Public sector unions agreed to suspend their strike in response to a government commitment to abide by the current collective agreement. One of the main issues of dispute is the timetable for paying salary adjustments arising from changes in the public sector pay system. The adjustments were meant to be paid in four installments but the government wants to suspend payment of the third quarter until economic growth reaches 2.5% a year.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/381; http://www.emg.rs/en/news/region/134840.html
Search results
Find articles
8810 articles found.
In a conference on defending public services, the GDG-KMSFB union set out a range of social and financial measures that could help ensure the provision of quality public services. The union's list of demands included the defence of public services in the face of the uncontrolled competition characterised by the single market and the application of social and environmental clauses in public procurement. The union also underlined the importance for public services of a well-trained, motivated and decently paid workforce.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/381
German: http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01/Page/Index&n=C01_0.a&cid=1283862568034
As the Wood and Allied Workers' Union and the employer association Finnish Forest Industry approved a new collective agreement on Thursday 7 October, the strike of 4,100 wood workers ended. The agreement covers 18,000 workers. All will receive, backdated 1 October, a 1.1% wage increase. In addition, a 0.8% rise is to be implemented on the basis of local negotiations. The biggest obstacle to an agreement was resolved by leaving the regulations on seniority allowance untouched. Originally it was the employers' side that demanded changes to these regulations.
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2010/n32 via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Finland
Over 100 works and staff council representatives attended ver.di's 2010 waste sector conference. They received a stark warning from Erhard Ott, head of the union's energy, waste and transport section, that they were facing the prospect of very tough bargaining in the sector, much tougher than previous bargaining rounds. The conference also discussed the impact of an ageing workforce. With the average age of workers in the sector now reaching 50, delegates focused on the importance of improvements in health and safety and the need to reduce the impact of heavy lifting.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/381
German: https://ver-und-entsorgung.verdi.de/abfallwirtschaft/br-pr-konferenz-2010/betriebe-spielen-auf-zeit
The PCS civil service union is challenging the government over its plans to make substantial cuts in the redundancy compensation scheme. The union it is still prepared to negotiate with the government over the scale of the reductions. The union took the previous government to the High Court over the scheme. The Court confirmed that the scheme could not altered without the agreement of all six unions in the civil service (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 April, May, June and July-August 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/381; http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/4C2BAAA5-1961-4A07-9054C7A804ADC896
The Solidarnosc National Section of Commerce Employees called for a strike on 7 October as to highlight the worsening conditions in stores of a number of large supermarket chains, including Biedronka, Carrefour, Real, Bomi, Praktiker, and Makro Cash and Carry. Union members will work-to-rule, following every single regulation to the letter in order to disrupt the pace of trade. They will hand out leaflets to customers explaining their grievances, which include the low rate of pay of shop-floor workers (hardly above the minimum wage) and the ever-increasing number of duties they are expected to perform. They also complain that they are rarely employed on full-time contracts and that jobs are lost when big supermarkets cut costs by allowing suppliers to stack shelves. The protests coincided with the World Day for Decent Work.
English: http://www.wbj.pl/article-51469-supermarket-strike-to-hit-poland-thursday.html?typ=ise
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Poland
Polish: http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/wiadomosci/artykuly/456789,dzisiaj_strajk_wloski_w_sieciach_handlowych_przygotuj_sie_na_kolejki_w_sklepach.html; http://www.tvn24.pl/1,1676772,druk.html
Public sector workers are facing an across the board cut of 10% in salaries as well as the prospect of a new pay structure that could result in cuts of up to 40% for some categories of workers. On 21 September, the CMKOS union confederation organised a national demonstration in Prague, in protest at planned changes to the labour code and attacks on public sector workers, in which health personnel, firefighters and police staff played an active role. The health sector union announced it will take strike action on 15 October if the government pushes ahead with its plans. A meeting on 30 September between Prime Minister Petr Neas and the unions brought no solution, though both sides said to be willing to continue negotiating.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379
http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/thousands-of-people-protest-in-prague ...
http://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/10/01/pm-unions-meeting-shows-no-progress ...
Czech: http://www.cmkos.cz/uvodni-strana/aktuality/2459-3/vyzva-krizoveho-stabu ...
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
On 30 September, after eleven hours of negotiations agreement has been reached between IG Metall and the Employers' Association Steel (AGV Stahl) covering 85,000 workers of the steel industry in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen. In the week before the agreement, IG Metall and the steel workers had underlined their demands with warning strikes, in which about 18,000 steel workers participated. The wage part of the new agreement is valid until 31 October 2011 (14 months) and includes a lump sum payment of Euro 150 for all workers as compensation for September 2010; a wage increase of 3,6% as of 1 October 2010, and a larger percentage increase of the apprentice's pay of Euro 40. Further, from 1 January 2011 on all temporary agency workers in the steel industry will receive equal pay. If an agency does not pay equal wages, the steel company in question will be liable for the gap in the agency worker's pay, an arrangement which neutralizes a loophole in German law. The agreement was discussed by the collective bargaining commission in the morning of 30 September with overwhelming approval. The final decision on adoption will be taken on 7 October (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August 2010).
English: message of EUCOBAN network of EMF / EFFAT / ETUF-TCL / EMCEF
German: http://www.igmetall-nrw.de/Nachricht.29.0.html .
On the European Day of Action, 29 September, public transport and other services in Athens went on strike from 12 to 16 PM. GSEE, the General Confederation of Greek Workers, and ADEDY, the Civil Servants' Confederation organized a mass demonstration outside the European Union offices in the capital. The union confederations accuse the Papandreou government to follow closely the EU and IMF guidelines, focusing on budget cuts and lowering wages and benefits. Against this backdrop, it remains interesting to remind a survey held in May 2010 on the views of Greek employees and unemployed about the new labour market measures just announced by then, including the lowering of the minimum wage for workers under 25 of age. 86% of respondents considered these measures socially unjust. The views of respondents about the most appropriate way of addressing the crisis were of great interest. Of various measures suggested to alleviate the country's financial difficulties, most popular were criminalisation of major tax evasion (88% in favour), criminalisation of corruption in the public sector (88%), taxation of the church (87%), a bipartite agreement with Turkey on joint military spending cuts (72%), and a drastic reduction in armament programs (64%).
English: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2010/09/29/european-action-day-strike-wave ...
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2010/07/articles/gr1007019i.htm
Greek: http://www.vprc.gr/uplds/File/teleytaia nea/Oikonomikh ...
IBEC, the country's main employers' association, has called upon unions not to entertain any claims for pay rises in 2011 or 2012 on the basis that wage levels remain significantly out of line with many of the country's key trading partners. Jack O'Connor, President of SIPTU and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), has challenged IBEC's assertion that a pay freeze to 2013 would support jobs. "Jobs are the critical issue, but a blanket pay freeze is not the right way to go", he said, arguing that "A much more subtle approach is required. Our exports are booming but domestic consumption is still declining. Persuading people to spend again is the key to jobs." O'Connor stressed that Irish labour costs fell by 2.9% in 2009 and are expected to fall by a further 5.1% in 2010. Eamon Devoy of the ICTU's private sector committee also rejected IBEC's call, stating: "A unilateral call for a pay freeze is a recipe for conflict. Far from helping our economic recovery it will undermine it further."
English: http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/Headline/Name,11961,en.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0930/breaking34.html