Collective Bargaining

The Finnish cell-phone maker Nokia has agreed on a Euro 200 million compensation package for the 2,300 workers at its Bochum plant who are set to lose their jobs when the plant closes in June 2008 and production will be relocated to Romania. The company originally offered 70 million. Yet, Nokia has flatly rejected a claim by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia for the return of Euro 60 million that the Bochum plant has allegedly received in state subsidies during the 1990s. Mostly due to the company's decision to close the Bochum facilities and the consequent public indignation, the German financial newspaper Euro am Sonntag reported, Nokia lost market share in Germany: in the first quarter of 2008 its share in Europe's biggest market dipped from 41 to 37%.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 4/2008; http://www.yle.fi/news/id89190.html)

Following a failed attempt at mediation, members of the Swedish Association of Health Professionals (SAHP, V†rdf”rbundet) began strike action on 21 April. The union says that current pay levels fail to reflect the years of training and levels of responsibility that nurses have. It is calling for an increase of SKr 1,700 (Euro 181) a month in 2008 and in 2009. This would be worth around 7% each year for nurses on average pay. More workers will get involved in the action if the employers, the municipalities, don't come back to the negotiating table with a better offer.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=257;#a3760;
http://www.vardforbundet.se/templates/VFArticlePage4.aspx?id=395)

The G™D public sector union wants to begin negotiations as soon as possible over reforming the pay structure and employment rights of federal civil servants. The union has made it clear that the two issues go hand-in-hand and it wants to see pay reform include higher pay for new starters. Any reform of employment rights should also retain protection for civil servants' jobs against political interference. The proposals were endorsed by two recent studies for both the unions and the government; on this basis the G™D believes that negotiations can be completed quickly and that there is no need to wait until the autumn when the normal collective bargaining round begins.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=257;#a3760; German: http://www.goed.at/14234.html)

Employees of the two Czech-based CEZ Bulgaria power plants scored a small but significant victory. On April 11, an agreement was signed to end the strike that had started two days earlier between with the company's management and the strike committee formed by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Confederation of Labour `Podkrepa'. Over three-quarters of all employees had joined the strike. According to the agreement, CEZ agreed to increase workers' average wages, back-dated to January 1 2008, by 22.6%. Basic wages would be increased in 2008 by 24.97% and by a 6% wage bonus, reaching 698 leva (Euro 356) per month, and in 2009 with the 2008 inflation rate plus a minimum of 2%points, and a 12% wage bonus.CEZ employees earning less than the company average will receive higher salary increases. Initially, in early March, CEZ management offered a 20% pay rise. Management claimed that the originally envisaged cut of 400 staff would actually cover less than 200 CEZ employees. Individuals who are laid off will receive four to 14 months gross pay.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 4/2008; http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2008/04/articles/bg0804029i.htm)

On 11 April, workers at Renault's Dacia plant in southern Romania returned to work and ended a 19-day strike, after management decided to raise employees' wages by on average 23% in 2008. The Dacia management had initially offered 19%. Dacia is the maker of the Logan model series of cheaper cars developed for emerging markets but which also became a success in western countries. The Logan has played a big part in Renault's bid to boost overall sales in the world and is now made in many countries. The Romanian car workers will receive a pay rise of around 435 lei (Euro 120) a month, on top of their average monthly wage of 1,900 lei (Euro 524). A source close to Renault estimated the total costs of the strike, including lost production, at Euro 50 million. The struggle of the Dacia workers was supported by the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF). The EMF earlier welcomed the Romanian court's ruling that the Dacia strike action was completely legal.
(English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7454748, via http://www.labourstart.org;
http://www.emf-fem.org/press/press_releases/the_struggle_of_dacia_workers_is_the_struggle_of_all_european_workers)

With no progress on pay negotiations, employees of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) took a second day of strike action on 11 April. The PCS trade union has been in a long-running dispute over pay, arguing that coastguard watch assistants have a startingsalary (UKP 12,097 - Euro 15,100) that is little more than the minimum wage. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, commented: "The strength of feeling amongst dedicated coastguard staff is self evident following the strong support for their first strike. The government needs to reassess in policy of capping pay to avoid unnecessary industrial action and start valuing its own workforce with fair and just pay." The MCA is just one of nine UK government agencies and departments that have faced strike action over pay in recent months.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=256#a3737; http://www.pcs.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=918722)

TheÿIrish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has expressed serious concern at new figures which show that the annual rate of inflation increased to 5% inÿMarch. ICTUÿhas said the rising cost of living will have serious implications forÿpay talks. The warning comes as the latest consumer price index from the Central Statistics Office reveal the annual rate of inflation has increasedÿto 5% during March from 4.8% during February. Two months ago Ireland's inflation rate was down to 4.3% and most forecasters predicted it would ease considerably further throughout the year. Since then that food and energy prices have risen globally and a significant knock on effect on consumer prices has been unavoidable. The new figures show that overall the cost of housing electricity and other fuels has risen by 12.3% in a year, while the overall cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages is up by 9.3%.
(English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0410/inflation.html, via http://www.labourstart.org)

The Austrian Metals, textiles and food union (Gewerkschaft Metall-Textil-Nahrung, GMTN) reports the succesful negotiating of a collective agreement for the 22,000 office workers in the construction industry, that runs for one year from 1 May, 2008. Wages will be increased by 3.7% in 2008, and at the end by a further 3.55% from 1 May, 2009. At the same time, the colleagues of the Construction and wood workers' union (Gewerkschaft Bau-Holz, GBH) succeeded to negotiate a wage increase of the same magnitude for 20,000 workers in the wood and sawmill industry. From 1 May 2008, monthly paid wages will rise 3.7%, and all other wages 3.5%. In both industries, a number of improvements for apprentices have been realized. Both agreements lay down increases 0.4-0.6%pts higher than the average pay rise for 2008 agreed thus far in Austria.
(German: http://www.gmtn.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GMT/Page/GMT_Index&n=GMT_0.a&cid=1206108399566; http://www.bau-holz.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GBH/Page/GBH_Index&n=GBH_0)
BELGIUM / LUXEMBOURG

Negotiations last week between Norwegian unions, the NHO employers' organisation and the government ended with apositive result for the trade unions as the government agreed to extra funding to continue to provide early retirement pensions. The official retirement age in Norway is 67, but workers can retire from 62 on a slightly reduced pension. The agreement ensures that workers still have this option as well as being able to continue working. The negotiations also resulted in a 5.6% pay increase covering mainly private sector workers, with higher increases for the lower paid. The collective agreements covered by the negotiations include the private sector nurses and health care agreement.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=256#a3737;
http://www.lo.no/portal/page/portal/LONO/PAG_NOR_DYN/PAG_ENG_ARTIKKEL?p_d_i=-121&p_d_c=&p_d_v=126742&p_d_i=-321&p_d_c=&p_d_v=126742)

The ver.di union is recommending to its members that they accept a new offer from the federal and local government employers. Ver.di's collective bargaining committee voted 64-25 in favour of the employers' latest offer, which is a significant improvement both on earlier offers and on the proposals from the arbitration committee. If backed by the ver.di membership, the deal will mean an increase in 2008 of at least Euro 50 a month plus 3.1%. These figures translate into a 7.11% increase for those on the lowest pay scale. The increase in 2009 will be 2.8% plus a Euro 225 lump sum. There will be a 30-minute increase in weekly working time in some areas in the West of the country while weekly working hours will remain at 40 in the East. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No's 1 and 2).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/spip/cob.php3?id_mot=256#a3737;
German: http://tarif-oed.verdi.de/tarifrunden/oed-tarifrunde_2008/materialien_flugblaetter_2007_2008)