Collective Bargaining

The vida and GPA-djp unions have succeeded in agreeing a collective agreement for all qualified rescue and ambulance services. Earlier, there was only a collective agreement for the Red Cross services. Already two years ago, employees of the private rescue and ambulance services protested against low pay and bad working conditions. "There is no longer room for companies trying to run a business based on wage dumping", Karl Proyer of GPA-djp said, adding that more improvements should follow, like countrywide wage schemes instead of regional wage differences.
German: http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03/Page/Index&n .

Public services union JHL and other unions in the state sector have called for the state productivity scheme to be abandoned. The scheme was set up in 2003 and initially had trade union support in that its aim was to increase productivity in response to the need to adjust to the ageing of the workforce. However, now the unions argue that the scheme is focusing on cutting jobs and even quote management consultant reports that claim that job cuts can undermine public sector productivity. For instance, a PricewaterhouseCooper's report evaluating the scheme also argued that reducing personnel does not necessarily improve productivity.
English: http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en/news/archive/?bid=217

The FNV union confederation has organised a referendum in writing among the 1.2 million members of its affiliated unions on the basic national agreement on the pension age agreed last May. The accord provides for lifting the current age from 65 to 66 years by 2020. The ballot ends 30 June. The council of one of the major criticasters of the plans in an earlier stage, public services union AbvaKabo FNV, has advised to vote in favour of the agreement (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 May 2010).
English: http://unionrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/06/referendum-on-dutch-pension ...
Dutch: http://www.depers.nl/economie/484814/Kritische-FNV-bond-groen-licht ...

From 6 June on, a number of strikes of about 2,000 pilots working for four regional Swedish airlines stalled almost all domestic flights. The Swedish Airline Pilots Association (Svensk Pilotf”rening - SPF) rejected the mediators' offer and a final attempt to resolve the conflict failed. At the heart of the conflict is the issue of the airlines' right to hire pilots through temporary agencies. On this behalf, employers have called for changes in existing collective agreements, with according to the union a negative impact on pay of existing employees. "The offer cuts pilot pay by 15-20% and at the same time increases working hours from 40 to 47.5 hours a week," SPF wrote in a statement. By June 16, Spirit Airlines, one of the four employers involved, had made a deal with their workers, but tensions remained with the other three.
English: http://breakingnews.gaeatimes.com/2010/06/16/pilots-union-says-it-has ...;
http://www.thelocal.se/27072/20100607/

According to business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, Deutsche Post is preparing to implement a massive savings programme, including the sale of a number of post offices, consolidation of package and letter delivery services, and downgrading jobs to reduce wages. Although redundancies have been ruled out until at least the middle of next year, the magazine reported that Deutsche Post is increasingly transferring work to its low-paying subsidiary First Mail. First Mail workers are paid Euro 9.80 an hour, compared to an average Deutsche Post wage of Euro 14.00. First Mail is said to have increased the numbers of trainees in preparation for taking over more work.
English: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100613-27823.html

On 10 June 1,000 workers' delegates participating in the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva presented Yellow Cards to the FIFA. The Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) and Swiss Labour Assistance (SLA) argue that FIFA has consistently evaded social responsibility for wages and working conditions of the construction workers employed in building stadiums in South Africa for the FIFA World Cup event. For instance, 70% of workers were given short term contracts with no job security by labour brokers and subcontractors. "The BWI wishes to record that FIFA has undermined the most elementary principles of the ILO Decent Work and FIFA must be given a Yellow Card", said Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of the BWI addressing the ILC. "In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, if FIFA will not take serious steps to improve the working conditions of the workers and promote ILO core labor standards in the procurement policies, we will give them a Red Card", he continued. Earlier, BWI criticized working conditions and safety provisions in stadium building in Poland for the UEFA Europe Cup 2012.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=2781&Language=EN; http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?index=2785&Language=EN
Frenchÿ: http://www.interportal.ch/fr/actualites/nouvelles/2010/des-syndicats-du-monde ...

After returning to work on Saturday, part of British Airways (BA) cabin crew started a next five-day stoppage on Sunday 30 May, after talks between the airline and the Unite union ended without an agreement. A third five-day strike is due to start on 5 June. On Friday 28 May, conciliation service Acas said talks had been adjourned and it would now try to arrange new negotiations. Unite has announced it will call off the industrial action if the airline restores travel concessions to staff who previously went on strike. Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson said his union was prepared to meet with BA "anytime, anyplace" to negotiate, but was concerned that BA's CEO Willie Walsh was content to let the strikes continue without any attempt to resolve the dispute because he wants to "punish" the workforce.
English: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10188958.stm; http://www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/unite_ba_strike_update_-_day.aspx

Tens of thousands marched in Lisbon on Saturday 29 May against the government's austerity measures. The president of the Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), Manuel Carvalho da Silva said that the confederation is planning to escalate protests against the financial cutbacks, but he left the option open of calling a general strike, stating: "We are committed to all the forms of resistance the constitution allows, and will decide on their timing and form depending on the government's actions.'' Carvalho da Silva called the government's measures "false solutions, not inevitable and profoundly wrong political options''.
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64S0GK20100529?type=marketsNews via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Portugal

The deadline for tripartite talks with union confederations and employers ' organisations on a much-anticipated labour market reform has been extended another week from the end of May, the Labour Ministry confirmed on Saturday. It earlier said that if it could not reach a deal on streamlining the labour market through a three-way agreement by the end of the month, it would pass a bill unilaterally. In an earlier stage bilateral talks among social partners broke down. A spokesman for UGT, the second largest union confederation, explained: "There's a fundamental difference in vision between the two sides."
English: http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48904520100529; http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64R15O20100528?type=marketsNews

The main employers federations and union confederations have reached a basic national agreement on increasing the pension age, a main issue of disagreement between employers, unions and government in 2009. The new accord provides for lifting the current age for state and company pensions (which, unlike the current situation, will be linked) from 65 to 66 years by 2020. Depending on the general life expectancy, each next five years the pension age will be revised again. Individual earlier retirement remains possible, but will cost 6.5% per year. State pensions will no longer be based on negotiated but on real wages. The trade union constituencies still have to be balloted over the agreement, most likely via polling all members. The accord may play a role in the formation of a new government after the 9 June parliamentary elections. A number of political parties have welcomed the agreement, though the centre-right parties made some reservations and the Socialist Party (SP) opposes each increase of the retirement age (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 July-August, September, October and November 2010).
Dutch: De Volkskrant, May 29, 2010; NRC-Handelsblad, May 29, 2010