The CGIL trade union confederation is organising a general strike on 6 May with a set of 12 key demands. These include calls for changes to taxation and public finance, measures to deal with precarious employment and the opening of negotiations in the public sector where the government has frozen pay and annouced there will no negotiations for three years.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/415
Italian: http://www.cgil.it/DettaglioDocumento.aspx?ID=15960
Basic agreement for hospitals
April 29, 2011
On 29 April, basic agreement has been reached for a new 3-year collective agreement in the hospital sector, covering nearly 200,000 employed. Negotiators of the largest union, Abvakabo FNV, are satisfied with the results and will recommend the outcomes to the membership. The total wage increase will be 5.05%, built up as follows: 1% by 1 July 2011; 0.55% by 1 October 2011; 1.5% by 1 July 2012, and 2% by 1 July 2013. During the three years' period, the end-of-year-payment will be increased from 6.73% to 8.33%, or to a full 13th month. The commuting allowance will be enlarged with an amount worth 1 to 3% of the total wage. A major achievement is the gradual disappearance of the youth wage scales. Workers aged 58 and older will be allowed to voluntary refrain from irregular shifts.
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/akkoord-ziekenhuizen
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Mobilisation toward strike action won 380,000 metal workers a 25-month basic agreement in the small metals and electric-technical sector, in which one overarching collective agreement covers five sectors, including metal fabrication, gold and silver manufacturing, isolation, plumbing, heating, and electrical installation. The earlier agreement expired 1 April. The pay package worth 4.45%, to be paid in four steps, is expected to set the pace for other major contracts in manufacturing. Late on 6 April the three unions involved, FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Vakmensen and De Unie, reached a tentative agreement with the Metaal & Techniek industry association. "The employers didn't want a fight and we were quickly mobilising toward strike action," said Jan Berghuis, main negotiator for FNV Bondgenoten, who called the deal "trendsetting." All three unions will recommend the agreement for ratification. In the basic agreement it is also agreed that short-term contract labour can only go via labour-hire firms that have collective agreements with the unions.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=26260&l=2
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/mijnbranche/branches/metaal_en_techniek_/
Negotiations between unions and the NHO private sector employers' organisation have delivered a NOK 6,000 (? 768) per year increase for lower paid workers - those workers who are paid less than 90% of the average wage in the manufacturing sector. The average yearly wage in manufacturing is currently NOK 378,573 (? 48,430) and so the 90% threshold is NOK 340,715 (? 43,600). The deal also includes improvements to severance pay for older workers and an agreement that unions, employers and the government will work together on a seven-point plan on gender equality. The private sector deal includes companies involved in the utilities and health and social care (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 March 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/415
Norwegian: http://www.fagforbundet.no/forsida/?article_id=62509
The FSC-CCOO public service federation has welcomed the ruling from an administrative tribunal against the Ministry of Justice over minimum services during industrial action. The Ministry of Justice had set out excessive requirements for the provision of minimum services during the general strike on 30 September 2010. The tribunal found that the Ministry had undermined the right to strike of public sector workers and the FSC-CCOO is particularly concerned to highlight the fact that it is the Ministry of Justice that is the subject of the tribunal ruling.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/415
Municipal workers' union Kommunal has published a new report that reveals a dramatic decline in the number of young people interested to work in elder care. It points out that the average salary for a nurse in the sector is several thousand SEK less than that of an industrial worker, while working hours also make the job less attractive with frequent weekend service and split shifts. The sector has a high proportion of hourly-paid and temporary employment workers with 60% working part time. Kommunal wants legislation to provide a right to work full time.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/415
The VPD/SSP public service union is working with other unions to win support for a peoples' intitiative calling for a national minimum wage. The union believes that this is an important step to protect the pay of workers and as a way of undermining the case for privatisation. VPD/SSP is currently campaigning with cleaning workers in the Zrich region against plans to privatise the service. The VPD/SSP believes that a monthly minimum wage of CHF 4,000 (? 3,040) would be a major disincentive to privatisation (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/415 German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/drg-schulterschluss ...
The coalition government is moving closer to the abolition of the two-tier workforce code that is an important element in the protection of pay and conditions of public service workers. The code was negotiated with the previous Labour government and was established to ensure that private contractors providing public services would apply the minimum rates that applied in the public sector and that these rates would also apply to any new workers taken on. The UNISON union fears that abolition of the code will mean wages will be cut as private companies undercut the public sector and each other to win contracts (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/415 ; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2230
Tensions remain between the government of Prime Minister Iveta Radicov and the trade union movement concerning the Labour Code reform. By the end of March, after the end of the review process, unions jointly walked out of talks over the changes in the code, which they deem are unnecessary. The KOVO union organised a rallye in the Bratislava capital. The Labour Ministry called the unions uninformed, while they replied that the decline in the economic and social status of employees left them with no other choice but to launch protests. Employers' organisations have also expressed objections to the government's proposals, but they say they are still committed to negotiations. Prime Minister Radicov has argued that there is still enough time to find a compromise since the Labour Code is due to be adopted in May (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 November 2010 and Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/42173/3/better_to_protest_or ...
Carrefour's French stores will likely be hit by a one-day strike on 9 April when workers are due to stage a protest on salary levels, job cuts and working conditions. Within the framework of statutory annual collective bargaining, Carrefour has offered a 1% wage increase in salaries this month and a second 1% rise in October 2011. The French retailer, world's second largest, has invited unions to sign a draft agreement on its proposals by 31 March but they have already made it clear that it falls well short of their demands. The CGT union has walked away from the negotiations while a ballot held by Force Ouvrire, the union accounting for almost 50% of Carrefour's unionised staff, revealed overwhelming support for the call to industrial action on 9 April, according to a union spokesman.
English: http://www.just-food.com/news/carrefour-workers-back-strike_id114751.aspx
The formation of a strike committee byÿthe Federation of Chemical, Energy, and General Workers' Unions (VDSZ) at Hankook Tyre Magyarorsz g Kft. prompted the Korean-based company to increase wage rates by an average 8%. The threat was because management had failed to raise salaries to compensate for tax changes that went into effect 1 January 2011. Some 1,700 workers at the 1,800 workforce will receive an average 8% pay hike retroactive to 1 January 2011. In addition, workers will receive HUF 20,000 (?73.40) yearly in non-wage benefits. Earlier, the National Interest Conciliation Council had recommended 4-6% increases to offset the tax change.
English: M t Komiljovics, union correspondent; http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/27 ...