Collective Bargaining

After long negotiations and some strike actions, an agreement for dock workers covering 39 months (backdated 1 April 2008 till 1 July 2011) was reached between the Port Employers Association and the Swedish Transport Workers Union. It includes increases totalling SEK 3,000 (Euro 320) at two stages, Euro 160 from July 2008 and Euro 160 from 1 November 2009.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 7/2008; Swedish: http://www.transport.se/home/trp2/home.nsf/pages/FC3CAE4247D51DA4C125746A0023A98C)

On 1 July parliament passed legislation creating a direct link between the rate of price inflation and the levels of national minimum wage and social benefits. Minimum pay and benefits will be adjusted in line with price rises if those exceed 3% in two years in succession, although the prices arrangements will be determined by the government at the time. The actual amount of the minimum wage has hitherto been set without a statutory formula for price compensation, by the government on the basis of recommendations of the Tripartite Council (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 7/2008)

The Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic (KOZ SR) requests that the minimum wage be increased by 9.9%, from the current SKK 8,100 to SKK 8,900 (Euro 266) from 1 January 2009, vice-president Vladim¡r Mojs told a news conference on 8 July. If no agreement on this issue is reached with the employers' association, the rise from January 2009 will be 7.2%, in accordance with the new formula that came into operation earlier this year.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 7/2008;
http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/32342/10/trade_unions_want_minimum_wage_of_at_least_sk8900_for2009.html)

In July, after over six months of bargaining, a new collective agreement was reached for the banking sector, which will be effective backdated from 1 January 2008 until 31 December 2010 and covers 9,000 employees. On 16 July, a 99% majority of members of the Cyprus Union of Bank Employees (ETYK) voted in favour of the agreement. It provides for a total increase of 6% in basic pay as it stood on 31 December 2007, to be paid in three equal installments per year, with a minimum total increase in basic monthly pay of Euro 90. In ETYK's view, the increase will notably improve the situation of low-paid employees.
(English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2008/07/articles/cy0807049i.htm)

After one week of strike action across the country, on 15 July Kommunal, the large local authority workers' union affiliated to the LO confederation, and the Bussarbetsgivarna employers' group announced that they had signed a new agreement, ending the bus strike. "We at Kommunal have achieved improvements for bus company employees in all of our priority areas," said Kommunal vice chair H†kan Pettersson at a press conference. The new contract, covering 14,000 of Kommunal's members, starts from 1 June 2008 and includes a 10.4% pay increase over three years, the original demand being a 7.9% rise over 22 months. The agreement also contains improved rest provisions.
(English: http://www.thelocal.se/13066/20080715, via http://www.labourstart.org; Swedish: http://www.kommunal.se/press/Pressmeddelanden/17821)

The VDSZSZ union, one of six railway unions, called for a strike on July 14, demanding a 10% wage increase on top of the 6.9% hike already awarded for 2008, as well as a one-off 250,000 forint (Euro 1,083) payout to each of Hungary's 35,000 railway workers from the privatisation of the company's cargo unit promised in 2005 by former Transport Minister J nos K¢ka. After the strike was suspended, VDSZSZ chairman Istv n Gask¢ said the union insisted on this last demand, as well as on a 10% "outsourcing benefit" at subsidiary companies which they would like to see distributed over three years.
(English: http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/07/13/afx5208955.html; http://www.caboodle.hu/index.php?id=12&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=11&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5295 via http://www.labourstart.org)

Political parties and unions have criticised a proposal by the Small Firms Association (SFA) to cut the minimum wage by Euro 1 per hour. SFA director Patricia Callan called for the cut claiming that Ireland had "lost the plot" in the context of a competitive labour market and had become a "high-cost uncompetitive economy". The business lobby group claims the minimum wage is a contributing factor to the creation of youth unemployment. The largest union, Siptu, said a minimum wage cut was an effort "to punish the poor". Siptu's general president Jack O'Connor disputed the figures of SFA and denied the suggested close link between minimum wages and unemployment.
(English: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0715/breaking2.htm via http://www.labourstart.org)

Trade unions are accusing the government of adopting measures that only benefit the rich, in response to an economic crisis resulting from soaring energy and food prices. Kresimir Sever, president of the NHS Trade Union Confederation, said that reducing the threshold for taxable incomes only meant an extra four Euro's for workers earning the minimum monthly salary (gross Euro 380), but Euro 80 extra for those earning over Euro 4,800. Ana Knezevic, president of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia, used similar arguments. World Bank economist Sanja Madjarevic Susjter told local press, the measures taken were the "simplest to implement but will not be the most efficient in helping the poorest people". According to the national bureau of statistics, 16% of Croatian households are below the poverty line.
(English: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ggqngFBKdFtZB0WvuQyp4jl2_XXg via http://www.labourstart.org)

Security workers in France took strike action in high profile locations on 4 July as part of their national campaign for a new collective agreement. The workers are fighting for improved wages, additional compensation for night and shift work, and job security. Under the current system, up to 20% of employees lose their jobs when the contractor changes. Unions took action in key security hot-spots such as airports in Roissy, Orly, Bordeaux and Marseille, as well as a nuclear power site. Following the success of the strike on 4 July, workers decided to continue on 5 July. The strike was an initiative of the CGT confederation, supported by the other confederations CFDT, FO and CFTC. The unions followed the International Justice Day 2008 theme.
(English: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/unipropertyn.nsf/7f9bc1ab9d900747c1257044004ba821/dd979834a839b8d0c1257481003f7c30?OpenDocument)

A new long-term agreement for the social work sector (the so-called `WSW') has been agreed, covering the period from 1 November 2007 to 1 March 2010. It includes a 3% pay increase from 1 March 2008 and a further 2.5% rise from 1 March 2009. Also agreed are an end-of-year payment in December worth 3% of salary (minimum Euro 540) and a one-off payment of Euro 125 in February 2010.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=263#a3922; Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/cao/bericht/akkoord_voor_sociale_werkvoorziening)