Collective Bargaining

The 2009 pay rise for civil servants will be 6.6% rather than 5%, according to a Czech news report on a parliamentary vote on December 10. The minister for labour proposed the higher increase in response to current economic conditions and a large majority of MPs supported the proposal, although the finance minister was among the small minority voting against. However, the overall budget still has to be approved by President Vaclav Klaus.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/tema/index_view.php?id=349098&id_seznam=2185)

After four rounds of negotiations the public sector trade unions G™D and GdG agreed to accept a 3.55% increase for 2009 for the 350,000 public sector workers. The union boards see this as a positive result in view of the difficult economic circumstances and were determined to secure increases to pay and rejected any lump sum payments as part of the deal. Salary increases are negotiated each year and apply from 1 January. The increase also applies to other elements of pay and allowances. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 8).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; German: http://www.goed.at/14801.html; http://www.gdg.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01/Page/Index&n=C01_0.a&cid=1227275602238)

The GPA-DJP and vida trade unions have negotiated a 3.6% pay increase for the 75,000 workers covered by the BAGS collective agreement. The increase applies from 1 January 2009 and includes other salary-related payments. An important element of the deal is the agreement by the employers to take on training costs. The BAGS covers workers in involved in the care of the disabled and the elderly as well as childcare workers and other occupations. The agreement was introduced in some regions in 2004 only on the basis of setting minimum rates of pay, but its pay structure will now be applied in full and this will mean increases of 4% and higher for some workers.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; German: http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA_0.a&cid=1227275599571; http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03/Page/Index&n=S03_0.a&cid=1227275602291)

The long-term campaign for a proper system of social dialogue in the public sector will continue to be one of the main collective bargaining issues in 2009, as eight trade union federations will come together to support a day of action across the public and private sectors on 29 January. The unions have a range of demands including compensation for past losses in purchasing power, properly funded public services, an end to job cuts in the public sector and measures to tackle precarious employment conditions.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; French: http://www.ugff.cgt.fr/spip.php?article259)

Services union verdi's collective bargaining committee for regional government has agreed to submit a claim for an 8% pay increase next year. The current regional government agreement had no pay increase in 2007 - just lump sum payments - and the increase for 2008 was 2.9%. Verdi wants an 8% rise and a minimum increase of Euro 200. It argues that a gap has opened up between people doing similar jobs in local and regional government with regional government workers losing out.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280;
German: http://publik.verdi.de/2008/ausgabe_12/gewerkschaft/.titel/seite_1/A0?rnd=9826139.18347)

On 10 December a general strike brought the country to a halt today as more than 10,000 people marched on parliament as protests continue over the fatal police shooting of a schoolboy. The demonstration in Athens was part of a previously scheduled nationwide strike but has developed into a protest against the conservative government's handling of the crisis that has seen four days of rioting. Flights were grounded, banks and schools closed and hospital services restricted. "Participation in the strike is total. The country has come to a standstill," said Stathis Anestis, spokesman for the GSEE private sector union confederation. The ADEDY public sector confederation joined GSEE in protest on a range of government policies, including cuts to pensions and undermining legal rights to collective agreements.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/10/greece1; http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4B91YU20081210)

Public sector unions mobilised for a series of demonstrations around the country in protest at the government's unilateral decision to cut ill-health early retirement pension rights for many public sector workers. On December 10 the trade unions demonstrated outside the finance ministry in Madrid and expressed their anger that the pension changes had been imposed, an action that clearly contravened the basic agreement that requires such changes to be negotiated. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 9).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; Spanish: http://www.fsap.ccoo.es/webfsap/menu.do?Actualidad:Sindical:Actualidad:40903)

The PCS civil service union has called off its national strike campaign in response to concessions by the government on a number of pay issues. In particular, the government has agreed that pay increases can be partly financed by efficiency savings although how this is implemented in practice will depend on the separate negotiations across the UK civil service's decentralised bargaining structure. The government has said that there is no longer a 2% pay cap on staff pay increases. There is also a commitment to address the significant differences in pay across government departments. The union emphasizes that the concessions do not mark the end of its campaign for fair pay. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No.'s 6, 7 and 9).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/B51C3238-C9C0-4881-8122A073DADA5CFC)

Trade union demands to re-open negotiations over National Health Service (NHS) pay have been rejected by the Pay Review Body, the independent organisation responsible for recommending NHS pay increases to the government. Unions had called for the three-year deal to be re-negotiated in the light of the 2.75% increase for 2008 that had been rapidly overtaken by inflation that reached 5% by the summer. The Unite trade union is still in dispute with the four health departments of the UK over the three-year agreement. It organised a day of industrial action on 3 December and is meeting on 12 January to discuss what further action might follow in 2009. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/280; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1308; http://www.amicustheunion.org/Default.aspx?page=9785)

According to press information in December a growing number of companies is taking recourse to short-time arrangements, notably to the official "Kurzarbeitsbeihilfe" or "Kurzarbeit" (short-time support) provided by the Arbeidsmarktservice (AMS). This support can be offered for maximum three months to employers, in case of cuts in wages because of shortening working hours, provided that these cuts are due to substantial and persistent disturbances of economic activities. The level of support is derived from the unemployment benefit level. In order to qualify for short-time support, companies need to agree with the relevant workers' representatives on compensation above that level.
The largest and most frequent calls upon the Kurzarbeit arrangement stem from the steel industry, notably from the Voest-Alpine conglomerate, and from subcontractors of the car industry, but also chemical and wood manufacturers call upon the arrangement. In answer to criticasters the Metal and Textile Workers Union (GMTN) and the Union for employees in private industry, journalists, printing and paper industry (GPA-djp) have recently defended the Kurzarbeit model, as a workable and clear-cut defense line against the phasing out of employment.
(German: http://www.ams.at/sfu/14087.html; http://portal.tt.com/tt/home/story.csp?cid=1012399&sid=57&fid=21; http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA_0.a&cid=1228484918298)