Collective Bargaining

Police estimated that 10,000 people joined the demonstration on 13 January in Riga against government economic policies, making it the biggest since the country's independence in 1991. The fact that a small group of rioters clashed with the police could not hide the broad support the demonstration got from the trade union side and from the Latvian general public. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) called for a New Social Deal across Europe that would provide an alternative to the neo-liberal policies being proposed by the governments of Latvia and Lithuania. As John Monks, general secretary, declared, ETUC wants to see more of a focus on decent work rather than policies that resort to cuts in pay and reliance on precarious employment.
(English: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gF8KGHyUhCXSEEH4Pa7fiWjyGK2AD95MKBC00; http://www.etuc.org/a/5732; French: http://www.etuc.org/a/5733)

The IMPACT public service union has reacted strongly to suggestions from the IBEC private employers' organisation that public sector pensions should be cut back. Impact argues that the employers are using the economic crisis to launch another attack on public sector workers and that they overstate the level of pension that most public servants are likely to get at retirement. IMPACT also responded by highlighting the fact that employers benefit from low levels of tax and social security contributions.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/282; http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=194)

Services union ver.di is negotiating with public sector employers over pay rates for 200,000 childcare and other workers in public education and social services. Currently childcare employees are in pay grade 6 which means that they have a starting salary of Euro 2,130 a month. Ver.di argues that this pay level fails to reflect the increased responsibility and workload for these workers and that they should be moved up to pay level 9 with monthly salaries of between Euro 2,237 and Euro 3,423. The union also wants to see better safety provisions covering these workers and those working with disabled. The stress of the job and physical demands mean that many employees suffer from headaches and back problems.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/282; German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=b4b5739a-e6f5-11dd-7ddf-0019b9e321cd)

Organised by the public service unions LPSK and LVDPS and opposition parties, on 16 January in the capital Vilnius a demonstration took place in protest against the draconian measures the Lithuanian government is attempting to push through in reaction to the economic crisis. Reports indicate, for example, that this government is planning a 15% cut in the public sector wage bill. Both ETUC and the European Federation of Public Service Workers (EPSU) sent messages of support to the Lithuanian trade unions.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/282; http://www.epsu.org/a/4455; http://www.etuc.org/a/5732; French: http://www.etuc.org/a/5733)

The GPA-DJP and GMTN unions, representing workers in private electricity companies, have stated that the employers' initial pay offer of just over 3% was completely inadequate bearing in mind recent pay settlements. The employers focused on the current economic climate but the unions reminded them of the substantial profits that electricity companies have made in recent years. The unions will not resume negotiations until 29 January in order to convene a meeting of works council chairs on 26 January to discuss negotiating tactics. The employers also want to negotiate over working time flexibility.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/282;
German: http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA_2.a&cid=1231810532141)

The largest trade union confederation, ZSSS, announced that it will demand to see the accounts of companies subsidised for introducing shorter working weeks. ZSSS president Dusan Semolic reiterated that the new act providing subsidies to companies working shorter hours does not prevent pay cuts; he stressed that the legislation should specify that wages should not drop. Unionists find it unacceptable that public funding would be turned into companies' profits. The legislation, that passed parliament on 14 January, stipulates that companies shortening the working week from 40 to 36 hours get Euro 60 per worker in monthly subsidies. They will be eligible for another Euro 60 per employee if they agree with in-company unions to shorten the week to 32 hours. The total budget envisaged for this measure is Euro 230 million.
(English: http://www.ukom.gov.si/eng/slovenia/publications/slovenia-news/8141/8222/; http://www.ukom.gov.si/eng/slovenia/publications/slovenia-news/8141/8167/)

Employees of Romania's biggest bank BCR, with over 9,000 employees and owned by Austria-based Erste Bank, postponed a pay strike planned for 14 January after receiving a new pay offer. "There will be no strike tomorrow in BCR," Ciprian Ionescu, head of the bank's Independent Trade Union told a local television station, addingÿ: "The conflict is not over. We will decide what comes next after talks." The union demanded an additional 3% wage increase over the bank's offer to raise wages by half of Romania's 6.6% inflation rate in 2008.
(English: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSLD14550720090113 via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Romania)

The G™D public service trade union has said that hospital workers should not lose out as a result of health reforms and has criticised government plans for cuts in finance. The union's president for health and social care, Johann Hable, has called for the union to be represented in discussions over health reforms in order to ensure that workers do not end up paying the price for the changes. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 6).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/281; German: http://www.goed.at/14823.html)

The ver.di service union and the NGG food and catering union are raising the minimum wage issue in regional elections. In a campaign "Vote for the minimum wage" the unions are highlighting the results of a recent opinion poll that found 81% of people in favour of a minimum wage as a response to growing child poverty. A recent government report found one in eight children in Germany at risk of poverty. The union campaign includes the use of container lorries with minimum wage information displays. The containers are deposited in city centres for people to visit and find out more about the issues around poverty pay and minimum wages (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 9).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/281;
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=75f9ced0-cffb-11dd-742f-0019b9e321cd)

The three trade union confederations have succeeded in gaining improvements in the unemployment regulation, especially in the temporary unemployment arrangements - to be compared with the short-time arrangements of the surrounding countries. Per 1 January 2009 the temporary unemployment benefit has been lifted by 10%, based on a reference amount of gross Euro 2,200 a month instead of gross Euro 1,900. A debate in parliament is going on concerning the desirability to expand temporary unemployment arrangements, which in case of economic reasons only apply to blue collar workers, not to white collar workers.
(Dutch: http://www.fgtb.be/CODE/nl/fram001.htm; http://www.belgium.be/nl/werk/werkloosheid/tijdelijke_werkloosheid/; French: http://www.fgtb.be/code/fr/fram001.htm; http://www.belgium.be/fr/emploi/chomage/chomage_temporaire/)