The three public service federations - FP-CGIL, FPS-CSIL and UIL-FPL - have all signed the latest two-year pay agreement covering 600,000 workers in the public health sector. The agreement includes an average increase of Euro 72 per month with the possibility that workers will also get a further Euro 20 on the basis of productivity improvements. The three federations have welcomed the deal as providing a good balance between national and local bargaining and providing the health service with flexibility in its human resources policies.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307
Italian: http://www.fpcgil.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/10487
http://www.fp.cisl.it/index.php?option=com_content&view .
http://www.uilfpl.it/news/newscomun345.html
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The four main federations in the energy sector - FNME-CGT, FNEM-FO, CFDT and CGC - are keeping up their various forms of action in support of their demands for salary increases in the sector and a stop to outsourcing and closures. Apart from strike action and demonstrations, the unions are also using targeted power cuts to get their message across. An industry day of action on 19 May was followed by the four federations joining the national cross-sectoral demonstrations on 26 May. The unions are frustrated by the employers' refusal to negotiate and called on president Nicolas Sarkozy to put pressure of the employers to break their "wall of silence".
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307#a5110
French: http://www.fnme-cgt.fr/pages/communique.php?id=10
http://www.fnem-fo.org/content/view/457/1/
In mid-May, the FNV Bondgenoten union walked away from negotiations for a new collective agreement for Dutch Railways (NS, Nederlandse Spoorwegen) after the employer delegation offered a 1% wage increase in reply to the union demand of 3.5%. In a feedback meeting, union militants stuck to the earlier demand and supported union negotiator, Roel Berghuis. They also emphasized the need for clearer employment security prospects than the employer had offered thus far. Berghuis said, "My constituency sends me back with a very clear message, that is keeping all 15,000 NS staff on board with a fair wage".
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/actueel/ns_moet_over_brug_komen_met/
National talks between trade unions and the government over how to respond to the crisis will resume following a letter to the unions from the prime minister indicating a willingness to discuss a number of key issues. The unions have set out a 10-point recovery plan that includes negotiations over public sector jobs and the 7.5% "pensions levy" that has been imposed on workers across the public sector. The government says that it will discuss these matters although it has indicated that it wants to see greater flexibility in the delivery of public services (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 March and April).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307
http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2009/Name,10846,en.html
Municipal workers trade union Kommunal was one of a number of unions affiliated to the LO confederation taking part in a conference on 26 May to discuss collective bargaining priorities and equal pay. Pay negotiations are set to begin in autumn and Kommunal wants to keep its focus on equal pay and what more can be done to close the gender pay gap. Other key bargaining issues include the right to full-time employment and reductions in temporary employment. The conference provided a forum in which unions in the LO confederation could discuss co-ordination of their collective bargaining aims.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307
Swedish: http://www.kommunal.se/press/Pressmeddelanden/21682/
The CCOO and UGT trade union confederations have called on the government to re-open the social dialogue on the crisis. The unions want to see reforms to the tax and benefits system with higher and longer payment of unemployment benefits as well as an end to rules on age that restrict payments. They also want to talk about increasing taxes on the higher paid. They argue that trade unions, employers and government need to get together to mobilise the resources of the economy and to agree measures to generate jobs and economic growth.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307#a5110
Spanish: http://www.fsap.ccoo.es/webfsap/menu.do?Actualidad:Sindical:Actualidad:58928
http://www.ugt.es/actualidad/2009/mayo/a20052009.html
Public and private sector union federations are continuing their mass campaigns over government policy and responses to the crisis. The eight public sector union federations have again joined to support the national days of action on 26 May and 13 June and to re-affirm their main demands to the government. These include immediate negotiations to secure an increase in the index covering public sector pay and revision of the public sector salary structure. The unions also want an end to job cuts and closures as well as to transfers of services that are combining to undermine the quality of public services and the working conditions of public sector employees (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 March and April 2009).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307#a5110
French: http://www.cgt.fr/spip.php?article36105
http://www.force-ouvriere.fr/page_principal/semaine/.
http://www.cfdt.fr/rewrite/article/19860/actualites/.
By 26 May an estimated 25,000 social and childcare workers had joined the national strike organised by service workers union ver.di, as part of the campaign to secure a new collective agreement that addresses the health concerns of the sector. The numbers joining the strike have steadily increased since the action began on 15 May. More responsibilities and heavier workloads have increased stress and health risks for many employees working in social services and early years' education; the union argues that action is needed to improve working conditions. The local government employers' association has yet to respond to demands for such an agreement.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307#a5110
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews ...
Public sector unions called off the strikes planned for 13 and 14 May and a national demonstration planned for 16 May. The unions secured a draft agreement on pay for 60,000 civil servants that will now be voted on by union members. If members reject the agreement, the unions will return to the negotiating table with the government. According to the agreement, civil servants' pay will be increased in line with inflation from 1 January 2010 and they will also get a 6% increase once the economy has registered two consecutive quarters of growth.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/307#a5110
Croatian: http://www.sssh.hr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1139
The federal government has decided to extend the time limit of the official short time scheme (Kurzarbeit) from 18 to 24 months, a spokesperson declared. She explained that with the new arrangement, the government wants to offer firms more security for planning as well as a stimulus for firms not to dismiss workers even if the crisis might continue. Also companies that already took refuge to short time, can make use of the new time limit. Minister of Labour Olaf Scholz praised the short time arrangement as the primary instrument through which work can be secured in the crisis. According to the Federal Labour Agency, from October 2008 on 96,000 companies with nearly 2.8 million employees have registered for short time. The Agency noted that the high point of short time requests seems to have been passed, with the number of employees covered by new requests falling from 460,000 in April to 270-290,000 in May (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 10 and Year 2 January).
German: http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/kurzarbeitergeld102.html
http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/arbeitsmarkt194.html
http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/kurzarbeit-schont- ...