
On 1 May, many thousands answered the call of the two main union confederations UGT and CCOO for a nationwide walkout in protest at the government's labour law reforms that were carried through earlier in 2011. Over 80 rallies were organised throughout the country, but the largest masses gathered in the centre of Madrid to condemn the government and the financial institutions who are in their opinion the cause of the deep crisis in which the country is immersed. Yet, the Zapatero government remains adamant, repeating that reforms and austerity measures are needed to bring it through the crisis.
English: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177692.html via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Spain
Trade unions have demanded talks with the government on both its implemented and planned changes to labour laws. Istvan Gasko, chairman of the LIGA union organisation, said workers' rights have been curtailed by new government measures and that there are further changes tabled for adoption. As an example, he mentioned strike laws, which government has restricted. Gasko also said that raising the trial period at work from three to six months makes employees more vulnerable to dismissal. He argued that there are "very bad signs" regarding further changes to the Labour Act planned, of which little has been revealed thus far. Gasko said that LIGA will initiate talks with the government on these problems and "if there will be no results, employees will revert to other methods", adding that talks can take place within the framework of the National Interest Coordination Council (OET) or in bilateral meetings. The OET has not yet been convened this year.
English: M t Komiljovics, union correspondent