The IG Metall union has announced that almost half of its members will receive a wage hike two months earlier than originally scheduled, signaling a more aggressive approach to negotiations with employers. Union chairman Berthold Huber said an agreed 2.7% wage increase will be accelerated by two months for more than 40% of its members. The wage hike will start as from February instead of April, Huber said at a press conference at IG Metall's Frankfurt headquarters.
English: http://www.automatedtrader.net/real-time-dow-jones ...
German: http://www.igmetall.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID .
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On 18 January the employer and trade unions with the Hungarian State Railway (MAV) have concluded three agreements, on wages, an amendment with the collective agreement, and on employment. According to the wage agreement, the gross wages of those earning less than HUF 293,400 (?1,070) per month will be compensated for the decline in net wages stemming from personal income tax changes. Under the scope of the collective agreement parties agreed to raise the gross value of benefits-in-kind (cafeteria items) by HUF 12,000 (?44) to HUF 350,000 (?1,280) annually.
English: M t Komiljovics, union correspondent
Leaders of union confederations and employers' associations have both asked for the resignation of the Minister of Labour, Ioan Botis. They are highly dissatisfied with the way negotiations took place on the new Labour Code. The minister blocked any resolution on talks over the Code, the President of the ALFA Cartel union confederation, Bogdan Hossu, declared. He said that there were many issues with the new Code to be solved, related to working time and termination of employment but also to the right to strike, and voiced his belief that Parliament would not vote such a project.
English: http://www.actmedia.eu/2011/01/19/top+story/trade+unions,+employers . via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Romania
At a press conference of the CMKOS trade union confederation, it has been announced that the unions in 2011 will focus on health care, pensions and the labour code reforms that are currently being prepared by the government. Against this backdrop, the unions plan to organise what is called a nationwide union meeting on 19 February. At the same press conference, CMKOS economist Jaroslav Ungermann said that the development of the Czech economy in 2011 will be worse than unions estimated last year, partly due to the development of prices on global markets. He explained that the Czech economy has arrived in a deflationary state and that foreign trade is developing unfavourably.
English: http://praguemonitor.com/2011/01/18/unions-economic-development-be ...
The leaders of the major trade union confederations, FNV and CNV, in their New Year speeches both announced to focus on the widespread abuse of flexible and short-term contracts, as they called it. FNV president Agnes Jongerius referred to figures of the official UWV institute that one-third of all Dutch employees is currently working on a flexible contract. According to a FNV survey of December 2010, 60% of flexible workers is not working as call-out or short-term staff by choice. According to Jongerius, the FNV wants the government to make sure workers on flexible contracts have better rights, including better access to social security benefits. CNV president Jaap Smit said to agree that working patterns are changing and labour market reforms needed, but "We must ask ourselves how we can put healthy limits on these developments."
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2011/01/unions_to_focus ...
Dutch: De Volkskrant and NRC-Handelsblad, 11 January 2011
According to the vice president of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Latvia (LBAS), Egils Baldzens, when considering further consolidation measures the government should turn special attention to combating the shadow economy. Baldzens said to believe that the shadow economy is too large in Latvia, mentioning the illegal fuel trade as an example. According to law enforcement statistics, it forms up to 15-20% of the market. Baldzens said the figure could actually amount to 20-30%, implying a huge loss for the state budget.
English: http://bnn-news.com/2011/01/07/social/latvian-free-trade-union ...
Latvian: http://bnn.lv/2011/01/07/sabiedriba/1600-lbas-parvaret-krizi ...
The Frente Comum federation of public service unions, including STAL, are using the courts in an attempt to block the implementation of pay cuts across the public sector for those earning over €1,500 a month. These cuts range from 3.3% to 10%. The unions have taken out injunctions against individual local authorities that they hope will force employers to put on hold the planned pay cuts. Mario Nogueira, head of the Fenprof teachers' union, told reporters outside the Lisbon Administrative Tribunal that the pay cuts infringed the law, and that this viewpoint was supported by legal experts the unions had consulted.
English: http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Portugal-unions-challenge-govt ...
Portuguese: http://www.stal.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id .
After a 24-hours' strike on 22 November, the CSCP/CCOD and CGSP/ACOD public service federations have managed some progress in their campaign to get employees of the Fedasil asylum service transferred to the federal civil service. These employees have been on fixed-term contracts and lower rates of pay than in federal civil service, and the unions are pushing for an end to precarious employment conditions. An agreement will be put to the unions on 17 January beginning a process of negotiation over the practical details (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 November 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/395
French: http://csc-services-publics.csc-en-ligne.be/Nouvelles/Sectorielles/autorite_federal/actualites_federal/veritable_depart.asp
The CGTP union confederation has warned the government that it would resist government plans to rescind agreement on raising the monthly minimum wage by 1 January 2011, as part of the austerity measures of the administration of Prime Minister Jos S¢crates. The confederation, strengthened by the success of the general 24-hours strike it jointly organized with the UGT-P confederation, said the minority Socialist administration "is doing everything to flee from fulfilling the agreement" it signed in 2006. Earlier, PM S¢crates argued that the economic projections made in 2006 had changed and the remaining minimum wage hike had to be renegotiated as it would make the country's economy even less competitive (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 November 2010).
English: http://www.forexpros.com/news/interest-rates-news/top-portugal-union-warns ... via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Portugal
The public services unions jointly are organising a national demonstration on 17 February in the Hague in protest at the government's attacks on the public and education sectors and public service workers. A union manifesto highlights the vital services provided by public sector workers and emphasizes their right to freely negotiate their pay and conditions. The unions argue that the public sector should not bear the brunt of austerity measures and call for measures to avoid job cuts, as well as that redundancies would be short-sighted in view of the increasing trend to retirement arising from the ageing public sector workforce. The Abvakabo FNV union adds that a meeting with the Home Affairs minister on 17 December was disappointing in terms of the prospects for the negotiations over a new agreement covering the civil service. The minister confirmed that the government would be looking for job cuts and a pay freeze. The union reaffirmed its call for a 2% pay increase and a stop on job cuts.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/395
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/samen-sterk-voor-publiek-werk; http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Onderteken-manifest-publieke-sector