Dockers in the port of Rotterdam have been taking industrial action over pay and conditions, following an employer decision to cancel collective bargaining negotiations. Led by the FNV Bondgenoten union the workers who lash and secure cargo have been on strike since 8 March. On 12, 13 and 14 March, they held meetings in front of the port's Delta terminal and Uniport, where they distributed leaflets to workers employed in Hutchison Port Holdings' ECT terminal and the APM terminal owned by the AP Moller-Maersk Group. These companies are customers of lashing and securing service companies ILS and Matrans Group. The workers on strike are in particular protesting over Matrans Group's plans to pay lashers employed after 2006 less than colleagues who were employed earlier; meanwhile, ILS is requesting lashers to work more flexibly.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/5783
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/nieuwsarchief/2011/maart ...
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The Pardia public service union is supporting the proposal from the National Audit Office (NAO) to end the state productivity scheme. Both the NAO and Pardia argue that the programme has become little more than a programme of cuts in staffing. Pardia in particular highlights the failure to do more to boost productivity through new forms of work organization and innovative practices initiated by public sector employees. Latest evidence suggests that productivity has declined while stress and burnout have increased.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404 http://www.pardia.fi/in_english/?x126=1978689
The FGFFO civil service trade union has produced a briefing on public sector pay showing that the basic annual increase has exceeded inflation in only one of the last 11 years. The loss in purchasing power over the period is around 8%. Inflation in 2011 is expected to reach 2% while pay has been frozen until 2013. The UGFF-CGT federation has carried out a similar exercise including calculations for a sample of salary grades indicating what the loss of purchasing power means for gross pay. This exercise shows that if pay had kept pace with inflation since 2000 then administrative workers would be between €153 and €230 per month better off.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404
French: http://www.fo-fonctionnaires.fr/ (2011-02-03 TRACT SALAIRES); http://www.ugff.cgt.fr/spip.php?article1432
The FP-CISL, Uilpa and UIL FPL public service federations have signed an agreement with the government which they claim will protect workers' pay at levels agreed for 2010 and that will also give the unions a role in negotiating reforms at the workplace. The FP-CGIL public service federation has refused to sign the accord which it argues will undermine the system of collective bargaining in the public sector. This federation is planning strike action for 25 March.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/16770; http://www.fp.cisl.it/intesapubblicoimpiego/
The TUHSSC health union has called on the government to re-open social dialogue in order to tackle the crisis facing the health service. Hospitals are facing problems in funding and plan to close thousands of beds while doctors have threatened mass resignations if nothing is done to improve the low levels of pay in the sector. The unions have asked for solving the complex remuneration system for workers in the healthcare with the target to raise their pay. They also campaign for a united pay-scale for all workers in public and private health care.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/7309
Public services union Abvakabo FNV has surveyed its members in the hospital sector to help formulate their main demands for the negotiations in this sector due to start on 18 February. The union will be taking account in particular of the needs of young workers who are often on short-term contracts with few hours and inadequate training. Also based on the survey outcomes, Abvakabo FNV will make training one of its main demands as part of a strategy to make hospital work a more attractive career. Seven in 10 respondents younger than 35 of age answered to judge training (very) important. The union will also be looking for a basic pay increase of 2%.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/inzet-nieuwe-cao-ziekenhuizen
On January 26, the CCOO and UGT union confederations have signed a social pact with the government and the two main employers' organisations that provides a broad framework of bargaining issues including pensions, energy and innovation policy, as well as collective bargaining reform. According to the document signed the new system will help "rationalize and better articulate collective agreements" and encourage negotiations at company level.ÿThe agreement will determine the structure of negotiations in each individual sector and remove some existing bargaining levels.ÿThe signatories commit to develop tools for consultation, interpretation and conflict resolution as well as to encourage out-of-court solutions. Unions and employers now have until March 19th to come up with the reform of the interconfederal framework of collective bargaining. The UGT believes that bringing in questions of industrial policy and investment introduces an important element in the debate about pensions. The CCOO thinks that the pact is missing any consideration of fiscal policy and says it will continue to challenge the employment law reforms. The ELA confederation in the Basque region organized a general strike on 28 January and remains opposed to the pact and in particular the various pension reform proposals (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010 and Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404; message of EUCOBAN network of EMF / EFFAT / ETUF-TCL / EMCEF ; Planet Labor, January 31, 2011, No.ÿ 110070
Spanish: http://www.fspugt.es/El_Acuerdo_social_y_la_reforma ... http://www.ela-sindikatua.org/home-es/view?set_language=es
The GPA-DJP and VIDA trade unions have criticized the regional government of Salzburg for saying that it will not commit to honouring the private health and social care sector collective agreement (BAGS) in its procurement. The regional authority argues that it does not have to comply with a collective agreement if it was not involved in the negotiations. By contrast the unions argue that the authorities should agree to meet and discuss how to provide sustainable finance for health and social services provision and avoid any measures that could lead to wage dumping (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010 and Year 4 January 2011).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404
German: http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer ... http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03 ...
On behalf of the workers in the two power plants of the national power company Eesti Energia in the Northeastern town of Narva, the Narva Energia Union has set a 25% pay rise goal and says it will go on strike if the demand is not met by 1 April. According to the union, wages have not increased since 2008. The indignation of the union was triggered by a claim of Eesti Energia's chief of finances that despite good business results the company had no intention of raising wages. Thus far the other union, representing the workers of the neighboring Balti Power Plant, has withheld its support to the 25% demand.
English: http://news.err.ee/economy/e346f7ed-4f0c-454c-995e-cd00b39ac8fa via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Estonia
Employers and trade unions (GPA-DJP and PRO-GE) in the electricity sector (26,000 employees) are no closer to agreement after two rounds of collective bargaining. The unions argue that the employers' offer is below the trend set by the metal industry negotiations in November 2010 with an increase in inflation since then. They also argue that the electricity sector has not been hit so hard by the crisis. The unions reject the idea that pay rises should be linked more to results at company level and have criticized the employers for not doing enough to maintain the sectoral agreement.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/404
German: http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer .