On 23 September, according to union estimates about three million French filled the streets in an effort to force the Sarkozy government to drop their plan to raise the retirement age two years to 62. In total 230 union demonstrations were reported. The Ministry of the Interior argued there were less than one million protesters, 11% less than the official estimate on the national day of action on 7 September, whereas unions said the numbers were 20% up. President Sarkozy has indicated he is willing to make marginal concessions but remains firm on the central pillar of increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 and pushing back the age from 65 to 67 for those who want full retirement benefits. The reform proposal passed a vote in the lower house of Parliament but still faces other hurdles, including an upcoming debate in the Senate, before becoming law (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 May, June and July-August 2010).
English: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article ...
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
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The STAL local government union believes that the public sector pay freeze and other attacks on local government workers have resulted in a high level of support for the one-day national strike on 20 September. The union says that workers supported the strike even in areas where it is not so strong. The strike was in protest at government policies but in particular at its attempts to undermine collective bargaining in local government and to impose new working time regulations (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850;
Portuguese: http://www.stal.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=538&Itemid=1
The VPD/SSP union is continuing its long-running dispute with the ISS multinational over the collective agreement covering workers at Geneva airport. The company says that a consultation with employees has produced a majority in favour of a new collective agreement negotiated with a newly formed union called Push. The VPD/SSP has challenged the outcome arguing that employees were in a difficult position as the new collective agreement was better than the individual terms that employees had been offered but worse than the collective agreement negotiated by VPD/SSP and terminated by the company in the summer. The city of Geneva has called upon ISS to stop wage dumping (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850
French: http://www.ssp-vpod.ch/actualites/nouvelles/ansicht/article ...
German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/stadt-genf .
The first round of collective negotiations for the about 165,000 employees in the metal sector will be held on 14 October at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO), in Vienna. On 30 September the GPA-djp and PRO-GE unions present their exact demands. They will demand an increase in wages and a reduction of the current 38.5 hours' working week. Traditionally, the wage negotiations in the metal and mining sectors set the trend for all other sectors in Austria. Rainer Wimmer, chief negotiator for the PRO-GE union, is clear, "The right signal to the workers after the economic crisis is decent and fair wage and salary increases." The negotiations are expected to beÿtough this year, with the WKO employers' representatives making it clear they want cheaper labour, claiming the 1.45% increase negotiated in 2009 was unbearable. The unions have declared that the flexibility model proposed by the employers will be no theme for negotiations, definitely if it would imply the abolition of allowances. In April 2010, the WKO industry section unilaterally called off negotiations on working time flexibility for the metalworking and mining industry, which came as a surprise to the unions. By then, the main employers' claims were an extension of the reference period for calculating overtime pay to two years (instead of one year) and for paying overtime premiums only after the 45th weekly working hour, and only when 150 hours of the annual time credit have been exceeded.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=24098&l=2
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2010/04/articles/at1004019i.htm
German: http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page .
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
After 56 months, workers in the private health sector are getting a pay increase. The last collective agreement on pay effectively expired at the end of 2005 and the three trade union federations have been trying to negotiate a new agreement with the AIOP employers' organisation ever since. On average pay will increase by Euro 103 a month as of September 2010. The three federations are pleased that the national agreement has been maintained and that the increase goes some way to recognising the value of workers in the sector.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/15212
http://www.fp.cisl.it/
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
The president of the JHL public service union, Tuire Santamki-Vuori, has called on public authorities to take social criteria into account when purchasing services from the public sector. She pointed out that many local authorities have forgotten that it is possible to incorporate social criteria into procurement. According to Santamki-Vuori, they should not be focusing on the lowest cost bids that risk delivering low quality services and poor employment conditions.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850
http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en/news/archive/?bid=313
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
The public services union FOA is arguing for a flat-rate pay claim in the next municipal sector negotiations. The current three-year agreement expires by the end of March 2011. The union points out that the bargaining environment is currently quite tough, with the government demanding a freeze on public sector spending. FOA says that low-paid workers have seen their nominal pay increase by around 40% over the last 10 years, in contrast to the 100% increase enjoyed by managers. The union is also concerned about more redundancies begin planned in hospitals and calls on municipalities to take more initiatives on redeployment and retraining.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850
Danish: http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse?newsid ...
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
The number of workers covered by the official "Kurzarbeitsbeihilfe" or "Kurzarbeit" (short-time support) has diminished drastically in the course of 2010. Whereas the number of subsidized short-time workers in Austria was on top with 56,700 in May 2009, their numbers decreased to 26,400 in February 2010 and 8,300 in July 2010. Yet, for some companies the arrangement remains highly relevant, like for Liebherr in Lienz. The refrigerator producer has asked the Employment Service (AMS) to permit adoption of short-time till mid-April 2011. Currently, the firm has 1,300 employed in Lienz. From July 2009 to January 2010, 80% of those employed with Liebherr Lienz already worked short-time.
English: J. Flecker, A. Schnauer (2010) Work sharing as a crisis measure in selected European countries: Austria, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Vienna: FORBA
German: http://news.feed-reader.net/131641-kurzarbeit-oesterreich.html#4819684
http://www.stol.it/Artikel/Wirtschaft/Liebherr-Lienz-schickt-Mitarbeiter-wieder-in-Kurzarbeit
Special focus(Bargaining to exit the crisis in the private industry
Unions have agreed a new deal with the KS employers' organisation representing energy companies. There is a basic increase of NOK 4,500 (Euro 569) and the agreement also establishes a minimum wage for the sector, ensuring that no one is paid below NOK 310,000 a year (Euro 39,200). There are also increases for daily allowances and a commitment that all workers should get the opportunity to upgrade their skills at least once every two years.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850
Norwegian: http://www.elogit.no/id/12220.0
http://www.fagforbundet.no/forsida/tariff/?article_id=55463
Employers in the nursing home and care sector have broken off negotiations with the unions with failure to agree over pay and the personal budget scheme as well as maternity improvements, flexibility and training. Unions were looking at achieving an increase of around 3.5% over two years, whereas the employers offered only 2.5%. Union action in support of the collective bargaining claim has been going on over recent workers and further action is planned. The unions argue that the employers are missing a good opportunity to make working in the sector more attractive and so tackle recruitment problems.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/379#a6850
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/geen-resultaat-cao-zorg-vvt
http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Overleg-CAO-VVT-vastgelopen?referrer=266
Union confederations publish wage demands
September 21, 2010
The two largest union confederations have published their wage demands for 2011. FNV, the largest confederation, asks for a 2% wage increase and 1% to be reserved for maintaining employment, repairing of pension claims and training. The CNV confederation demands a 1.5% wage increase, equal to the projected inflation in 2011. Against the argument of the employers' federations that the realisation of the FNV demands will frustrate the recovery of the Dutch economy, Catalene Passchier, FNV's collective bargaining coordinator, argues that the current wage demands remain quite moderate and will be accompanied by demands for decent work. Edith Snoeij, president of the Abvakabo FNV public service union, has announced that her union will also claim a 2% wage hike, while the newly formed centre-right government coalition will most likely proclaim zero wage growth for public servants.
Dutch: De Volkskrant, 21 September 2010; http://nos.nl/artikel/186146-bonden-15-tot-2-procent-meer-loon.html