Collective Bargaining

After months of negotiations, the services union ver.di and the HDE employers' association in retail have agreed upon a 2% pay rise in September 2009 in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It will also give the 440,000 retail employees involved a 1.5% increase in September 2010 and a one-off payment of Euro 150. The agreement, that will run for 24 months, could pave the way for similar agreements in other parts of Germany.
English: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/06/11/afx6531381.html
German: http://www.fair-heisst-mehr.de/meldungen/ .

Targeted industrial action by dockers over employers' inclusion of a controversial "five-point plan" in bargaining negotiations has won an agreement to put the proposal on hold. The workers represented by two unions, Transcom, affiliated to ACV-CSC and BTB, affilated to ABVV/FGTB, took part in stoppages on 8 June. The Antwerp, Ghent and Zeebrugge ports were affected. The dock workers disputed employers' insistence on including a plan with provisions to: hire workers several times a day, rather than for every shift; change the functions of some dock workers so that they no longer have "registered docker" status; reduce docker-specific social security allowances when work is not available, and cut weekend and night-time working allowances. The plan would seriously impact on the dockers' wages and working conditions Yet, the employers' have agreed to put the plan on hold and continue with normal collective bargaining negotiations.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/3390;
Dutch: http://www.btb-abvv.be/NL_wegvervoer/ .;
French: http://www.btb-abvv.be/FR_wegvervoer/ .

On 10 June, the Austrian Union GMTN (metal, textile, food) union signed a collective agreement for workers in the leather goods and luggage industries, to be implemented as of June 1, 2009, and with one year duration, laying down an increase of both the collectively agreed minimum wage and the actual wages of 2.2%.
English: information EUCOBAN network European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF);
German: http://www.gmtn.at/servlet/ .

Arrangements concerning job security are central in the new collective agreement FNV Bondgenoten agreed with NS (Dutch Railways). There will be no forced lay-offs until 31 December 2012, and the number of full-time equivalents actually worked by temp workers will be changed into permanent jobs. The new 18 months' agreement, covering 15,000 workers, starts backdated 1 May 2009, and provides for a 1.7% pay increase by that date, followed by 0.5% by 1 January 2010. Compensation for irregular hours will be increased stepwise by 20%.
Dutch: http://www.fnvspoor.nl/; press sheet FNV Bondgenoten

With a symbolic action in front of the Headquarters of the ILO Conference in Geneva, on 9 June, the Swiss Trade Union Confederation (STUC/SGB/USS) recalled that the complaint it lodged in 2003 against its government emphasized the fact that the host country of the International Labour Office does not provide proper protection against anti-union dismissals, which is in breach of ILO Convention No. 98 concerning the right to organise and to collective bargaining. Vasco Pedrina, Head of the Swiss Workers delegation at the ILO Conference 2009 and BWI Vicepresident stated: "We hope that the symbolic protest action today will make the Swiss government realise that it is time to change course. The workers of our country are not asking for charity, but rather are demanding what is rightly theirs, namely to freely exercise the trade union rights that form a part of human rights." In the context of the current crisis, anti-union dismissals are multiplying across the country, said Pedrina.
English: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=2318&Language=EN;
German: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=2313&Language=DE;
French: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=2314&Language=FR

Planned strike action by public sector workers was called off when negotiations were finally concluded on 4 June. The unions involved were pleased with the outcome, as it means that there are no major changes to the pensions arrangements in the public sector. Pay negotiations were also concluded, with local government workers set to get 3.1% with a minimum increase of NOK 9,000 (Euro 994) a year.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/310
Norwegian: http://www.frifagbevegelse.no/fagbladet/article4374683.ece; http://www.ntl.no/portal/page/portal/PG_NTL_NO/ .

A considerable share of young workers in Sweden seems to favour negotiating pay individually rather than having their wages set by a central agreement, a new study may indicate. According to a recent study carried out by the Novus Opinion polling company on behalf of the Swedish Organization for Managers (Ledarna) and the Almega employers' association of Swedish Engineering Industries, only 10% of young Swedish workers are satisfied with the way their salaries are set. More than half of the 1,500 workers between 25- and 30-years of age included in the study replied that the setting of salaries ought to be more individualized than it is today. Currently, six of ten respondents to the survey said they had the ability to influence their pay.
English: http://www.thelocal.se/19864/20090604/
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Sweden

Public services union ABVAKABO FNV has agreed a 10-month deal for the energy sector with a basic pay increase of 1.3%. The current two-year agreement expires on 30 June and the new agreement will only run from 1 July to 30 April 2010. It is seen as a transitional agreement that covers the current difficult economic circumstances and is in line with the national social accord of March 2009. There will also be a payment worth 0.75% of salary on 1 January 2010 which is part of a new scheme allowing workers the choice of having additional pay or more time off. Other elements in the deal include an extension of parental leave from 13 to 26 weeks and various initiatives on training. The WENb employers' organisation will undertake a study of the implications of changes in the energy sector for employment and industrial relations. ABVAKABO FNV will be involved in the study.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/310;
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/cao/bericht/ .

Lauri Lyly, the newly elected President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), recently proposed that the labour contracts of all SAK-affiliated unions should have a set minimum monthly pay level of Euro 1,500. As Lyly sees it, everyone should be able to survive on what one earns without having to resort to welfare benefits. Not all trade unions are enthusiastic about the idea of a common minimum wage for all. Actually, in Finland each profession has minimum pay levels set in their labour contracts. Mikko M„enp„, President of the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK) reacted that at first glance, Lyly's proposal sounds good, but is based on the false premise of "base level social security", and as such is akin to the idea of a citizen's wage or a guaranteed pension. M„enp„„ said not to believe that raising the lowest wages would be possible without it being reflected on the whole pay scale.
English: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Split+in+labour+movement+over+call+for+legally-mandated+minimum+wage/1135246309929 via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Finland

Trade unions ver.di, Transnet and GDBA that organise transport workers have criticised rules covering procurement in regional public transport that require acceptance of the lowest price bids for contracts. The unions argue that this opens up the sector to unregulated competition and risks creating a downward spiral of wage dumping. They also say that organisations providing training and good social benefits along with collectively negotiated pay are at a disadvantage because of these rules. The unions quote the example of a bus driver in a private firm getting Euro 1560 a month for a 48-hour week while a driver covered by a negotiated collective agreement would get Euro 2042 monthly plus allowances for a 42-hour week. In the Saarland region, ver.di and Transnet have joined with the IG BAU construction union and the DGB union confederation in a petition campaign calling for a law to require employers to apply collective agreements when carrying out public contracts.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307
German: https://www.verdi.de/kampagnen_projekte/tariftreue