Collective Bargaining

Two bastions of unionist employment in the North, Harland and Wolff and Wrightbus shipyards, are threatened with closure. The demise of the shipyards is a direct result of the geopolitical struggle to control the price of oil, in which the present owners, Dolphin Drilling, have been heavily exposed. Workers around Ireland have been crying out for the unions to get out of defensive mode and, instead of going cap in hand to employers for redundancy payments, to go on the offensive and fight to protect the workers and their jobs.

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According to Statistics Portugal in July 2019 the unemployment rate was 6.4%, corresponding to a decrease of 0.1 percentage points (pp) from the previous month, 0.2 pp from three months before and 0.4 pp from the same month of 2018. In comparison to the previous month, the unemployed population has decreased by 5,000 people (1.5%) and the employed population has increased by 11,400 people (0.2%). The provisional unemployment rate estimate for August 2019 was 6.2% and decreased by 0.2 pp from the previous month.

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Swedish trade unions have been cagey about instructing their members one way or the other, but the three main union confederations – Saco, TCO and LO – have said that although they support environmental issues, they do not believe that launching a formal strike is the right way to go about it. Strikes in Sweden are a relatively regulated affair. The country has a low number of annual strike days, with trade unions enjoying strong influence in negotiating labour conditions with employers – and unlike in many countries a strike is seen only as a last-resort weapon that should not be wielded for political gain.

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Antwerp prison guards stopped work to express their dissatisfaction with the permanent lack of staff in the prison. A workers’ meeting was held and it was decided to stop work.

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Three of Luxembourg's biggest workers' unions have demanded a meeting with government over fears that company representatives are withdrawing from labour talks. The OGBL union said that the Luxembourg Employers' Association (UEL) wished to pull out of the permanent labour talks committee, created to encourage three-party dialogues between workers, employers and the government.

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IndustriAll Europe launched a new campaign to demonstrate the positive impact of collective bargaining in delivering a better life for workers. The campaign runs under the slogan ‘Together at Work’. It takes place from September 2019 to March 2020 and is aimed at all workers whilst taking a specific focus on women, young people and those in precarious jobs. It also seeks to influence employers and policymakers.

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Although most employees work in the service sector, industry is the engine driving the economy. Compared to the rest of the EU, Slovakia is one of “the most industrial” countries, an analysis by Poštová Banka showed. Only the Czech Republic has more employees in industry.

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Teachers unions have declared a state of strike alert after a breakdown in salary talks with the minister of education. Both the unions and the minister agree that wages should rise, but they differ on the form. The unions want the increase in the basic pay alone, the minister advocates more bonuses.

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The Liechtensteinischer ArbeitnehmerInnenverband (LANV, Liechtenstein Employees’ Association) demands a defined minimum monthly wage of 3,500 Franken (€ 3,185) for 2020. The country doesn’t have a legal minimum wage and several branches have lower wages such as retail and cleaning.

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Icelandair Group hf., Icelandair ehf. and The Icelandic Airline Pilots Association (FIA) have renewed its current collective agreement until 30 September 2020. The collective agreement is identical to the current agreement between the parties except for that salary increases which were supposed to become effective on 1 October 2019. They will become effective on 1 April 2020. There will be no further salary increases during the term of the agreement. FIA will now present the collective agreement to its members who will vote on the agreement.

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