Collective Bargaining

From 15 to 24 July, the Ver.di union is balloting its members in five departments of the national Lufthansa carrier (cabin, technical, catering, cargo and bookings) on indefinite strike action. Ver.di claims that in total 60,000 aviation workers will be involved. Warning strikes in early July did not lead to an agreement in the fourth negotiation round. The union demands a 9.8% hike and improved profit sharing included in a one-year agreement, while the latest Lufthansa offer is a 6.7% increase for 21 months. Verdi lead negotiator Erhard Ott said, "In the last few years, workers have repeatedly propped up the company and made sacrifices. Now they want a share in the success of the company."
Moreover, there is a conflict pending between Lufthansa and the pilots of its Eurowings, Germanwings and Cityline subsidiaries, organised in the Vereinigung Cockpit union, demanding their wages come closer to those in Lufthansa. After a strike in mid-July already knocked out 600 flights, on 22 July a 36 hours' stoppage led to the cancellation of 990 Cityline and Germanwings flights.
(English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/2347; German: http://verkehr.verdi.de/luftverkehr/airlines/lufthansa#urabstimmung_bis_24._juli; http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3505156,00.html?maca=en-aa-pol-863-rdf)

The announcement of the Romanian government in early July that macroeconomic conditions for the minimum wage rise laid down in the joint protocol of December 2007, from RON 500 to RON 540 (approximately Euro 152) per month, were not fullfilled led to union protests and the threat of the united five union federations to organise larger union rallies. After prolonged talks between the social partners and the government, including the Central Bank, the government revised its viewpoint and a hike to RON 540 from 1 July on seems to have been agreed. By July 23, three out of five trade union federations (Alfa Cartel, Meridian and CSDR) had decided to sign the agreement with the government on this hike.
Meanwhile, the government maintains the draft legislation proposal launched in June 2008 in which the minimum wage no longer serves as a reference point for the calculation of most social security benefits and allowances. With the aim of reducing the effect of minimum wage increases on public expenditure, this decoupling would be replaced by a new `reference indicator'.
(English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2008/07/articles/ro0807019i.htm; http://www.mediafax.ro/tags/unions)

In an assessment of the one-hour warning strike of 24 June the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS) notes that the government is delaying and amending some of its planned health and public sector reforms. In particular, the confederation says that there has been a moderation of proposals on health care fees; the division of planned health care reforms into two phases giving unions more time to influence them; a strengthening of the system of pension insurance; and increased possibilities for early retirement. Public opinion polls showed that 60-70% of the general public supported the confederation's aims and that the strike has strengthened the position of the trade unions in their campaign against the government's privatisation, pensions and labour code reforms (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=264#a3958; http://www.cmkos.cz/homepage/1008-3)

In early July, the three main trade unions signed a new collective agreement covering federal government workers for the period 2007-2008.The deal includes a higher end-of-year payment and a basic agreement to work towards the introduction of a 13th month salary in future agreements. There is a particular initiative on low pay with an additional amount (Euro 328) added to the pay band that covers cleaning and catering staff. There are also improved allowances for workers with a second language, the first increases since 1991.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=264#a3965;
Dutch: http://openbarediensten.acv-online.be/Images/SA federaal_tcm86-174977.pdf;
French: http://csc-services-publics.csc-en-ligne.be/Images/Accord sectoriel f%C3%A9d%C3%A9ral 09 07_tcm90-174973.pdf; http://www.slfp.eu/pdf/accent080709.pdf)

On 17 July, 500,000 members of public services union UNISON undertook a second day of action, shutting thousands of schools, town halls, libraries, leisure centres, and disrupting rubbish collections and council services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said that this showed the strength of feeling of the membership over pay. Moreover, he added, "Public support is on our side, so the employers must realise they have a fight on their hands." Earlier, UNISON members voted to reject the employers' pay offer which would have meant a 2.45% increase in 2008 as part of a three-year deal.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=264#a3966; http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1220)

Although the issue wasn't initially on the agenda, public service unions called for government guarantees on pay at a 16 July meeting of the main public sector negotiating body. The unions are calling for a 2.5% increase in pay to compensate for the difference between forecast and actual inflation in 2008 and want purchasing power protected in the 2009 pay negotiations. The government said it will fulfil the agreements already signed on pay including the commitment to a Euro 1,000 minimum salary in the public sector. The unions also want to see the government maintain public sector employment through permanent jobs, stating that there is a risk of creating more precarious employment with a detrimental effect on the quality of services.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=264#a3961;
Spanish: http://www.fspugt.es/index.php/mod.noticias/mem.detalle/idnoticia.5153/idimagen.1759/relcategoria.7)

Better employment conditions and a new funding system are needed in order to improve the quality of health and social care, according to Wolfgang Katzian, chairman of the GPA-DJP union that represents workers in the private health and social care sectors. In the context of a major debate over the reform of healthcare funding, Katzian underlined the importance of having properly regulated providers with trained staff covered by a collective agreement. The sector is currently plagued by pseudo-self-employment that makes regulation very difficult and undermines attempts to maintain pay and conditions.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=264#a3957;
German: http://www.gpa.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA_0.a&cid=1216132122360)

On 18 and 19 July, workers in the immigration and asylum services, the maritime and coastguard services and the Land Registry took strike action over pay as agencies tried to impose the government's 2% pay limit on civil servants. The PCS union said up to 10,500 workers were involved in the immigration and asylum one-day strike while the coastguard stoppage was due to last 48 hours. PCS members in the Coastguard are particularly angry about the agency's rejection of a report that argued that workers in the service should be paid in line with similar jobs in other emergency services. For example coastguard watch assistants, who actively participate in search planning and other duties in response to emergency calls, only earn the national minimum wage.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=264#a3962; http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/C3686A6D-ABDF-4099-95775B5F2A97FD20)

Since 24 June, workers of the four Sdfleisch meatpacking operations in Lauda, Bayreuth, Waldkraiburg und Traunstein are on strike action, fighting management efforts to radically lower working terms and worsening conditions. On 23 June, negotiations for a new collective agreement broke down over management's insistence on lenghtening weekly hours from 38.5 to 42 without pay increase till 2011. Contrary to this, the NGG (Food and Allied Workers' Union) demands improved overtime pay and higher hourly wages. In 2005, Sdfleisch was acquired by Netherlands-based VION. This gives added value to the active solidarity for the NGG action by IUF, the international food, farm and hotel workers federation, and EFFAT, the European Federation for Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions. After nine days of strike, actions on the four locations have been suspended in view of new negotiations on 31 July.
(English: http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=5223&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1;
German: http://www.iufdocuments.org/www/documents/VionSudfleischpressrelease240608-d.pdf; http://www.ngg.net/branche_betrieb/fleisch)

After a readjustment of the SMIC, the national minimum wage, from 1 May 2008 by 2.3%, the government decided to increase the minimum wage again from 1 July 2008, this time by 0.9%, taking the hourly rate to Euro 8.71. Meanwhile, there is a vivid debate about the revision of the SMIC. The current system is likely to be overhauled from 2010, with annual increases on 1 January instead of 1 July. The method of calculation is likely to change too, and a special committee is being set up to reassess the link with price trends (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 7/2008;
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2008/05/articles/fr0805049i.htm;
French: http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/economie/20080627.OBS0362/tout_ce_qui_change_le_1er_juillet.html?idfx=RSS_economie)