Collective Bargaining

The European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2019/1152/EU on transparent and predictable working conditions. Cyprus will implement the Directive by August 1, 2022, at which time it will replace the provisions of Directive 91/533/EEC on an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to their contract or employment relationship. The aim of the Directive is to extend to new forms of work, such as online platform workers or on-demand workers, the minimum requirements for working conditions and the obligation on employers to provide information to workers on the essential elements of the employment relationship.

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For the first time in history a large part of the 30,000 youth care workers were on strike. They want the government to solve problems caused by budget cuts and decentralization in the past years. Staff shortages lead to heavy workloads and waiting lists for children who need help.

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The union representing Adria Airways’ pilots has announced a series of strikes after it failed to reach an agreement over their new collective agreement with the company’s management. The existing collective agreement expired on 1 September. "As a union, given the current circumstances, we are left with no other option then to go on strike and make it clear to the management that we are no longer able to do our jobs under existing working conditions”, the union noted.. Pilots claim that rights within their existing contracts are regularly breached. Crew duty times have been significantly extended, while there have also been complaints of more out-of-base operations.

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Ryanair secured a court injunction to prevent its pilots based in Ireland from striking, even after they had followed the normal industrial procedures. A two-day strike had the support of a majority of the pilots directly employed by the company who are members of their union. A large number of other pilots have insecure conditions resulting from a bogus self-employment relationship with the company. These workers have poorer wages and working conditions than those not on the individualised contracts.

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Data published by Statistics Lithuania show that the men's gross monthly wages exceeded those of women by on average 161.4 euro in the 2nd quarter of 2019. Women's average gross wages stood at 1,207.8 euro, or 88.2% of men's average gross wages of 1,369.2 euro. The State Social Insurance Fund, Sodra confirmed that, while incomes have been growing steadily, gender wage gap remains significant and leaves women more exposed to poverty risk.

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Teachers and education trade unions in Serbia are demonstrating for decent salaries and comprehensive social dialogue in education in front of the buildings of the Ministry of Education, the Serbian government and the Ministry of State and Local Administration. The unions report that the provisions of the Law on Salaries in the public sector, which are to come into effect at the beginning of 2019, rank salaries for education personnel in the eighth salary group, when the salary for other public sector employees with similar levels of qualifications is to be allocated under the ninth salary group. An ominous threat is that the eighth salary group implies no career development perspectives for education personnel in Serbia.

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The majority union LCGB and the OGBL signed with FEDIL Security Services (employers' association) the extension of the collective agreement for security and guard services. This agreement now guarantees 4,000 employees an increase in purchasing power and better working conditions.

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In the second quarter of 2019, the employment rate increased to 49.2%, while unemployment rate, in the same period, had the value of 10.3%. The activity rate of the population aged 15 and over increased in the second quarter 2019 to 54.8%, where the activity rate of males was 62.9%, and of females 47.3%. In the 1st half of 2019, gross salaries and wages increased, compared to the same period in 2018, with 9.6% in nominal terms, i.e. 7.1% in real terms. Simultaneously, net salaries and wages increased by 9.8% in nominal terms and by 7.3% in real terms.

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The Labour Cost Index in June 2019 for the private sector was 131.5 for wage earners and 134.3 for salaried employees. Compared with June 2018, labour costs have increased by 2.1% for wage earners and by 2.4% for salaried employees. Since mid-2019, a slowdown on the labour market has become manifest.

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Data published by the Central Statistical Bureau reveal that in the 2nd quarter of 2019, compared to the 2nd quarter of 2018, average monthly gross wages and salaries grew by 7.8% or 78 euro, reaching 1 083 euro for full-time work. Just like in the 1st quarter of 2019, annual growth rate of the 2nd quarter comprised 7.8%. Compared to the 1st quarter of 2019, in the 2nd quarter of 2019 gross wages and salaries grew by 4.6%. In the 2nd quarter of 2019, average monthly gross wages and salaries in the public sector exceeded the indicator recorded in the private sector (respectively 1 097 and 1 079 euro). However, a faster annual increase rate was registered in the private sector (8.9%, compared to 6.0% in the public sector).

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