Collective Bargaining

Swedish furniture giant Ikea fired a local worker critical of the company's LGBT policy. The worker used quotes from the Bible to voice his comments on an internal company forum. The conservative justice minister ordered an investigation of the case because he found the dismissal a violation of “the freedom of conscience and religion”. Other politicians suggested a boycott of the Swedish furniture retailer. The debate comes at a moment that the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has condemned the distribution of ‘LGBT free zone’ stickers by the newspaper Gazeta Polska. The ETUC is afraid that this kind of action will create unnecessary divisions and conflicts in workplaces and in society, as demonstrated by recent violence against members of the LGBT community. It might tempt people to break the law by discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation, which is against EU and Polish law, so the union confederation states.

Read on: in English … in English (2) … ETUC statements from 2017 and 2019: in English …  and here: in English (2) …

An announced strike at the mobile offshore units was called off after trade union Industri Energi and the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association agreed on a mediation result that gives employees on the mobile offshore units a solid increase in salary, starting 1 June 2019. The result ensures employees encompassed by the Collective Agreement for the mobile offshore units a general increase in wages, holiday allowance included, of 3.6%, at a minimum of NOK 24,679. For the group individually remunerated in the respective companies, a wage supplement is given within a limit of 3.6% on average, however, so that each person individually paid shall be guaranteed a wage increase of 2.6%.

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The central bank's (BCL) consumer confidence indicator has gone up in May. But the factors making up the indicator have evolved differently. Households' expectations about their financial situation and their perceptions have increased while their expectations about the general economic situation have receded slightly. Their intended spending on major purchases has remained static. The consumer confidence is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the sum of all four components.

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Reception and security staff at the Louvre in Paris went on a one-day strike that forced the museum to close its doors. The staff were on strike to protest working conditions at the museum that due to its ever growing popularity have deteriorated. Last year alone the Louvre attracted a record of more than 10 million visitors. Union officials state that while the public has increased by more than 20% since 2009 the palace has not grown, making working conditions very harsh. Amongst the problems that arise from an overcrowded museum are aggressive and impatient public, jostling crowds and inadequate emergency evacuation measures.

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The three main trade union federations organized a public transport strike. Almost the entire network of trains, trams, busses and subway was down for one day. Following a judicial verdict trains ran every 15 minutes between Amsterdam Central and national airport Schiphol. These were the only trains running. Around 35,000 people participated while another 30,000 from construction and metal works struck and demonstrated on May 29, 2019. The goal is a freeze of retirement age at 66. This strike originally took place on March 18, 2019 but was interrupted by the attack in Utrecht (see Newsletter April 2019).

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With a collective agreement that has been frozen since 2011 and after more than a year of negotiations, metalworkers of the Bizkaia region decided to call out a five day strike. The strike started with a mass demonstration in Bilbao in which 10,000 workers participated. The four other days that strike actions are planned are 6, 7, 20 and 21 June 2019. According to the unions the employers proposals are unacceptable. Because salaries have been frozen for years and the sector has undergone a serious precarization the unions believe the metalworkers deserve a fair pay rise.

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Under heavy pressure from the government in 2016 trade unions agreed upon a pact in the public sector that added 24 hours onto annual working time and cut holiday by 30 per cent for three years. With collective bargaining over a new agreement starting this autumn it looks like unions want to renew agreements only if the extended working hours are removed which means that the whole agreement that covers more than 100,000 employees must now be re-negotiated. According to the unions “the time of voluntary unpaid work is completely over”.

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The European Social Policy Network (ESPN) produced a new Synthesis Report that puts forward several recommendations and calls for more effective policy action at European and national levels to tackle in-work poverty. Preventing in-work poverty is seen by policymakers and stakeholders alike as part of the overall goal to reduce poverty in the EU. However, while working is generally considered as the best way to avoid poverty, this is not the case for a significant number of European workers. In 2017, 9.4% of all EU-28 workers lived in households that are at risk of poverty. In certain categories of the population (mostly young, low educated, non-standard workers, poor households with children including lone parents, workers and households with low work intensity) in-work poverty is much higher and has in some cases been increasing significantly in recent years.

Read on: in English … The report: in English …

Payments of up to 100000 pounds are being offered to Glasgow city council workers in a long-running equal pay row. Settlement letters are being sent to thousands of current and former Glasgow City Council workers after the local authority agreed to pay out at least £500 million earlier this year, more than a decade on from the dispute arising (see our February 2019 newsletter).The claimant group reached a deal with the council months after around 8,000 Glasgow council workers walked out on strike for 48 hours in October in a bid to settle the pay claim. According to GMB union settlements that are now being offered average out to around 22000 pounds while some are up to 100000 pounds.

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Workers of FIAT Chrysler Serbia (FCA) factory in Kragujevac got worried when they learnt from some media that the company management would ask ministry to consent to additional 95 days (besides the legally allowed 45) of paid leave. The trade union was not informed of this on forehand and states that workers are anxious because they have no clear knowledge of the factory’s future. Since the beginning of this year 30 non-working days have been used.

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