Collective Bargaining

Almost 3 million workers in Britain are to receive a pay rise of more than four times the rate of inflation from April, after the government said it would increase the official minimum wage. In an announcement designed to woo low-paid workers in the immediate aftermath of the Prime Minister election victory earlier this month, the government said the ‘national living wage’ for over-25s would increase from £8.21 (€9.69) an hour to £8.72 (€10.29) from the start of April.

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In the third quarter of 2019, the average monthly gross wage of employees in Latvia increased by 8.3% year-on-year. The pace of remuneration growth remains high and, in the long run, could affect the competitiveness of Latvia’s goods and services, an economist from the Bank of Latvia warned. The data released show that the average monthly gross wage of employees reached €1,091 in the third quarter.

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The minimum wages for both skilled and unskilled workers will rise by 8% in 2020 in line with an agreement reached a year earlier between unions, employers and the government, the Finance Minister announced. The gross monthly minimum wage for skilled labourers will be set at 210,600 forints (€636) and the wage for unskilled labourers at 161,000 forints (€486).

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A new study reveals that Italians are more pessimistic than ever about life’s issues, especially when it comes to their jobs and the economy. According to a survey by global research group Ipsos, they’re pessimistic about quite a lot in fact. They're most worried about work and the economy, as 77% of those surveyed said that was their main concern for 2020.

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After negotiations for a 5% wage rise failed, trade union FNV called a strike as of December 19, 2019 at the distribution centre of Etos Pharmacy in Beverwijk. According to the trade union, wages are now too low to live a decent life. This strike is the first strike in the century old history of the pharmacy chain which is a daughter firm of Ahold Delhaize.

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A three-day strike by workers at Lisbon airport led to the cancellation of several flights. Talks between SINTAC and Vinci Group-owned Portway, which employs workers at Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal airports, broke down in December when the company said it would not unfreeze salaries. Portway said that it was ready to return to the negotiating table.

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The Government has adopted a series of ‘one-size-fits-all’ deals with public service unions covering pay, conditions and reforms across the entire public sector over the past decade. That may change as nurses secured additional pay on top of the current public service pay agreement following strike action and reforms being undertaken.

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A transport stoppage that has caused daily travel problems for millions of people in France surpassed the duration of a 1995 strike whose success unions are hoping to repeat. With no end in sight, train and metro transport was severely disrupted in Paris and on regional lines, as railway workers stayed off the job too. Talks between unions and the government failed to find common ground, and a new day of mass protest has been called for January 9 – two days after negotiations are set to resume.

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Turkey will raise the minimum wage by 15% in 2020, for a monthly net minimum wage of TL 2,325 (€350), the country’s Labour, Social Services and Family Minister announced. The announcement was made after the fourth meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission in Ankara that was broadcast live on television and said the raise was 3 percentage points higher than year-end inflation expectation for 2019.

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Philip Morris’ strategy to increase activities leading to more smokeless tobacco products will probably materialize in cutting 350 jobs in Neuchâtel and Lausanne. This prospect was published by a regional office of the Unia trade union after reading an internal email of Philip Morris. The job cuts will mainly affect the research and development unit.

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