The leader of the largest craft union has threatened a national strike against employers who refuse to implement national agreements. The general secretary of the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), Owen Wills, warned that tough measures should be taken against employers who renege on legally-binding Registered Employment Agreements (REAs). This warning comes after the construction employers' association CIF claimed that its members could not afford the new national pay deal. Mr Wills suggested at his union's biennial conference that a national strike in solidarity with other unions may be necessary. REAs govern wages and terms and conditions of employment in the private sector, while the national pay deal generally applies to the remaining unionised workers in both the public and private sector.
(English: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/union-threatens-national-strike-over-pay-deal-1550833.html via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Ireland)
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On 19 November the three union federations in local government in the Wallonia region organised a demonstration in Namur, in protest at the regional government's failure to implement the 2005-2006 collective agreement. The unions are calling for the government to honour its promises on protecting workers' purchasing power, recruitment and pensions. They say to be ready for a long campaign of protest if the government does not respond.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; French: http://csc-services-publics.csc-en-ligne.be/Images/Communiqu%C3%A9 %C3%A0 la presse CGSP-CSC-SLFP - FINI DE RIRE - 11-13_tcm90-185861.doc)
On 21 November the FNSFP public services federation organised a demonstration of public administration workers in protest at the government's proposed 2.9% pay increase for 2009. The federation has called for a 5% increase and said that 2.9% is inadequate as it does nothing to begin to recover the lost purchasing power suffered by public sector salaries in recent years (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 6).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; Portuguese: http://fnsfp-pt.inout-decor.com/)
UNISON Scotland, the biggest union in local government with around 100,000 members, voted narrowly to accept a two-year pay deal that increases pay by 3% in 2008 and 2.5% in 2009. The union said that it was very disappointed by the pay deal and the narrowness of the vote reflected widespread discontent with the outcome. The pay offer was rejected by two other unions in the sector - the GMB with around 25,000 members and Unite with around 20,000 (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No.'s 4 and 7).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/localgovt/pay2008/index.html; http://www.gmb.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=97820; http://www.amicustheunion.org/default.aspx?page=9622)
In the week of 17 November, the French government was confronted with a wave of strikes against its reform proposals. Airline pilots, train drivers, teachers, students and postal worklers went on strike for one or more days. Notably the CGT union confederation is planning to continue actions, and plans a week of action in the public and private sectors from 24 November with 26 November a key date. The confederation's protest is over pay, employment and the latest government proposals to reform employment contracts and to raise the retirement age to 70. The CGT argues that an increase to salaries and boost to public services are important elements of a strategy to respond to the current crisis. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No.'s 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7).
(English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/18/nicolas-sarkozy-france-strike-union; http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; French: http://www.cgt.fr/spip.php?article35341)
Services union ver.di is warning of a deteriorating employment situation in the hospital sector, which will continue to worsen despite proposals for additional funding. Ver.di argues that the new framework law on hospital finance will not provide enough money for decent pay increases and that more workers will leave the sector. With employment shortages existing employees are under increasing pressure and the heavy workloads and poor pay hamper recruiting new staff. On 18 November, thousands of hospitals workers joined lunchtime demonstrations in protest at the financial crisis facing the sector and the inadequacy of the government's funding package. Ver.di general secretary Frank Bsirske demanded in particular that salary increases should be fully funded (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 7).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/273; http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=a6e2ce34-a5c1-11dd-5970-0019b9e321e1; http://www.verdi.de/nachrichten/newsArchive?channel=nachrichtenbox&id=krankenhaus-beschaeftigte_protestieren_gegen_finanznot)
Members of the Unite union in the National Health Service (NHS) have voted to reject the three-year pay deal and take industrial action. There was a 53% vote in favour of strike action, with 45% against. Other unions are also unhappy about the deal. Earlier UNISON, the biggest union in the health service, called on the NHS employers to re-open negotiations in view of the recent surge in inflation (See this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; http://www.amicustheunion.org/default.aspx?page=9598; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1280)
On 20 November, the unions of the public and state services rejected the proposal of prime minister Ivo Sanader for a total freeze on pay increases in both the private and public sector, as part of the nation's response to the global financial crisis. This decision was made by the leaders of the 15 unions that were to negotiate with the cabinet. In 2006 they signed an agreement guaranteeing three years of wage growth. The unions had consulted their members, who clearly evaluated a pay freeze for the 220,000 public servants as unacceptable.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008; http://www.javno.com/home/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=205081)
Four unions (BVPP, CNV Publieke Zaak, CNV Bedrijvenbond and FNV Bondgenoten) have negotiated an industry agreement for the new postal services entering the market besides the large TNT Post company, notably Sandd and Selektmail. Yet, the major ABVAKABO FNV union has not been involved and has also refused to sign. This union argues that it is unclear when and under which conditions 80% of the so-called commission agreements of the Sandd and Selektmail postal workers, based on piece rates, will be changed into regular labour contracts as the agreement suggests. ABVAKABO FNV says in terms of labour conditions a level playing field is missing if the government decides to open the postal market fully.
(Dutch: NRC-Handelsblad, 12 and 17 November 2008; http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/cao/bericht/bond_tekent_cao_nieuwe_postbedrijven_niet/)
Within and outside the union movement the debate about the level of collective bargaining, and the prospects of a return to centralised policies is still going on. A study for the SAK trade union confederation shows that most local negotiators in the state and municipal sectors think that local bargaining on hours has been more positive than negative. On pay the results are less convincing. While 63% of local negotiators in the municipal sector are more positive than negative about local bargaining the figure in central government is only 46%. A substantial minority of around a fifth in both sectors believe local bargaining on pay has been negative for workers. In general 44% of municipal local negotiators and 54% of state sector bargainers think that the balance between employers and trade unions at local level is not equitable (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008;
http://www.sak.fi/english/whatsnew.jsp?location1=1&lang=en&ao=news&sl2=2&id=32941; http://www.sak.fi/site/include/tulosta.jsp?id=32941)