Collective Bargaining

After 11 weeks on strike, 300 workers at Leeds City Council's refuse collection department have decided to return to work following guarantees by the council that their pay would not be cut. The council had threatened to cut pay by up to UKP 6,000 (Euro 6,590) a year for some employees. This was the council's response to an equal pay claim and rather than increase pay rates for women, the council had wanted to cut the pay of the male-dominated refuse collection service.
English: http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1657; http://www.gmb.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=99343

The CGT, FO and CFTC unions have refused to sign a new pay agreement with EDF, although the agreement is being implemented following the decision by the CFDT and CFE-CGC unions to sign. The deal involves a 1.2% general increase from January 2010, based on the predicted level of inflation next year. There is also 0.7% for individual increases, 0.3% related to changes to the pension system and 0.6% linked to seniority increases in the pay scale. During energy sector campaigning and strike action earlier this year unions had been looking for a 5% increase to compensate for a loss in purchasing power in recent years.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/330;
French: http://www.fnme-cgt.fr/pages/communique.php?id=45ÿ;
http://www.fnem-fo.org/content/view/667/1/

On 26 November, the chairman of the 24/7 Frontline Services Alliance --consisting of Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Garda Representative Association, Irish Nurses Organisation, Prison Officers Association, Psychiatric Nurses Association and SIPTU--, Des Kavanagh, welcomed the resumption of talks between the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the government over how to address the current economic crisis in a fair and equitable way. "We hope that further industrial action can be avoided but we will be carefully monitoring the talks to ensure that any proposals emerging from them take into account the special conditions in which frontline emergency workers operate", he said. The chairman of the ICTU Public Services Committee, Peter McLoone, went on record on 10 November stating that ICTU intended to protect all pay in the talks. This means that allowances, overtime and other premium payments will have to be taken into account. On Tuesday 24 November, about 250,000 Irish government employees staged the biggest strike in the country in at least three decades, protesting against plans to cut pay to contain the budget deficit. Nurses, teachers and tax officials were among those taking part in the 24-hour nationwide stoppage. Public sector unions have called on the government to negotiate or face another national strike on 3 December.
English: http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2009/Name,11290,en.html; http://www.epsu.org/cob/330

Four rounds of negotiations over the 2010 pay increase for public sector workers did not produce results. The GDG and G™D public sector unions have rejected the employers' latest offer of a 0.5% pay increase. The unions have written a joint letter to the chancellor (prime minister) arguing that they should immediately get involved in the negotiations as the current negotiators do not have a full mandate. At the moment the employers are even refusing to offer a rise in line with inflation (0.9%), a position which the unions call unacceptable.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/330;
German: http://www.gdg.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01/Page/Index&n .; http://www.goed.at/files/877/Information-4.Gehaltsrunde-hp.pdf

The VP™D public service union has expressed concerns about the latest statistics that show a widening of the gender pay gap among lower paid federal government workers. While there is some evidence of the pay gap narrowing among higher pay workers, the gap at lower levels rose from 6.7% in 2006 to 9.3% in 2008. Figures for local and cantonal (regional) government are not yet available but there past evidence has revealed a wider pay gap here than at federal level.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/330;
German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/lohnschere-oeffnet-sich-im .

On Saturday 28 November, braving the rain a sea of people filled the main square in capital Ljubljana with two key demandsÿ: for lifting the national minimum wage from Euro 430 to Euro 600 per month, and for the government to withdraw its plans to increase the retirement age. Trade union representatives urged the government to heed the call for solidarity or face an even greater backlash. The government maintains a rise in the minimum wage would endanger the country's competitiveness and result in job cuts. Slovenia has been badly hit by the global financial crisis, with its economy expected to shrink by over 7% in 2009.
English: http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/28/slovenians-demand-higher-minimum-wage/;
http://www.sta.si/en/vest.php?s=a&id=1453776

On 25 November, a two days' strike of Finnair pilots, shutting down nearly all scheduled flights, ended as the Finnish Airline Pilots' Association (SLL) and Finnair accepted a mediation proposal by National Conciliator Esa Lonka. The conflict hinged on Finnair's plans to outsource services. SLL says that the contract that was accepted permits a certain degree of outsourcing - allowing Finnair to lease two jets to Finncomm, on the condition that the planes and their crews do not fly Finnair flights. The agreement means that only Finnair pilots can fly Finnair flights, though it also implies that the actual number of Finnair flights will decrease (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 October 2009).
English: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Pilots+end+strike+-+Finnair+flight+schedules+getting+back+to+normal+/1135250850311
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Finland

On 24 November, negotiators from the chemical industry trade unions and employer federations agreed on new collective agreements. In 2010, wages and salaries will be raised by slightly more than the 0.5% limit the employer confederation EK has tried to force into agreements in all industries where collective bargaining is under way. Chemical workers' pay will go up in May 2010 by 0.6% at national level and by 0.3% at local level, and in June increases for the salaried employees will be 0.5% at national level and 0.4% at local level. In between, the boards of the Chemical Workers' Union and the Union of Salaried Employees TU have approved the outcome of the negotiations. The agreements expire on 31 January 2013. Negotiations on the second and third years' pay rises will take place later. The agreements cover 20,000 blue collar workers and 10,000 salaried employees.
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2009/m42
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Finland

The two building workers' unions in Poland, Solidarnosc and OPZZ Budowlani, and the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) with support of the Warsaw Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation started on 18-19 November 2009 the "Campaign for Decent Work" at EURO 2012 building sites in Poland. After a successful campaign in South Africa before the World Cup 2010, trade unionists want to use the awareness of the public in connection with the EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, which will be used by both governments as an image campaign for these countries. Yet, there is no collective agreement for the Polish building sector; guaranteed is only the (low) minimum wage of Euro 310 Euro pre-tax per month. Unionists cannot visit building sites if they have no representation in the firm, and a worker can only join if there is a union in the firm. Earlier in November, workers at the construction site of the National Stadium in Warsaw, being built for EURO 2012, are having trouble getting paid. There have already been some strikes and walkouts. Workers are reported to be not even sure who they are working for.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=2453&Language=EN&Print=1;
http://pracownik.net.pl/workers_at_national_stadium_construction_site_not_paid_work .

IBEC (Irish Business and Employers Confederation) has formally withdrawn from the terms of the current national pay agreement, and warned that it will withdraw from social partnership entirely unless agreement with trade unions can be reached soon. The employers' association reiterated that there should be no pay rises before 2011 and said it would take unilateral action if no agreement was reached with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) between now and mid-December.
English: http://www.ibec.ie/IBEC/IBEC.nsf/vPages/Home?OpenDocument; http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1126/1224259485711.html