Collective Bargaining

A new report from the Low Pay Commission, that made use of the most up to date statistical evidence on the extent of non-compliance with the hourly minimum wage, found that the number of people paid less than the statutory minimum wage in the UK increased in 2018. Almost a quarter of those paid less than the National Living Wage were workers 25 and over. Women are more likely than men to be paid less than the minimum wage. Underpayment is also higher for the youngest and oldest workers. Childcare is the occupation with the highest proportion of underpaid workers.

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Teachers in the country are fighting for higher wages. Trade union want the ministry to increase hourly tariff of teacher’s wage and ensure that teacher wages rise at least 20% every year. Furthermore they want the number of schoolchildren in classrooms to be reduced to alleviate work pressure. In 2018 government introduced new tenure-based pay system for teachers, replacing the old system when teachers were paid for the number of classes. But in the wake of the nearly national teacher strike at the end of last year the new system was subjected to a profound overhaul. The government has stated that next year it intends to raise wages around 10-15% for teachers, lecturers, science, culture and social workers.

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A teachers’ strike that was planned to take place on 17 May 2019 was cancelled as government and trade union representing the teachers reached a deal. One of the main disputes was the salary of the teachers that have fallen drastically in recent years and are amongst the lowest in Europe. In the new agreement the government has stated that it is committed to finding additional financial resources to be specifically allocated to school staff on the occasion of the 2020 budget law and will offer reasonable increases in salaries to the teachers.

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New research describes the earnings differences associated with employment sequences among temporary workers in the country. The authors find that the type of employment sequence varies with differences in earnings relative to predominantly constant temporary employment. In particular, workers who go from temporary work to permanent work exhibit gains. Workers transitioning from permanent work to temporary work also increase their earnings.

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The Trade Union of Education and Science Employees sent a letter to the Education and Science Ministry in demand of higher wages that were promised to them earlier. The teachers and government are in ongoing pay dispute (see our earlier 2019 newsletter) On 17 April 2019 the trade union declared that if demands are not met, an indefinite strike will be organised from 2 September 2019 onwards. Active discussions were held during the meeting of the trade union’s council where the strike actions were decided upon. According to government officials it is necessary to implement several important reforms in the educational system to improve the quality of education in the country before teacher’s wages can be increased. Teachers in all regions said they are prepared for reforms, but they stressed that reforms should be rational.

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After the August and September 2018 strikes by pilots at Eindhoven airport the company decided to close its affiliation in Eindhoven and offer the pilots a contract from another airport. The pilots originally struck because of too much flexibility in the working scheme and demanded the company to stop operating according to Irish law. This fight was part of a European struggle. Since the strikes several court cases were all won by the pilots. The last was when the judge decided that the pilots’ contracts will be terminated on May 1, 2019 while they will be compensated from 380,000 to 480,000.

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After 6 weeks of struggle the more than 420 workers at the Electrolux plant in Satu Mare are still striking for a pay increase of 3 euro a day (see our March newsletter). Management announced on April 17 2019 that the trade union rejected their second proposal for ending the strike. According to the union management is still refusing to change its position and negotiate on wages allowing for a decent life for the workers and their families offer only an increase of 1 euro a day. A caravan of workers from the Electrolux plant now started a 600-km march towards the Swedish Embassy in Bucharest to protest the way the Swedish multinational has been treating its employees.

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The situation for workers at Uljanik that still didn’t receive their wages is getting harder by the day. Many workers of the shipbuilding company have been working without pay for eight months now and organised several strikes in demand of their wages (see our February 2019 newsletter). The trade union urges the government that is co-owner of the shipyard, to take accountability and come forward with a solution. It is still not clear if Uljanik will go bankrupt or will be saved. Economy Minister Darko Horvat said that executives of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation would visit Uljanik Group explore possibilities for cooperation and that after that they would hold meetings with the Croatia side.

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After a nationwide strike by more than 150,000 public sector workers the unions and public sector employers agreed to raise wages for about 2.3 million workers by 7.5% over two and a half years (yearly average 3%). The agreement will retroactively increase wages by 3.19% by March 1, 2019. The next increase of 3.09% will kick in on April 1, 2019, followed by a final raise of 1.06% on March 1, 2020. Low-paid workers will also receive a one-time payment of 250 euro, and public sector pay scales will be made more transparent. The strikes that forced employers to give in caused hundreds of flight cancellations and disruptions to public services.

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Spanish trade unions CCOO, UGT and CIT called a 24-hours strike of port workers because of a standstill of the collective labour agreement talks. According to the unions over the last 9 years workers have seen a wage cut close to 30%. The strike was called off the 24-hour strike was eventually called off as the president of Ports of the State committed to a definitive solution for a new collective agreement.

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