The FP CGIL public service federation is warning of a pay freeze facing public sector workers. After a first meeting between the government and social partners, the union reports that the government said there is not a single Euro available to fund a pay increase in the public sector. FP CGIL argues that workers should not be made to pay the price for the crisis and that unions will have to mobilise in a campaign against the government. The FP CISL public service federation has also given a "clear no" to the idea of a public sector pay freeze.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/323;
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/11541
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Services union ver.di has organised a national campaign of action by workers in elderly care calling for combining improved financing for the sector with higher pay. The union argues that workers are facing much heavier workloads and that they need improved pay and working conditions and financial support for training. Action around the country is making people aware of the pressures that care workers face. The action is part of a longer term campaign to raise issues of patient care and working conditions in the sector as well as the need to re-evaluate jobs in the sector.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/323;
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id.
On the evening of 30 September, the negotiations between employers' associations and the three main union confederations in the Social-Economic Council (SER) on the retirement age finally broke down. The government had given social partners room till October to develop an alternative for its plans to gradually lift the retirement age to 67. The main issue of disagreement remains the age on which workers can count on the general state pension (AOW), which the unions want to keep longer at the age of 65. Government and employers argue that the joint plan that the union confederations finally agreed upon, creates substantially less than the Euro four billion savings on the government budget that are judged necessary.
Dutch: http://www.bnr.nl/artikel/13331919/ser-overleg-aow-mislukt
Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker, will increase pay and institute performance-linked bonuses under an accord reached on 28 September, covering 95,000 manufacturing workers in western Germany. Earlier, the IG Metall union planned to stage work stoppages should a pay agreement not be reached. Management and IG Metall leaders agreed on a 4.2% raise to take effect on 1 January, 2010. Terms for payments tied to individuals' performance will be arranged for when the next contract starts in 2011, said VW's chief negotiator. The 18-month pay contract is in effect from August 1, 2009, till January 31, 2011. Workers will receive bonuses of Euro 510 in October and Euro 200 in February 2010. The performance-linked bonuses would average Euro 100 a month.
English: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a77VLR6fem5A; http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aHbOFypT8OYw via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Germany
On 23 and 24 September, the union members at finance company Capita headquarters in Glasgow went on strike in a dispute over a "derisory pay offer". The Unite union has written to Capita's clients to make them aware of the breakdown in negotiations between the union and Capita. Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said: "Capita staff is being forced by their employer to accept an insulting pay offer while their CEO, Paul Pindar, awards himself a package worth UKP 9.8 million. This hypocrisy by Capita, at a time when the staff in Glasgow are bringing the company good profits, is truly shameful."
English: http://www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/finance_staff_at_capita.
Some 3,000 Opel workers and union leaders from across Europe protested on Wednesday against the threatened closure of the carmaker's plant in Belgium, with a 2,600 workforce. More than 20 coachloads of workers arrived from Germany, filling the area with their yellow "Wir sind Opel" (We are Opel) T-shirts. A giant banner with the same logo hung from the Antwerp plant. Union officials were also present from Britain, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria and Hungary. The crowd held hands to form a giant circle in a field in front of the plant before union leaders took to the podium. On the same day, the EMF (European Metalworkers' Federation) Coordination Group agreed to enter into negotiations with the new Opel management on the restructuring process and the new structure of Opel.
English: http://www.emf-fem.org/Media/Latest-news/GM-Opel-solidarity-and-unity;
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/.
The government has announced for 2010 a wage cut of 4% for Czech constitutional officials, including judges and state attorneys. The pay of clerks and other public sector employees is also to be cut by 4%. Finance Minister Eduard Janota originally spoke about wage decreases up to 20%.
English: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-govt-for-4-cut.
The board of Polish airlines, LOT, plans to dismiss 450 people starting in October, as well as unilaterally worsening working conditions. On 21 September, the unions involved decided to take LOT to court, claiming that these plans are not in accordance with the collective agreement in LOT. Though the Board cancelled that agreement in June, effective by the end of September, the unions claim that the old agreement is binding until a new one is in place. Earlier in September, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) launched a campaign to back the struggle of the LOT workers. ITF and ETF note that the airline has already embarked on anti-union practices, notably dismissing Elwira Niemiec, president of the Polish Cabin Crew Union, and Grzegorz Kossowski, president of the LOT Polish Airlines Employees Union.
English: http://www.pracownik.net.pl/unions_take_lot_to_court;
www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/LOTdispute.cfm
On 9 September at the Ministry of Labour an agreement was reached by the Italian metalworker trade unions FIM, FIOM and UILM about the CNH plant, avoiding closure of the plant in Imola that the Fiat group had announced a few months ago. The collective agreement, which was reached after 81 days of picketing the plant, was reached in co-operation with the local union structures and the regional government. It notably provides for using the "Cassa Integrazione for crisis" (12 months), through which public funding Imola workers will not be dismissed.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=20671&l=2
Unions in the energy sector have managed to secure a change in the way local pay increases are allocated. Several unions have argued that the local additions should be flat rates rather than percentage increases that benefit the higher paid more. A settlement was reached with the aid of the mediation office and a general increase of 925 Krone (Euro 107) applies from 1 July. A committee has also been established to look at how the local wage negotiations will work in future.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/319;
Norwegian: http://www.elogit.no/index.gan?id=11466&subid=0