Collective Bargaining

Though in the national budget a 9% rise of the national minimum wage from 1 January 2009 is envisaged (up by 9% to BGN 240 or Euro 120 per month), the CITUB union confederation is calling for a 18.2% hike. If CITUB gets its way, the new minimum wage rate would become BGN 260 (Euro 130). CITUB put forward its claim in recent discussions between trade unions, employers' associations and the Socialist Party, the dominant faction in the coalition movement. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 7).
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 10/2008)

During the tripartite so-called autumn talks the government agreed to reduce the employee contribution to the unemployment benefit funds (currently averaging 3.75%) to zero for 2009, and promised to allocate Euro 460 million to repair negative purchasing power effects in 2009 for elderly and people on benefit. After earlier government promises to maintain employment protection for those earning less than Euro 75,000 early and to abstain from plans to raise VAT (from 19 to 20%), the FNV union confederation moderated its wage claim to maximum 3.5% in 2009. Both FNV chairwomen Agnes Jongerius and the employers' association president judged the outcomes of the autumn talks as constructive and restoring trust between social partners. The CNV union confederation will not make its wage target public until December 2008.
(Dutch: http://www.awvn.nl/smartsite.shtml?ch=&id=11497 (tripartite declaration); English: FNV information via EUCOBAN network of European Metalworkers' Federation; Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 10/2008)

Earlier perspectives on an increase in the minimum wage, opened by the Social and Labour Ministry, meet fierce opposition from the employers' side. The three-year agreement that introduced a multi-tier minimum wage expires on 31 December 2008, and there is no sign yet of a consensus on how it should be replaced. Some on the business side are calling for a wage freeze, including a freeze of the nominal basic minimum wage, currently HUF 69,900 (Euro 272) per month. Moreover, they ask for the abolition of the higher minimum rates for skilled workers. Gabor Csizmar, deputy minister at the Prime Minister's office, said that a minimum wage of HUF 72,400 would preserve the current minimum wage in real terms. From the unions' side, MOSz confederation president Imre Palkovics urged that the basic minimum wage should be lifted by 45% to HUF 100,000 (Euro 394). Palkovics totally excluded abolition of the other minimum rates. In an earlier stage, the MSzOSz union confederation has proposed a 16% increase in the basic minimum, to HUF 80,000 (Euro 315) per month (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 7).
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 10/2008; http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/9569/159/)

The two main trade union confederations -- FTGB/ABVV and CSC/ACV -- organised a general strike on 6 October over the failure of the government and employers' organisations to respond to the fall in purchasing power as inflation continues to rise. The unions also highlighted the financial crisis and the willingness of government to spend millions rescuing major financial institutions while failing to respond to the economic pressures facing workers and pensioners. Both confederations ask the government for a cut in value-added tax on electricity, gas and heating oil, a personal income tax reform to benefit the lowest paid, and a wealth tax.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/r/164; Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 10/2008)

The largest ballot on the national pay deal has been postponed while unions seek an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and the Finance Minister to demand to leave 700,000 low-paid workers, earning less than Euro 11 per hour, out of the new super levy. The SIPTU union announced that its 250,000 members will not begin a vote on the draft wage agreement for which the ballot was due to start the next day, until the government talks take place. ICTU confederation president David Begg said it must be possible for the government to introduce a threshold in the levy that would mean the lower paid workers were not hit.
(English: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ballot-is-halted-as-unions-demand-change-to-new-tax-1499635.html, via http://www.labourstart.org/)

On 17 October a large strike against government reforms called by so-called grass-roots unions brought public transport in a number of big cities to a halt. Protest marches paralysed traffic in Rome, Milan and Turin. In Rome unions claimed some 300,000 people took part in a rally at Piazza San Giovanni to protest against low salaries and temporary contracts for workers across various sectors as well as school reforms and health cuts.
(English: http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/10/17/afx5568925.html; Agenzia ANSA, 17/10/2008, via http://www.labourstart.org/)

After a collective bargaining conflict in spring 2008, leading to the first strike in the Dutch IT industry, IT firm Atos Origin (8,800 employees in the Netherlands) obviously tries to get rid of the four unions involved in collective bargaining. When Atos Origin only offered a 2% pay increase instead of the industry average of 3.5% and the unions retreated temporarily, the employer made advances to the Central Works Council (COR). The president of the bank employers' association, asked by the COR to mediate, concluded that the COR better take over collective bargaining. Now the unions are planning talks with the various works councils about their position. If they support the COR, the unions envisage that this will be the end of one of the oldest and largest agreements in the IT sector.
(Dutch: AutomatiseringGids, 3 October 2008; http://www.eengoedecaovooratosorigin.nl/)

A majority (54%) of members of the PCS civil service union who voted in the recent ballot on pay agreed to support a campaign of industrial action. Collective bargaining in the civil service is decentralised and PCS has been involved in a range of local pay conflicts over the last year. However, the union wants to co-ordinate this in a national campaign in protest at the government's imposition of a 2% limit on public sector pay increases.
Earlier in October, the PCS union revealed that six government departments have had to increase minimum rates in their collective agreements in order to comply with the national minimum wage. The UK statutory minimum wage increased to UKP5.73 (Euro 7.37) an hour for all workers aged 22 and over as from 1 October. Among the departments that need to adjust their lowest rates is the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, where PCS members have recently been on strike for higher pay.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/r/197; http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/DE3B3CD2-5AEA-4A42-A8A212FA93B9CC10; http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/4E23D726-E045-414A-960DA38745C4A7CB)

The dispute over the 2008 pay increase for local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has not yet been resolved. However, the employers have agreed to increase pay rates by 2.45% (backdated to 1 April 2008) plus UKP100 for the lowest paid workers. The increase will be implemented in November while both sides wait for the results of arbitration that should lead to a final settlement of the dispute. Meanwhile local government unions in Scotland, who are covered by a separate agreement, are being balloted over the employers' latest offer. The unions are recommending rejection of that offer, implying a 3% pay increase in 2008 and 2.5% in both 2009 and 2010.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/r/197; http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=4921;
http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/2008/septoct/1010.htm; http://www.gmb.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=97686)

After lengthy negotiations a new salary system was introduced across the public sector this year. One of the aims of the reform was to establish a fairer and clearer salary structure for public sector workers, recognizing that some groups were particularly worse off. The agreement included provisions to make some of the bigger wage adjustments over a longer period -- up to 2011. However, the new system has been subject to criticism by several different groups of workers and is now the subject of a constitutional court case taken by a union representing child care, education and research workers.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/r/192; Slovenian: The Slovenian Times, 17 October 2008)