2010 March epsucob@NEWS 05
Collective bargaining committee backs deal worth 3.5%
Workers in federal and local government will be asked to vote on a new collective agreement that was accepted by ver.di’s collective bargaining committee. Ver.di says that overall the deal is worth 3.5%. There is a 1.2% pay increase backdated to 1 January 2010 and then there will be two increases in 2011 – 0.6% on 1 January and 0.5% on 1 August. There will also be a €240 lump sum paid on 1 January 2011. The union’s assessment is that this is a reasonable agreement bearing in mind the difficult economic and financial situation. The agreement also includes provisions for apprentices to be taken
Unions call national strike for 4 March
Public sector unions have called a national strike for 4 March in protest at the government’s plans to freeze public sector pay until 2013. The SINTAP union points out that workers have already lost 6%-7% of purchasing power in recent years as a result of pay increases falling behind inflation. The STAL union says that the 50,000-strong demonstration on 5 February showed the level of anger among public sector workers and is convinced of a high turnout on the day. [Read more at > SINTAP (PT)->http://www.sintap.pt/] [And at > STAL (PT)->http://www.stal.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view
Unions plan action for 23 March
Public service federations are planning to take action on 23 March in protest at a range of government policies that threaten to undermine the public services and the pay and conditions of public services workers and reduce pension entitlement. The CGT, FSU, CFDT, UNSA and Solidaires unions and federations have issued a call for strike action on the day with a list of key concerns covering employment conditions, job cuts, threatened increases to the pension age and cuts in public finances. The FO is focussing specifically on the threat to pensions and the need to resist any increase in pension
Federation reports on negotiations for managers
The CISL public service federations has published the latest issue of its bilingual collective bargaining newsletter that reports on developments covering chief officers across the public sector. Negotiations covering chief officers in the ministries, regional and local administrations, non-economic public bodies and tax agencies, and non-medical managers of the national health system are all set to take place with the initial agreement in the ministries setting the main standard. Here the pay increases were in line with other public sector deals: 4.85% in 2006-2007 and 3.2% in 2008-2009. In
Municipal and provincial disputes rumble on
Unions continue to try to win real pay increases for their members working for municipal and provincial government through a campaign that has seen a series of short stoppages organised at different authorities around the country. Recently it was the turn of provincial government workers in Drenthe, local government workers in Purmerend and both local and provincial government workers in Maastricht. [Read more at > FNV-Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/Helft-ambtenaren-Purmerend-voert-actie] [And at > FNV-Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws
Unions angered by pay freeze
The three unions representing 150,000 local government workers in Scotland (UNISON, GMB and Unite) have reacted angrily to the employers’ rejection of their 3% pay claim and the proposal to freeze pay in 2010-2011. This follows the approach of the employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who have also demanded a pay freeze for the 1.5 million workers covered in the other main local government agreement. Read more at > UNISON (EN)
Union calls for higher minimum wages in collective agreements
The GPA-DJP trade union that organises in the private health and energy sectors has called on unions to negotiate higher minimum wages. Austrian unions have managed to ensure that no collective agreement has a minimum rate less than €1000 a month but the GPA-DJP argues that this is inadequate and that it is only just above the EU’s poverty wage threshold of €900 a month. The union wants to see all collective agreements with minimum wages of at least €1300 a month. [Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)->http://www.gpa-djp.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA_0.a&cid=1266586457878]
Union hails success of adult training initiative
The FOA public services union has welcomed the significant increase in the number of adult trainees in the field of health and social care. Between November 2007 and November 2009 there was more than a threefold increase in the number of over-25s taking advantage of a special adult learners’ wage to train in health and social care. As of November 2009 the 6504 employees made up 55% of all health and social care trainees. The special wage rate was negotiated as part of the municipal collective agreement. The union is now arguing that the requirement of one year’s relevant employment should be
Thousands support pensions protests
The trade union organised protests against an increase in the pension age to 67 attracted thousands of supporters on 23 February. The CCOO and UGT confederations called on the government to negotiate alternatives to the proposed increase, arguing that the financing of the system was not under as much pressure as the government claimed. Over 70,000 joined the demonstration in Madrid but there were also major protests in Barcelona, Valencia and Oviedo and further demonstrations were planned for the other regional capitals around the country. [Read more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)->http://www.fsc.ccoo.es
Swedish union backs ver.di over Vattenfall protests
The German subsidiary of the Swedish state-owned power company Vattenfall is claiming that is has to make savings of €180 million. Energy union ver.di organised a protest march on 3 March against the company’s plans that could lead to 1500 job cuts. The company also wants to outsource some of its services with the prospect that workers will be covered by poorer collective agreements with the risk that some will lose €8000-€10000 a year in income. Swedish energy union SEKO has expressed its support for the German colleagues and has criticised Vattenfall’s plans when it made €1.8 billion in
Union welcomes progress for childcare workers
The SETCA/BBTK service union has welcomed the agreement in principle to establish a new statute covering the pay and employment conditions of around 10,000 childcare workers. The union believes that it is important that the importance and professionalism of this overwhelmingly female workforce is recognised and properly regulated. However, the union is concerned about commitments from the federal government to ensure that funding is available to pay for the improved employment conditions and was angry that an initial suggestion was that the statutes covering childcare workers should be based
Civil servants' union votes to strike over compensation scheme
Members of the PCS civil service union have voted with a 63.4% majority for strike action over government changes to the redundancy compensation scheme. A 48-hour strike on 8-9 March could be followed by further action. The union says that the changes to the scheme could mean some civil servants losing up to a third of the potential compensation they would have received under the current scheme if they lose their job. PCS is the biggest union in the civil service. Other civil services have decided to accept changes to the scheme following negotiations over the original proposals. [Read more at
Union calls for four-hour strike over government finances
The CGIL trade union confederation is calling on all its public and private sector members to support a four-hour strike on 12 March to protest at the way the government has responded to the economic crisis. The confederation notes the rise in unemployment and the dismissal of precarious workers in the education and central government sector. CGIL wants to see lower tax thresholds for workers and more effort put into dealing with tax avoidance and evasion. It is also calling for the regularisation of migrant workers’ status. [Read more at > CGIL (IT)->http://www.cgil.it/DettaglioDocumento.aspx
Pay protection for public sector confirmed
The government has confirmed that it will honour its commitment not to maintain the purchasing power of public sector pay over the next three years 2010-2012. The unions had expressed concern that the government budget submitted to Brussels included cuts of 4%. While real pay will be maintained the government will be making savings by replacing only one in 10 of those who leave their jobs. Read more at > FSP-UGT (ES)
Negotiations begin in care and nursing home sector
The FNV-Abvakabo public services union has begun negotiations covering 460,000 workers in the care and nursing home sector. The union is looking for a 1.5% increase plus improvements to work-life balance. Abavakabo believes working time is a key issue for care sector employees and who want hours to better suit their personal circumstances and an end to any zero-hours contracts. The union demands were formulated following a survey of members at the end of last year. The previous collective agreement expired on 28 February. [Read more at > FNV-Abvakabo (NL)->http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws
Court ruling disappoints union
Ver.di has expressed its disappointment that the labour court in Bielefeld has ruled that the special status of church organisations means that their employees do not have the right to strike. The church employers took the issue to court following strike action by ver.di members last year that put pressure on church organisations to accept a new collective agreement. The union hopes that Germany’s main constitutional court will take a different approach and rule that the special status of church employment does not undermine workers’ right to strike. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse