Collective Bargaining

The upcoming collective bargaining round in the public service could become tough with trade unions Verdi, the German Civil Servants Union (dbb), the Union of Education and Science (GEW) and the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP) demanding a 6% wage increase or at least 200 euro gross a month more for workers in the civil service of the federal states. In total, there are 2.3 million employees in civil service of the federal states who would benefit from the wage hike. The new pay collective agreement should have a term of twelve months. The collective bargaining round starts on 21 January 2019.

Read on: in German …

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) says that unions in the private sector would be justified in seeking baseline pay rises of at least 3.4 per cent in 2019. In addition, where sector specific or enterprise specific performance is above the average for the economy, unions should take this into account when formulating wage claims. According to an ICTU report conditions are improving in the private sector with weekly earnings up 3,6%.

Read on: in English …

In September 2018 construction workers at Istanbul airport went on strike because they did not receive their wages and to protest unsafe working conditions due to which some workers had died. In response to the industrial action, hundreds of workers were accused of violating the law on meetings and demonstrations and were arrested (see our September and October newsletter). While the labour ministry claimed that 27 workers had died on the site, official data disclosed by Turkey’s Presidential Communications Centre (CİMER) show that the real figure is much higher. 52 workers have died while building the new Istanbul airport. After having been imprisoned for more than two months, on 5 December 2018 at the first hearing of their trial, the imprisoned workers were finally released.

Read on: in English … Read on: in English (2) …

After 20 rounds of negotiations and an intense labour dispute, unions and employers organisations reached a deal over a new collective agreement for construction workers. In the new agreement the pension age of 60 years is secured and construction workers will get a wage increase of 80 francs per month in both 2019 and 2020. The agreement was not easily reached. Employers wanted to move the minimum pension age to 62 years, earlier retirement would be only be possible if workers gave up 30% of their pension. In reaction to the proposed cuts, thousands of construction workers from all over the country took to the streets in a day of protests and more than 15.000 construction workers engaged in industrial action.

Read more: in German …

The National Tripartite Cooperation Council have met to discuss the cabinet's proposal to raise the minimum wage from 260 euro a month to 286 as of January 1, 2019.The employers' organizations are against the increase in the minimum wage. Government also plans to increase minimum pension by 5, 7%. Another point of discussion for the social partners is the increase of the remuneration for night work. The union offers it to become a percentage of the minimum wage for the country – 0, 5% of it for one hour of night work.

Read on: in English …

The teachers strike has entered its fourth week and is causing distress amongst government. Amidst the strike, that revolves around a newly introduced pay system, parliament voted in favour of an amendment to the recently introduced pay system. However, a spokesperson of the education union stated that the adopted amendments are not a sufficient reason for the ongoing teachers' strike to be stopped. In the meantime, the number of teachers on strike is said to be declining with currently around 200 people, or 0.4% of all teachers on strike. In early December 2018 almost 1400 were on strike.

Read on: in English … Read on: in English …

The government wants to force municipalities and regions to outsource more of their tasks to the private market, for example, childcare and care for the elderly. A new study shows that the government's line has little support from the population. Only 20% of the respondents agreed with the statement that the outsourcing of public services to the private market should be forced upon municipalities and regions. Furthermore, two third of the respondents believes proper wage and work conditions are crucial if public tasks are to be outsourced. This in line with the stance of the trade union that emphasizes that the outsourcing of public services may not have a negative influence on the quality of the services or the employment conditions of the people performing the work.

Read on: in Danish …

After the yellow vests, it's now the turn of the blue vests to show their anger as police unions are calling on officers to picket to partake in industrial action and only answer emergency calls as they fight for better working conditions and pay. Negotiations between police unions and the Interior Minister failed to find a solution and come to an agreement that is satisfactory for the police workforce. Police are under high pressure with ongoing protests against the government. Government officials promised to pay an additional 300 euro to all those officers who were deployed for the "yellow vest" protests. I's unclear whether this will be enough to take the angle out of the protest.

Read on: in English …

The Teacher Union of Serbia (TUS) and union NTTU organised a one-day strike to protest wage increases that are more than 5% lower than was promised. The teachers were promised a 14.67% wage increase but only got a 9% increase. Preschool teachers did only get 7% wage increase which according to the TUS implies a discriminative approach in education.

Read on: in English …

Amidst the busy Christmas period, workers at two Amazon distribution centres in the country have gone on strike as part of a push for improved work conditions that is already going on for five years. Trade union Verdi, that is representing the workers, says Amazon employees receive lower wages than others in retail and mail-order jobs in Germany. Verdi has been calling on Amazon to changes its rules to allow a legally binding collective bargaining agreement for the company’s approximately 16,000 German employees which it believes would guarantee better working conditions. The union is seeking an agreement similar to that available for retail workers and other mail order companies.

Read on: in English …