Collective Bargaining

The unions organising postal workers have said to be shocked that so many delivery workers are to lose their jobs in a major shake-up of TNT services. All 15,000 delivery workers who work over 25 hours a week may face dismissal and 11,000 jobs may be lost, as TNT argues to have to head off competition from budget delivery firms like Sandd. Earlier this year, union members rejected a management jobs guarantee in return for 15% pay cuts, and agreed to accept job losses instead. Yet, a spokesperson of the AbvaKabo FNV said, "We had expected this to affect 11,000 delivery workers and that between 4,000 and 5,000 would lose their jobs." CNV Publieke Zaak union spokeswoman Inge Bakker stated: "If our members ask us to strike, we will of course think about doing that." While unions have placed hope on a planned parliamentary debate about workplace conditions at TNT, Bakker acknowledged there were few options left.
English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/06/post_unions_angry ...;
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE65R1MP20100628
Dutch: De Volkskrant, May 28, 2010; NRC-Handelsblad, May 28, 2010

The 24 June nationwide strike organised by five union organisations (CFDT, CGT, FSU, Solidaires and UNSA) mobilised hundreds of thousands of workers in protest at government plans to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 as well as to increase employees' pension contributions. In particular in Marseille and Lyon participation in demonstrations surpassed that of earlier occasions. The unions argue that the changes will mean that as a result of the various breaks in their careers many women will have to work until the age of 65 to get a full pension. They point out that generally the reforms do not acknowledge the scale of the gender pension gap nor the need to take account of difficult and dangerous occupations (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 May 2010).
English: http://seerpress.com/pension-reform-leads-to-union-strikes-in-france/1778/;
http://www.epsu.org/cob/369
French: http://www.cgt.fr/spip.php?article37507

On Friday 25 June tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets to protest public spending cuts that are part of a tide of government austerity washing over Europe. The series of demonstrations was organised by the CGIL union confederation. The government's austerity plan includes a 10% budget cut across government departments. Union activists say they recognize the need to reduce Italy's budget deficit but that the axe falls hardest on those who can bear it the least. "We say no to this budget. It is wrong, unjust, it stunts growth, it does not kick-start production, it doesn't touch the rich, and it punishes workers," CGIL leader Fulvio Mammoni told thousands of protesters in Naples.
English: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-italy-strikes ...

Five union headquarters managed to collect over 720,000 signatures calling for a referendum on labour law reforms, the organisers announced by June 24. The required number of signatures for calling a referendum was 10% of voters, or 449,506, which the organisers surpassed. The union confederations have for months been in negotiations with the government in order to prevent changes to the labour code that would undermine collective agreements. They called for urgent talks when it emerged that the government was trying to implement the change to the labour code without any consultation with the unions. In their efforts to win broader support, they started collecting signatures to have a referendum.
English: http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Business/2010-06-24/11890/_Labour_unions ...;
http://www.epsu.org/cob/369

The new parliament has approved the law on the legal status of public servants. The parliament passed the law though the president of Hungary, L szl¢ S¢lyom, returned it to the legislators for reconsideration. The president did not want to sign the law because employees would be allowed to be dismissed without any justification; he added that laying off without giving the exact reasons is incompatible with EU law as well. The Confederation of Unions of Professionals (SZT) emphasized that employees should protest as the new law is incompatible with EU law and ILO standards.
English: M t‚ Komiljovics, union correspondent

The Service Union United (PAM) at any given time has some 600 cases in which members, individually or collectively, disagree with their employers in retail and catering. Half of all cases concern pay claims, Kaarlo Julkunen, PAM's vice president explained in an economic daily; two thirds involve young employees and immigrant workers who are disgruntled by low pay, and catering is doing worse than retail. Julkunen also noted positive developments. For example in 2002, when the German-based retailer Lidl started up in Finland, it achieved a reputation for frequent disputes with its employees. Since then, Lidl's behaviour has improved and it no longer differs from other retail chains, Julkunen says. He referred to a network of shop stewards established at Lidl following the model of other retailers operating throughout the country.
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2010/n20

Already before the national strike on 25 June, FP CGIL public services federation reacted to government plans to cut public spending by organising a national demonstration on 12 June. The cuts will have a direct impact on public sector workers' pay. Previously agreed pay increases will be reduced and workers are also likely to lose the productivity-related elements of their salaries. The CISL FP federation also states to have chosen the way of confrontation with the government. While agreeing on the necessity to rationalise public expenditure, this federation considers in particular the announced three-year pay freeze for public workers unfair, urging instead for a restart of second level bargaining in order to reorganise the use of resources in every administration, and use the savings to improve both public services and public workers' wages.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/369; report CISL FP International Office (Mirko Checcachi)
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/14342

The parliament has ratified the labour reforms designed to bring down high unemployment. Measures include promoting youth employment and cutting the cost of firing workers. Only members of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party voted in favour of the labour reforms. The reforms can still be amended in parliament over the coming months. Earlier in June, tripartite talks with union confederations and employers' organisations on the reforms ended in a deadlock, in spite of an extension of the planned deadline by a week (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 May 2010).
English: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10385834.stm

Late May 2010, when the Food Workers' Union SEL signed the new collective agreement for food workers, an unusually long round of bargaining came to an end. At the backdrop of the difficult economic conditions the trade unions have fared well. In autumn 2009 the agreements raised wages by between 0.5 and 0.6%, whereas the agreements signed in spring 2010 saw a rise of about 1%. The agreements did not bring major changes in working conditions. Already in the previous bargaining round a number of unions secured a six-day paid paternity leave period for their members, and now many more have managed to do the same. Shop stewards' rights were improved. Also parents' rights to stay at home to take care of a sick child were expanded (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 April and May 2010).
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2010/n17
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Finland

The SETCA services union reports that the regional government of Wallonia has agreed to allocate an additional Euro 4.5 million to the non-profit sector in response to demands from the trade unions. The sector includes a range of health and social services and the extra cash will cover a harmonisation of pay structures across the sectors, proper application of elements of the 2007-2009 agreement and a range of measures on employment. The union sees this as a first step to meeting its collective bargaining demands and believes that union action, including a national demonstration on 8 June, was important in achieving this. Yet, the negotiations for a federal (countrywide) agreement are still dragging, on the employers' side obviously hampered by the formation of a new government (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 April and May 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/369
French: http://www.setca.org/News/Pages/communiquedepresse10062010region .
Dutch: http://www.aclvb.be/publicaties/nieuws/nieuwsitem/detail/nationale-betoging .