Collective Bargaining

After a strike lasting nine weeks the unions have reached agreement with the employers' organizations on behalf of 150,000 cleaners. The agreement, covering 1 January 2010 till 1 January 2012, includes a wage increase of 3.5% over 2 years, with a 1% increase by 1 July 2010, 1% by 1 January 2011, o.75% by 1 July 2011 and 0.75% as a end-of-years' payment from 2011 on. The selective strike, each day involving about 1,000 cleaners, has been successful: the unions had demanded 4%, while the employers had initially offered a wage freeze and subsequently a 2.5% hike. Dutch language lessons are to be introduced for all new entrants to the industryÿ; if they complete the 3 month course they receive a Euro 750 bonus. A fund is to be set up to compensate the strikers for the loss of their holiday entitlements while striking. In July 2010, large principals like Dutch Railways and Schiphol Airport will sign a covenant on socially responsible procurement. A large majority of cleaners has voted in favour of the agreement. Ron Meyer, official of the FNV Bondgenoten union and major campaigner, said: "The longest strike in the Netherlands since 1933 has opened people's eyes all over the Netherlands for the fate of low-paid workers. This is the achievement of the cleaners, who are no longer invisible" (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 February and March 2010).
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/actueel/schoonmakers_22_4/
English: http://unionrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/04/dutch-cleaners-reach-agreement.html; http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/iportal.nsf/pages/homeEn?OpenDocument&exURL= .

A demonstration on 24 April in Rome by workers at the Ministry of Justice, organised by the FP-CGIL public services federation, was supported by a range of legal and political organisations that are concerned about cuts to legal services. The union federation argues that the combination of precarious employment conditions and major job cuts are making it increasingly difficult to deliver effective services.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/13777

The three unions involved have negotiated a new 12-month collective agreement, from 1 May 2010 to 1 May 2011, in the energy sector with a 1.1% pay increase as of 1 June 2010. There will also be a lump sum payment worth 0.4% of annual salary to be paid in January 2011 into a so-called benefit budget. This is for employees to use according to their personal preferences and so could provide greater working time flexibility. The agreement also includes provisions on training and initiatives to take on young unemployed workers. From 2011 on there will be separate negotiations for two collective agreements, acknowledging that production and supply companies face a competitive environment differing from regulated network companies. Deadline for the membership ballot is 15 May.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/PDF/3944/219647/nieuwsbrief_energie_27_april_2010.pdf http://www.mijnvakbond.nl/Stemming-over-CAO-Energie?referrer=266

The three trade unions representing around 100,000 employees in the state sector, LO Stat, YS Stat and Unio, have set out their main demands for this year's collective bargaining round. Equal pay is a key element, with a call for 0.25% of the wage bill to be set aside as to deal with the 8% gender pay gap. YS Stat is arguing for workers to be put on a higher pay grade when they return from parental leave to ensure that time away from work does not impact on their progression up the pay scale. Unions are also concerned to keep up with pay in the private sector, where average pay is around 10% higher than in the public sector.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364
Norwegian: http://www.ys.no/kunder/ys/cms.nsf/%28$All%29/73CC84DB369961D4C1 ... http://www.fagforbundet.no/forsida/tariff/?article_id=51307

The SGB/USS trade union confederation has drafted a policy calling for a national minimum wage that it will put to delegates at a meeting on 17 May. The confederation argues that too many workers are not covered by collective agreements. Even though collective agreements can be extended, there are some sectors without any collective agreements and so this would still leave many workers without pay protection. The union wants a national minimum wage for 2011 set at CHFr 22 (Euro 15) an hour or CHFr 3,500 (Euro 2,385) a month, with the cantons (regional governments) having the right to implement higher minimum wages if they want to.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364;
German: http://www.sgb.ch/presse.php;
French: http://www.sgb.ch/f-presse.php

The PCS civil service union has earlier been taking industrial action over government changes to the civil service compensation scheme which governs payments for redundancy and early retirement based on years of service. However, it is also pursuing a case in the High Court, arguing that the government had no right to make unilateral changes to the scheme as any amendments had to be negotiated and agreed with the union (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 December 2009 and Year 3 February 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364 http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/87EE0863- ...

With pay negotiations underway, the President of the Kommunal municipal workers' union, Ylva Thorn, has called on local government employer organisations SKL and SALAR to put words into action and tackle the gender pay gap. Writing in the Dagbladet national newspaper, Thorn argues that employees working in female-dominated professions face higher levels of part-time work, job insecurity, work-related ill health and above all lower pay. She points out that local authority workers, the vast majority of them women, are among the lowest paid among workers represented by the LO-affiliated unions. She asks in particular the SKL how this squares with their claims to be delivering equality.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364
Swedish: http://www.kommunal.se/Kommunal/press/I-debatten/2010/Jamstallda-loner ...

The major union confederations for the public and private sectors, ADEDY and GSEE, have scheduled a 24-hour strike for 5 May, stressing that this year's May Day sees both the employees and the Greek society having come up against an unprecedented attack on their key and fundamental social rights. In the meantime, the Hellenic Union of Radio Technicians has been on a 48-hour strike since Wednesday 26 April. The primary school teachers' association has called for four-hour work stoppages starting from 3 May and a 48-hour strike on 4 and 5 May.
English: http://news.ert.gr/en/domestic/society/35979-apergiakos-pyretos;
Greek: http://www.adedy.gr/adedy/site/home/ws/primary+menu/deltia/2010/April/ .

Carrefour Belgium continues to reel from the impact of strikes, and says it expects sales in April to drop by 15% year-on-year due to the action. The negotiations with the unions drag on, and the unions plan a second countrywide strike for Friday April 30. This strike will impact all of Carrefour's 117 company-owned outlets in Belgium, but not affect its 105 franchised stores. The unions resist various issues in the company's restructuring plan, like that to freeze wages until they have reached the level of competitors' wages (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 February 2010).
English: http://www.kamcity.com/namnews/asp/newsarticle.asp?newsid=53524;
Dutch: http://www.tijd.be/nieuws/ondernemingen_consumptie/-Staking_Carrefour_kost_20_miljoen_euro-.8909301-430.art

Service union ver.di has again criticised the Evangelical Church for trying to prevent the union negotiating a collective agreement to cover the church's 130,000 workers who deliver a range of health and social services. The church wants a so-called Employment Commission (ARK) to regulate pay and conditions and was putting pressure on worker representatives to support this option by saying that collective bargaining was not an option (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 February 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/364;
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=51852670-4af3-11df- .