The CGT Public Services federation and the SUD trade union are joining for a day of action on 21 January in protest at government plans to reform local government. The unions argue that changes to the funding system and cutting jobs will undermine the proper provision of public services and lead to an increase in outsourcing to the private sector. The unions want to see a public debate about the public services, a withdrawal of plans to change public finance of local authorities, decent pay increases for local government workers to recoup their lost purchasing power, and a transfer to civil service status of the 30% of workers in local government who face more precarious employment arrangements.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/331;
French: http://www.spterritoriaux.cgt.fr/spip.php?article3609
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On 9 December, management at Daimler's biggest car factory in Germany signed a shop agreement that secures their jobs for 10 years, a guarantee that brought an end to protests over moving production to the US, organized by the IG Metall union and the local works council. All 37,000 employees at the Sindelfingen plant will not face any forced redundancies until the end of 2019, Daimler states. The Financial Times stressed that deal is unusual even in a country where similar agreements for shorter periods were common before the financial crisis. Daimler is to create 2,700 new jobs to compensate for moving production of the best-selling Mercedes C-Class saloon from Sindelfingen to Tuscaloosa in the US. The new jobs will stem from shifting production of the SL roadster model from Bremen to Sindelfingen and a pledge to continue producing the new generations of E-Class and S-Class saloons at the plant. The union is prepared to moderate its wage demands across German industry in an effort to save jobs. There is an escape clause for Daimler if the economy deteriorates rapidly.
English: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1280216-e5f3-11de-b5d7-00144feab49a .; http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21695; http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21695&l=2
The CCOO and UGT confederations organised a major demonstration in Madrid on 12 December challenging the government's response to the crisis. The unions argue that proper social dialogue and collective bargaining are key to ensuring a way out of the recession that defends and creates jobs and public services. The confederations have agreed on 12 action points that include a demand for a fairer tax system to fund more public investment in transport, health and education.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/331;
Spanish: http://www.fsc.ccoo.es/comunes/temp/recursos/99922/301510.pdf; http://www.ugt.es/actualidad/2009/diciembre/a14122009.html
Members of UNISON at the National Grid utilities company are voting on an overtime ban and work-to-rule in protest at the company's pay offer. National Grid has offered just a lump sum payment and also wants to introduce poorer terms and conditions for new starters.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/331; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1672
Trade unions continued to mobilize in protest at the government's budget proposals that imply Euro 4 billion in cuts. Social and welfare payments are affected while public sector workers will see their pay cut by 6 to 8%. This follows on from last year's "pensions levy" which effectively meant a 7% cut in take home pay for public sector workers. The 24-hour public service strike of 24 November was followed by a demonstration of nurses, teachers and other public servants outside Leinster House, the Irish parliament building, on 15 December. David Begg, general secretary of the ITUC confederation, in addressing the protest criticized Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, who referred to a war against public servants.
English: http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/-t-297_300_496.html ; http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/Headline/Name,11354,en.html
The three public service federations have been mobilizing to put pressure on the government to ensure that public sector pay increases are properly funded. In the past unions have negotiated pay increases with the ARAN negotiating body only to find that the government causes problems by failing to allocate resources in the budget. Pay agreements will now cover three-year periods rather than two. The FP CGIL federation organized a public sector wide strike on 11 December while the CISL and UIL federations organized a range of demonstrations around the country beginning on 2 December.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/331;
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/12477
The VPOD public service union is supporting the 1:12 initiative launched by the Young Socialists. The campaign is aimed at stopping the growing gap between the low paid and the high paid and proposes a limit so that the highest paid person in an organisation gets no more than 12 times the salary of the lowest paid. VPOD says that this is already an element of pay systems in some parts of the public sector, with the pay structure at the City of Zrich limiting the top of its 18-grade pay system to 4.5 times the level of pay at the bottom.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/331;
German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/vpod .
A recently published report has found that the gender pay gap in local government is at 18% and even higher than in the private sector. The FOA public service union has called on municipal employers to address the problem and to start by ensuring that they provide wage statistics broken down by gender. According to FOA, a third of local authorities fail to comply with the Equal Pay Act and produce no data on the pay of their male and female workers.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/331;
Danish: http://www.foa.dk/Forbund/Presse.aspx?newsid={583834D5 .
Unions at the Czech plant of South Korean car maker Hyundai gave up their threat to go on strike after reaching an agreement with management, a company spokesman said. Unions declared a strike alert after accusing managers of imposing too much overtime and complaining about poor working conditions. The spokesman added that the company would not sanction about 400 staff at the plant that stopped working for an hour in protest against low salaries and overtime earlier this month. A news agency quoted Hyundai unions' head Radek Kuchar as saying his side was happy with "most of the agreement", adding "What we have achieved is that the people won't be sanctioned and overtime work will be reduced to a minimum." One day before the settlement, the KOVO union federation to which the Czech Hyundai unions are affiliated, said it was going to inform the International Metalworkers` Federation (IMF) about the situation at the car maker.
English: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM .; http://www.financninoviny.cz/zpravy/unions-want-to-resolve-hyundai-problems .
Members of Solidarnosc launched a highly visible demonstration in Warsaw as to put pressure on the government to do more to protect jobs in heavy industry. They carried the white and red flags of the union and set fire to a pile of tires amidst a cacophony of horns. The rally took place outside the Prime Minister office. In particular, Solidarnosc is demanding that the government provides unemployment benefits for people laid off from the shipyards in Gdansk. Solidarnosc members are also keen for the government to help bolster the anemic armament, railway and shipbuilding industries.
English: http://www.wbj.pl/article-47860-solidarnosc-trade-union-members-protest .