On 22 February, the country's main trade union for employees in the banking sector announced industrial action over wages and employment conditions of its 30,000 members. From March 5 the union will block all overtime and additional hours in banks represented by the employer's organization. It will also stage a blockade against all forms of recruitment as well as a prohibition of foreign working missions. "The move is designed so that third parties will not be affected", Ulrika Bothius, negotiation manager and first vice chairperson at the Financial Sector Union of Sweden, said, "Our goal is to get a new contract with reasonable conditions for our members". The Banking Institutions' Employer Organisation (BAO) reacted the same day it was open to reopen discussions.
English: http://www.swedishwire.com/business/8708-swedish-banks-goes ...
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A record 5.26 million people worked unpaid overtime last year - the highest since records began in 1992, a TUC analysis of official figures reveals to mark Work Your Proper Hour Day (WYPHD). This analysis found that in 2010 over one in five workers (21%) regularly worked unpaid overtime, an increase of 0.7%points since 2009 and the highest proportion since 1997. The 5.26 million people clocked up an average seven hours 12 minutes unpaid overtime a week, worth UKP 5,485 (? 6,456) per person and a record UKP 28.9 (? 34.0) billion to the economy. Public sector workers are the most likely to do unpaid overtime, with over one in four (26.3%) regularly putting in more than seven hours of unpaid overtime a week, compared to around one in six workers in the private sector (18.9%).
English: http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-19200-f0.cfm
The five trade union confederations have threatened with a general strike when the President will receive the Labour Code and the Social Dialogue Code for promulgation and they have announced to launch rallies across the country starting February 28. ÿAccording to their action plan, all federations affiliated to the five confederations will start protesting when the Chamber of Deputies is to discuss the draft law modifying the Labour Code.ÿUnion leaders announced that they set talks with deputies in the committee, protests and visits at the main party headquarters including the ruling party and the opposition, rallies across the country and a warning strike the day of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies.
English: http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-top_news-8323753-unions-protest ...
Employees of State Railway Company BDZ are likely to go on strike on 10 and 11 March, with the final date for the strike action yet to be decided. "It is not a matter if there will be a strike or not, but when," Petar Bunev, president of the KNSB railway union told a television station, "My personal opinion is that the strike must commence after the holidays, so that ordinary people are not affected." The union remains opposed against the conditions of a loan by the IMF and the European Union, stipulating that BDZ and the National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) ultimately have to shed 30% of their staff or about 6,000 people, and asks that strategies should be developed for expansion of BDZ and NRIC instead. A number of meetings with government ministers did not lead to a solution (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010 and Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/02/21/1047649_bulgarian-state-rail ... http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n242766
On 18 February, over 10,000 workers of a large variety of public services across the country demonstrated in The Hague against spending and job cuts in the public sector. They in particular asked for more respect for public servants and their tasks. According to public services union Abvakabo FNV, one of the organizers of the mass meeting, 110,000 jobs in the public sector may be at stake due to the spending cuts the government has announced for the next four years. Eric de Macker, chairman of the co-organising union CNV Publieke Zaak, said the unions cannot go along with creating public poverty. The Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Piet Hein Donner, did not seem impressed and stuck to his saying that "there is no money left in the state pockets anymore" (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January 2011).
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/duizenden-mensen-eisen ... De Volkskrant, 19 February 2011
On 18 February, after four days of negotiations the CGT-affiliated union Syndicat General des Ouvriers Dockers du Havre reached an agreement with port employers on early retirement. Subsequently, the dockworkers called off their six-week campaign of rolling strikes. The union appears to have accepted two yers of early retirement against the initial demand of four years, but got recognition of the arduous nature of dock work that entitles up to 6,000 port workers to take early retirement. The CGT said the agreement included additional measures to address the issue of arduous work but did not reveal details yet (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 October 2010 and Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-10/french-port-workers ... http://www.joc.com/maritime/french-ports-cut-pension-deal-avert-strike
After negotiating 13 hours, IG Metall negotiators achieved a new collective agreement in the night of 8 February for 100,000 workers of the six Western German production sites and the VW financial division. The main elements of the agreement are: from 1 February 2011 a lump sum of 1% of the annual wage has to be paid, but at least €500 (?200 for apprentices); as of 1 May 2011 wages will be increased by 3.2%; supplementary payment of performance-oriented renumeration for five months (January-May 2011) between €400-600; as of June 2011 regular payment of performance-oriented renumeration, averaging €100 per month. The agreement on wages will end after 16 months on 31 May 2012, two months after the end of the sectoral agreement of the metal and electrical industries.
English: message of EUCOBAN network of EMF / EFFAT / ETUF-TCL / EMCEF
Negotiators in the municipal and state sectors have reached a common understanding on new collective agreements, aiming to maintain purchasing power. This was the main goal of JHL and the other trade unions involved. In the municipal sector the agreement covers some 430,000 and in the state sector 88,000 employees. In the municipal sector all employees will receive a 1.2% pay rise on 1 May 2011, whereas on the same day an average rise of 0.8% will be shared according to the conclusions reached in the local negotiations. In addition a bonus -?100 for many employee groups-- will be paid in May. In the state sector wages will be raised retroactively from 1 February 2011 by 1.3%. On 1 May 2011 a locally negotiated component of on average 0.5% and a 0.2% equality component will be added. The agreement essentially improves the rights of employees in situations where tasks will be changed so as to become less demanding; their pay cannot be reduced during 24 months following the changes. The new state agreement expires on 29 February 2012. The decision bodies of the parties involved still have to approve the negotiation results (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en/news/archive/?bid=840&y=2011
After nine months of negotiations and strike action, the ver.di union has agreed a deal with the BDE employers' organization covering 20,000 workers in the private waste industry. There will be a pay increase of 2% for 2011 with a €350 lump sum to cover the period from May to December 2010. Ver.di managed to resist pressure from the employers to create a two-tier pay structure that could have cut some salaries by 20% (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 November 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...
The OAO public sector union reports that a two-year agreement has been negotiated in the state sector with 3.15% for pay over the period. However, state sector pay developments are linked to private sector increases and relatively high increases (12.8%) in the previous three-year agreement mean that state sector increases were 1.48% ahead of the private sector. This implies an effective pay freeze in 2011 to allow catching up by the private sector. The 1.7% increase in 2012 corresponds to forecast inflation. The unions are pleased that they have resisted the Ministry of Finance's attempts to implement further decentralization of wages and to increase working time.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404; http://www.epsu.org/a/7321