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Collective bargaining in the energy sector in Central and West Europe

This initiative was launched as part of a wider collective bargaining and social dialogue project in 2008. EPSU affiliates in the energy sector from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were invited to take part in a workshop in January 2008 to exchange information and discuss commons issues. The countries were chosen because of the extent to which energy multinationals like EON, RWE and EDF are becoming major players in these countries along with the development of a more integrated energy market.

A number of important themes were identified including employer threats to end sector-level bargaining, the impact of new developments such as renewable energy and also the spread of low pay in what has traditionally been a high-paying sector. The participants agreed that it would be worthwhile to continue to meet to discuss some of these issues in more depth.

A second meeting in October (not covered by the project) concentrated on pay negotiations and salary structures. In particular the meeting recognised that an important element of the growing problem of low pay in the sector was related to outsourcing and the extent to which many workers are now employed by companies that are not covered by energy sector collective agreements.

Further meetings of the group took place on 27 January and 24-25 March 2009 organised with the support of the ETUI education institute. The meetings discussed pay rates in the energy sector, training, the use of fixed-term and agency workers and the trends in profits and dividend payments in comparison to changes in wages and salaries.

The participating unions agreed in principle to main their network on the basis that costs of organising meetings and interpretation will be shared between EPSU and the affiliates involved. The latest meeting took place on 6 October and continues the discussions on pay rates, the scope of sectoral collective agreements, the impact of smart meters and collective bargaining guidelines adopted by ver.di’s energy sector negotiating committee.


Energy unions debate pay, collective agreements and the impact of smart meters

(7 October 2009) EPSU affiliates from the energy sector in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands met in Brussels yesterday to discuss common issues of concern in collective bargaining.
They heard about the French unions’ struggles over the summer to secure an improvement on a 0.3% pay offer and the current refusal of the employers to get involved in any real social dialogue. The news from the Netherlands was more positive with a short-term (10-month) agreement (...)

How to improve coordination of collective bargaining in (Central West) Europe in the energy sector 24-25 March 2009 (Brussels)

27 January 2009: Improving the co-ordination of collective bargaining in the energy sector in Central and West Europe

ITUH, Brussels, 27 January 2009
Introduction
Jean Claude le Duaron introduced the meeting, emphasising the need for comparable information as basis of any potential co-ordination. Jan Willem Goudriaan provided some background on why EPSU affiliates from the six countries were working together, explaining that the development of the internal market and increasing internationalisation of companies had suggested that there were many common pressures facing energy unions in these countries. (...)

22 October 2008: Notes from EPSU Energy Sector Working Group Meeting

Jan Willem Goudriaan introduced the meeting explaining the background to the initial meeting in Brussels in January and the agreement that the follow up meeting should look at minimum wages and low pay, outsourcing and training.
Richard Pond introduced the first session on pay bargaining trends outlining the overall intersectoral figures for the six countries and then looking at some specific data on the energy sector. The participants provided additional information;
Germany
Relatively (...)

30 January 2008: Social Dialogue and Collective Bargaining - Energy sector Austria, Benelux, France, Germany

EPSU Seminar, 30 January 2008
Summary of Follow up Actions
The group decided to send a solidarity letter to Verdi. Verdi is involved in collective bargaining with Vattenfall and was organising a “warn-streik” Friday 1 February 2008. This solidarity letter is now available on the EPSU website.
Issues
Companies leaving the employers federation (Tarifflucht) With more companies operating across borders, some companies seek to explore the boundries of what is possible, even though they would (...)

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