Because of an acute labour shortage (342,000 vacancies and only some 196,000 registered jobseekers) the government wants to attract more foreign workers and streamline the process of issuing work permits. Recently the country has in particular turned to Ukraine to fill the gap, now the government wants get employees from Montenegro, Moldova and Serbia, but also India and other Asian countries.
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[close]Figures from the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment show that a total of 222,500 people with foreign citizenships were employed in Denmark during the first half of 2019.That means the number of foreigners working in Denmark is at its highest level since 2011. The increase reflects ongoing demand for hands on the Danish labour market.
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[close]After 15 years of stagnation working prisoners will receive a higher minimum wage as of next year. This higher wage will be paid, even if striking prison guards prevent them from performing their tasks. Prisoners provide about 6 million working hours a year in mainly manual work. Work regarded by the Court of Audit (Rekenhof) as prison labour.
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[close]The Work-life Balance Directive, which aims to improve families’ access to family leave and flexible work arrangements, has entered into European Union law and must be adopted by Member States. The Work-life Balance Directive introduces a set of legislative actions designed to modernise the existing EU legal and policy frameworks, with the aims of: better supporting a work-life balance for parents and carers, encouraging a more equal sharing of parental leave between men and women, and addressing women’s underrepresentation in the labour market.
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[close]The GWU trade union section for the Professionals, Finance and Services and the Bank of Valletta signed a three-year Collective Agreement covering the working conditions for workers at the Bank of Valletta for the years 2019 to 2021. The agreement aims to further enhance the conditions of employment and ameliorates current family-friendly measures that assist employees reach a better work-life balance.
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[close]Train mechanics and the other employees of Romanian passenger railway company CFR Calatori are preparing for massive protests, to last four weeks, starting September 16. They want to draw attention to the tragic situation in the railway sector, caused by the lack of investments, the president of the Federation of Railway Carrier Unions of Romania (FSTFR) announced on August 21. The protests will be organized together with the Federation of Locomotive Mechanics and the National Railway Federation.
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[close]Statistics Netherlands reports that freelancers and other workers with a flexible employment relationship earn 48% less per hour than employees with a permanent contract. This difference is largely explained by background characteristics. Flex workers are on average younger and less educated. If these characteristics are taken into account, the difference between the two groups is only 7%.
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[close]After a long row and the failure of mediation attempts, Ryanair sought a court order to prevent industrial action of the airline's Irish based pilots. Around 180 of Ryanair's Irish based pilots are represented by trade unions IALPA and Fórsa, 94% of the pilots who took part in a recent ballot, voted in favour of industrial action. The company accused Fórsa of collapsing mediation talks aimed at resolving a number of issues between the two sides. The High Court granted Ryanair the injunction preventing a planned strike.
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[close]A group of 102 Foodora couriers organized with the Norwegian Transport Union (NTF) went on strike after negotiations over a collective agreement with Foodora failed. The representative of NTF said that a collective agreement guarantees pay and rights of employees and when an employer refuses it, industrial action is necessary. In a comment to the news site NRK, he said that he was surprised and disappointed over the failed agreement, because negotiations had been conducted in good spirit.
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[close]Undocumented migrant workers, hired to work for the courier delivery firm Chronopost, have been on strike outside the company’s facility in Alfortville, in the Paris suburbs. They say their working conditions are unacceptable and that the company is taking advantage of their status to, in the words of one worker, ‘treat us like slaves’. The workers describe intolerable working conditions for migrant staff at the company, a subsidiary of the French post office, including working longer hours, unpaid overtime and the risk of being fired if they are sick and unable to work. The strike started on 11 June and the workers still hold a picket line. Chronopost denies all responsibility and claims the problem lies at the door of the recruitment agency.
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