Collective Bargaining

The trade union Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs concluded a company agreement with the fashion chain H & M. The deal involves more than 5,000 workers, working at over 150 H & M, Cos e & Other stories spread over 17 regions. The unions see this as a result of the offers the workers delivered to the consolidation of the fast fashion business model, after the collective redundancy procedure initiated at national level in May 2017 and the closure of some stores.

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According to the Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion ESDE Quarterly Review, the EU's economy continued its expansion in the first half of 2018, yet slightly less dynamically than in 2017. Since the beginning of 2018, the pace of economic growth has moderated, and most recent survey indicators point to lower sentiment and higher uncertainty. Section 5 informs about the growth of real gross disposable household. In the first quarter of 2018 this growth reached 2.4 %, according to latest available estimates. In the following section (6) data on labour productivity and labour costs are provided. Nominal compensation per employee has been growing at a moderate from the first quarter of 2017.

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Housekeepers and valets at the Hotel Be Live Experience in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) ended their ongoing industrial action on 6 September with a vote in favour of a pre-agreement that establishes a negotiated framework for reducing the intolerable workload on housekeepers, guarantees more hours to valets and establishes more permanent positions. The pre-agreement is to take effect immediately, failing which the strike committee is empowered to resume industrial action.

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Some 20.000 people participated in a protest supporting gender wage equality. Although gender equality is part of the country’s constitution, women on average still earn 20% less than their male colleagues. Organisers of the protest warned that women are prepared to go on strike if parliamentarians do not fix the pay gap. The protest was organised while parliament was debating an amendment aimed at imposing more oversight over wage distribution at large companies.

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A governmental report from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy provides an overview of minimum wage enforcement activity by HM Revenue and Customs during 2017/18, following a similar report in 2017 covering activity during 2016/17. In 2017/18, HMRC identified a record £15.6 million of minimum wage arrears for more than 200,000 workers (double the number workers identified in 2016/17). It is the highest number since the National Minimum Wage came into force in 1999. The report also sets a new record for penalties, with £14 million in fines issued by the government to employers. More than 600 employers who were found to underpay their workers the minimum wage were named in 2017-18. This is the largest number in any single year since the start of the HMRC’s programme in 2014.

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Uber workers demand a minimum of £5 per delivery. Because the minimum per-delivery rate has been reduced from £4.26 to £3.50 workers resorted to wildcat strike actions. While chanting ‘No money and no food’ motorcyclists blocked the roads outside the Uber headquarter in London for two days. The company said to its couriers that the new fare structure would lead to higher rates ‘at the busiest times and in the busiest places’. However, it would lead to lower pay outside of typical meal times or in quieter areas.

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Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Warsaw demanding higher wages, higher minimum wage and better pensions in the public sector. The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) organised the protest stating that while the economy is booming wages are so low that many people struggle to make ends meet. The country has seen rapid economic growth but most of the 700000 people employed in the public sector received no pay raises since 2010. Trade union Solidarność called for a 12% pay rise in public sector wages to compensate inflation.

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In an interesting report with background facts, the statistical offices SCB presents new statistics on intragenerational income mobility. The report has sections on mobility in equivalised disposable income, income distribution, inequality and the risk of poverty. The core of the study details the effect of income mobility on income inequality and includes graphs with data on the upward and downward mobility by gender, age, country of birth and level of education.

The report: in English …

The statistical office ISTAT published 2017 data on households’ income. The national agency said that, while disposable gross income increased 1.6% in nominal terms, this translated into an increase of just 0.5% in terms of purchase power - down from 1.2% in 2016 and 1.3% in 2015. Consumer spending increased by 2.6%, causing a drop of 0.9 of a point of the propensity to save to 7.7%. In a summary of the 2018 report, with data on 2017, it is noted that income inequality and absolute poverty have increased. The latter, according to preliminary estimates in 2017, affects 6.9% of households and 8.3% of residents (from 6.3% and 7.9% in 2016, respectively), almost 1.8 million households and 5 million individuals in absolute terms.

Read on: in English … The annual report summary: in English …

Trade union confederation SGB/USS published a blog that criticises the business model of on-line retailers. Especially foreign retailers that do not respect the ordinary arrangements of the domestic supply and logistic put pressure on the wage and working conditions of the involved workers. The statutory minimum wage that has been suggested by the regulator (PostCom) is too low and creates a situation of legalised dumping.

The blog: in German …