Collective Bargaining

Courier service Herms has agreed upon a deal with trade union GMB that will give their approximately 15000 couriers the choice of being ‘self-employed plus’. Herms used to consider their couriers as self-employed which means that they were not entitled to the rights a normal workers has. A ruling from the employment tribunal last year however stated that Hermes drivers should be considered ‘workers’ and not self-employed. Union and Hermes have negotiated a middle way solution that is unique in the landscape of the gig-economy. Couriers can now chose to be self-employed plus. If they do so they are entitled to the national minimum wage (if over 25 the national living wage applies, working time rights which include breaks, paid holiday and a limit to weekly working hours, the right to join a union, health and safety protection, protection from unlawful discrimination and data protection rights. Couriers working under the self-employed plus conditions do have to give up a large part of their autonomy as they no longer can decide upon their own daily scheme but must follow a specific route as decided by the company.

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Airline Air Nostrum and pilot union SEPLA have reached an agreement. This means a two times three-day strike with one of them planned to happen during the Easter holidays is now called off. The union and Air Nostrum's disagreed on the outsourcing of contracts to third parties. The agreement with Air Nostrum does however not mean that there will be no industrial action at the airports. Ground staff at Spanish airports have confirmed they will go on strike between April 21-24 over a failure to reach an agreement on their wages and working conditions.

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Union members of Unite voted in favour of industrial action at Glasgow airport with an overwhelmingly majority of 95% in support as negotiations over the airport’s plan to close the defined benefits pension scheme and a pay rise proved unfruitful. Whilst the airport made more than 74 million pounds in profit last year it only offered its employees a pay rise of 1.8% which effectively means a real terms pay cut. Under the threat of strike actions negotiations reopened with a new offer of 3% pay rise now on the table. In a joint statement both parties declared that strike actions are suspended for now. A deal on the pension scheme is however still not in sight.

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The trade union network for Hyundai and Kia met in Ostrava with participants from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, India, Korea, Brazil and Turkey. A common theme of the meeting was poor relations with the company. Hyundai tried to thwart the meeting. The auto director for the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), explained the company’s hostility from the oppositional labour relations in Korea. The Indian delegation from Hyundai was prevented to travel but participated through a video call. The meeting resolved to seek a global framework agreement (GFA) with the companies as a way to build the network and improve conditions across the company’s operations.

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In September 2016 a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) was signed between IndustriALL and the German retailer, Tchibo. The parties met in Hamburg to review the work of the last two years and to develop plans for 2019 and 2020. Participants from India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Turkey and Myanmar attended the two-day workshop. GFAs are negotiated at the global level between trade unions and companies. They establish the best possible standards on trade union rights, on health and safety, and on the labour relations principles adhered to by the company in its global operations, regardless of the standards existing in a particular country.

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Couriers and delivery workers across the country are staging rallies and a 24-hour job walkout on demanding employers to provide a corporate motorcycle, money for fuel and motorcycle maintenance and protective helmet and clothing, recognition for hazardous work, and a unified work description. The also demand a collective agreement. According to their union the couriers and delivery workers are constant danger as their workplace is the road and they believe their employers to have to take responsibility to keep them save.

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According to figures from the annual Norwegian Work Research Institute’s 2019 barometer the gender pay gap among full-time employees in the country remains at 20%. After adjusting for age, education, sector and several other factors, there is still a 13 % gender difference. The barometer also measures the difference between how much influence the responders felt they had over their own work situation. While 47 % of the men said they had a lot of influence only 42 % of the women said the same. Asked whether they felt they could control how their organised their own work, the difference was considerably larger. While 63 % of the men put themselves on 4 to 5 on a scale to five, where 1 was no influence at all and 5 was a lot of influence, only 45% of the women respondents did the same.

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The union federation ÖGB (Austrian Trade Union Federation) will aim at negotiating the four day working week in upcoming collective agreements. In Trade and Construction it is already allowed to work four days a week if normal business is not hindered. The government also made it possible that employees work 4 days a week or 12 hours a day, on a voluntary basis. It is clear that workers are more satisfied and more productive if they are allowed to work on these terms. At the eMagnetrix company it proved a success to combine the 30 hour working week with equal pay.

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Federation of Transport Trade Unions in Bulgaria (FTTUB) and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) managed to negotiate the biggest ever pay rise, ranging between 25 and 28%, for bus and tram drivers at the Sofia Electric Transport and Sofia Bus Transport company. Earlier on it seemed that they would get a 10% wage hike (see our March newsletter). The FFTUB is still negotiating with the municipality on legislation to criminalize aggression towards public transport workers and strategies to make public transport more attractive to passengers and workers.

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Since the country introduced nine months parental leave with three months earmarked for fathers mothers have returned to work earlier and fathers’ participation in childcare has increased. The countries’ new parental leave legislation came into effect in the 9000 with 9 months of leave to be divided between the parents. 3 months are earmarked the mother, 3 months are earmarked for the father and the remaining 3 months can be shared to choice between them. Because of this legislation all father have to take on caring tasks for their new-borns whilst if the parental leave for fathers wasn’t compulsory a part of them would not apply for it. According to research fathers often end up simply assisting the mother in caring tasks if they never get to be alone with the baby from the start. Icelandic daddies now enjoy the strongest position as fathers in the world.

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