Collective Bargaining

According to trade union FNV that bases itself on reports from the labour inspectorate, more than a hundred temporary workers are underpaid because PostNL uses sham constructions. The trade union filed a lawsuit against the postal service company. Temporary employees do not receive the wages agreed in the PostNL collective labour agreement, but minimum wages without pension accrual which according to the union is against the law. The false constructions, also known as 'contracting', take place according to FNV in at least sixteen of the 22 PostNL depots. The lawsuit comes amidst wider industrial unrest at the postal service. Earlier this month PostNL filed a lawsuit against trade union FNV to prevent a strike that was called out because negotiations on a new collective agreement remained deadlocked.

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Some 300 security staff at Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas airport walked out on 21 December 2018 in a strike action in an ongoing dispute over bonus payments, as well as insufficient clothing to keep them warm in the cold. According to their union Alternativa Sindical, security company Eulen, which runs the service, has not paid the workers a bonus that they promised to pay during earlier negotiations. The strike committee says negotiations have failed to reach an agreement and is accusing Eulen management of 'contempt' for the working conditions of its staff in Barajas, alleging the company 'persists in its breaches' in wages and labour. The strike is said to continue until in the next year.

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Workers at Mayr-Melnhof carton board plants had been on strike since June 2018 when they rejected an offer for a new collective agreement that did not include any pay rise or even the adjustment of wages to inflation. After months of industrial action, management and the union finally agreed upon a new collective agreement that will be valid for three years. The new agreement includes a wage increase of 280 Turkish Lira a month in 2018, 300 Turkish Lira in the first half of 2019 and an inflation correction for the second half of 2019 and 20202.

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Game developer Eugen Systems recently fired six workers involved in an ongoing dispute over wages and overtime. The six employees represented nearly a quarter of the 21 people working at Eugen, according to a press release from the independent union Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo. Many of them went on strike earlier this year after claiming Eugen was paying them less than the mandated minimums set in their contracts. It lasted over a month and a half before negotiations stalled. The STJV and about 15 employees are now bringing a case before a tribunal in March 2019. While the union states that the six workers were fired as an act of retaliation because of the strike action all six fired workers participated in Eugen systems claims that the firing of the six workers is not related to their partaking in industrial action.

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After a two-hour work stoppage earlier this month, port workers went on a 24-hour strike to protest the long delay in reaching an agreement with their employers over renewal of their collective agreement that expired 31 December 2017. Furthermore, unions claim that port managers misinterpret salary provisions as they were agreed in the current collective agreement and also fail to hire workers in line with the current collective agreement. The 24-hour strike was called out by workers in response to a decision of the dispute resolution council that declared that the announced strike would be illegal. Union Peo supported the 24-hour strike while the Sek union asked its workers to not participate in the industrial action as it was declared illegal by the council. However, their members also participated in the strike.

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Ryanair is still not respecting union rights and labour laws of the countries they operate in. This month Ryanair has sacked all pilots and cabin crew in the Netherlands after they refused to re-locate to bases such as Morocco and Belarus and organised themselves in trade union FNV. The Dutch governmental institution on unemployment benefits however did not grant them permission for the collective firing of the workers. Spanish cabin crew staff is in the middle of disagreement about pay and working conditions and announced multiple strike actions for January 2019. Spanish unions are urging Ryanair to respect Spanish legislation and employ their workers in Spain under national labour laws. A year after Ryanair announced it would recognise unions, the company still has a long way to go before it can be considered a fair employer, states the International Transport Workers Association (ITF). The ITF and European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) have published a report examining the progress the airline has made and what remains to be done. The report acknowledges that Ryanair workers have won improvements in some areas, but shows that many of the issues which led to repeated industrial action over the summer have not been resolved.

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The Independent Union of Airline Passenger Cabin Crew (Sitcpla) and the Workers' Trade Union (USO) have given an ultimatum to airline Ryanair. If no agreement is reached, the unions threaten with 3-days of strike action in January 2019. The unions demand better working conditions and want Ryanair to employ their Spanish-based staff under local labour contracts instead of the Irish contracts that Ryanair uses. Spain is Ryanair's third biggest market. The airline has 13 of its 89 bases in the country.

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More than 7000 health service staff will be balloted for strike action in the new year over a 17 million euro wage dispute. Trade union Siptu said the decision stems from a government refusal to pay an increase in wages. According to the union the government has failed to give pay rises to workers such as surgical instrument technicians and lab staff in line with recommendations from independent job evaluations. The union said that some are underpaid by up to 6000 euro a year. Earlier this month, the vast majority of nurses and midwives with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association voted to go on strike in a dispute over pay and staff shortages.

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The minimum retirement age will this year be raised by 3 months. With implementation of the increase that was approved by parliament in 2017 the new minimum retirement age will be 63 years and 6 months. Further increases in the minimum pension age are to be expected in the near future as the population is ageing. The retirement age has been steadily going up, a decade ago the minimum retirement age was just under 60 years.

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After years of austerity and wage cuts the country is expected to see an increase of the national minimum wage. The cabinet still has to formally decide upon the wage increase and the precise number on 15 January 2019 but experts believe that the minimum wage will be increased with 5% to 8%. The new minimum wage will also apply to young workers and they will see the highest rise in income as currently they are paid only a sub-minimum wage especially designed for workers up to 25 years of age. An estimated 400,000 workers receive the minimum salary every month. Besides them and many flexible workers also the unemployed will benefit from an increased minimum wage as benefits are based on the minimum wage level.

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