Collective Bargaining

Public services union UNISON has endorsed one of the key conclusions of a report on social care from the non-profit organization, the National Care Forum. The report emphasizes the point that quality care depends on the level of resources provided including the pay and conditions of social care workers. UNISON's response highlighted the continuing problems of low pay and high staff turnover in the sector and the need to improve pay and conditions as well as training provision.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/328; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1640

Unions representing Spanish airline Iberia's cabin crew have called off strikes planned for November and December after reaching a wage agreement with management. The unions already carried out strike actions in October and November. Yet, on Thursday 19 November Iberia management announced it had agreed an average 4% salary increase in 2009 for its nearly 4,000 cabin crew. A week earlier, a merger was proposed between British Airways and Iberia Airlines.
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLK .
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Spain

The pay and conditions of around 700,000 workers in schools are now negotiated in a new structure - the School Staff Negotiating Body. The SSNB will cover teaching assistants, nursery staff, administrators, secretaries, policy officers, technicians, cleaners, special needs staff, caretakers and school meals workers. Unions believe that this is an important development that will help ensure a fair and equal pay system for school support staff across the country. The three trade unions on the body are UNISON, GMB and Unite. Says Christina McAnea, Head of Education for UNISON, "The body will oversee and ensure fair and equal pay alongside a robust training and career structure to apply in all schools."
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/328; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1645

Over 90% of the voting membership of the union involved, ABVAKABO FNV, agreed with the result of union negotiators in the disabled care sector. According to the new collective agreement, employees in this sector will see their salaries increase by 1.5% in December 2009 and will by then receive a lump sum worth 1.25% of their annual salary. This is part of the new collective agreement that runs from 1 January 2009 to 1 March 2011. There will also be a 1% pay increase from 1 July 2010. The year-end bonus is increased by 0.5% in 2009 and by 0.65% on 2010, taking it to 5.75%.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/328;
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/cao/bericht/leden_abvakbo_fnv_akkoord_met_cao .

Earlier this year cleaners working at the federal parliament took strike action to prevent their jobs from being outsourced. Recently, following negotiations, they have won improved pay and conditions. There will be a higher starting rate for cleaners with experience. The VP™D public sector union believes this is an important recognition of the work done by cleaners. There will also be improved training provision for them and in the future they will be able to carry over some additional hours rather than just losing overtime hours.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/328;
German: http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/bundeshausputzfrauen .

Belgium's call centre unions, including CNE and SECTa, promoted their "Needs more hands?" campaign call centre action month. The campaign focuses on key issues for workers in the industry such as long and unsociable working hours which are incompatible with family and personal life. The unions are calling for a change to rostering systems which currently do not provide enough time and flexibility for workers to plan their private commitments.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/UNINews.nsf/vwLkpById/4B871F9F143 .;
French: http://www.cne218call-center.blogspot.com/

On 15 October a draft national collective agreement for metal workers 2010-2012 was achieved, signed by the FIM and UILM union federations and the FEDERMECCANICA employers' association. The General Council of FIM and a joint national assembly of FIM and UILM have already approved the draft that, finally, will be voted in a referendum of all union members from 25 to 27 November 2009. The agreement provides for an income support solidarity fund for workers suffering from income reductions over longer period of time, to be set up with the employers' organisation and to which workers can voluntarily subscribe. Minimum wages per level will raise by Euro 68.75 till Euro 144 over the contract period, starting with Euro 17.50 - 36.75 per 1 January 2010.
English: message EUCOBAN network European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF)

Since Spring 2009, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has been involved in a dispute with Royal Mail. Since June, local strikes took place across the UK. In a weblink for the general public, CWU explains that postal workers are facing threats to job security (full-time to part-time, compulsory redundancies), impossible work targets, and cuts in pay (longer hours for no pay). On 13 October, CWU made a fresh offer to the Royal Mail Managing Director, basically emphasizing that "change will be introduced by agreement". By 23 October, 120,000 postal workers went on strike nationwide and Royal Mail had to shut down its service. On 26 October, negotiations resumed with the mediation of General Secretary of the TUC Brendan Barber, and on 28 October the CWU leadership said to have had "the most useful and productive discussions since the dispute commenced", but still it remained unclear whether the union proposal was accepted by Royal Mail management.
English: http://www.cwu.org/royal-mail-dispute.html; http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/3870 .
Local government unions submit pay claim
October 23, 2009
The three main local government unions, UNISON, GMB and Unite, have submitted their pay claim for 2010. They are calling for a 2.5% pay increase with a minimum increase of UKP 500 (Euro 560) per year. The unions believe that this is modest but realistic claim and that local authority finances can cope with the rise.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/327; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1619

TNT has announced that after union members in May 2009 rejected a proposal for the reorganization at TNT Post in the Netherlands, it has decided to go ahead with thousands of job cuts, only wanting to employ part-time workers from now on. Based on two research reports presented in late October, the five unions involved conclude that either job cuts or wage cuts are inevitable, though -also according to one of the reports- these cuts can be less deep than suggested by TNT. The unions announced to organise a referendum, in which TNT workers will be asked to choose either for wage cuts or for continuous wage increase, recognizing that the last option will most likely lead to forced dismissals.
English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/iportal.nsf/pages/homepageEn;
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/cao/bericht/vakbonden_prijsoorlog .; http://www.volkskrant.nl/economie/article1308095.ece/Vakbonden_ .

Workers at the Opel auto plant in Figueruelas, northern Spain, have accepted a plan by Canadian auto parts maker Magna International that would see the loss of 900 jobs, unions said. Members of the UGT and CCOO unions approved the plan by a large majority, and its leaders lifted a strike call. The plan envisages the loss of 900 of the more than 7,000 jobs at the factory, less than the 1,300 Magna had sought when the talks began last week and around half the number it had originally proposed. Magna also undertook to maintain the bulk of the existing production at the plant, which produces the Corsa model. The Spanish unions had feared some of the production would be moved to Germany.
English: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j .