Collective Bargaining

Teachers of all levels of education went on a nationwide strike in demand of higher wages and more investment in education. The teachers believe this to be necessary because the quality of education is under pressure. More than half of primary schools were closed because of the strike. The teachers gathered with 40,000 colleagues on the Malieveld in The Hague. This months’ protests of today are a follow-up of strikes in 2017 and 2018. The strike and manifestation were supported by all layers in education. It was also a union wide protest with the Christian union abstaining from the strike but not the other actions. The main demand iwas an extra investment in education of nearly 4 billion euros for workload reduction and salary improvement. Because salaries are too low there exists a shortage of teachers and hence the workload grows.

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The union of public service workers (MKKSZ) organised a nationwide day of strike action in front of parliament in Budapest in which some 75000 public workers participated. The main demand of the public sector workers is an increase in basic salaries, which have stagnated for 11 years. Lower income workers in the public sector that work fulltime sometimes receive less than 800 euro per month. Beside their demands for higher wages, public sector workers were also protesting the new law that raises the number of possible overtime hours and that, according to the unions, will increase the working day of public sector workers from 8 to 9 hours a day.

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The Sofia Municipality proposes a 10% wage hike for public transport in the city and the reduction of overtime work. With the 10% wage hike salaries will rise to 587.99 euro a month. Furthermore the municipality is planning to improve working conditions. Whether drivers are satisfied with the measures will become clear after the decision of the transport committee.

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According to the Statistical Office the value of export in January 2019 grew 3% compared to the same month last year, whereas the imports increased by 11.5%. The total foreign trade value stood at 2.84 billion euro, an increase of 7.8%. The export to import coverage in January was 71.8% and was lower relative to the same period last year when it was 77.7%. The biggest foreign trade was with the countries with which Serbia has free trade agreements. The European Union member-states make up 61.8% of the total trade reservations.

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After a long struggle (see our February newsletter) workers at Yves Rocher’s Turkish subsidiary Flormar have finally reached a deal with the company. The company agreed to pay out severance payments, notice payments and special compensation equal to 16-months’ salary to 132 dismissed workers, without waiting for the results of the pending union court cases. Another major breakthrough is recognition for rubber union Petrol-Is. If the court rules that the union has sufficient members to be a legal bargaining partner, the company will recognize them as collective bargaining agent. A majority of the workers voted in favour of the deal.

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Renewal of company-trade union agreement that covers 87 000 workers. After months of negotiating a renewed collective agreement was signed with Fim, Uilm, Fismic, Uglm and the Fiat Framework Association. The new collective agreement covers 87 000 workers in the industry and will be valid in the period 2019-2022. The agreement provides for an increase in contractual remuneration of 2% per year, which means an average increase of 144.5 euro per month, and an increase in the annual bonus linked to the productivity and efficiency objectives.

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Eurofound published the quarterly working life developments for the country that focusses on the fourth quarter of 2018. Main points of interest are the new national collective agreement on the basic level of pay for state officials, a proposal regarding quotas for foreign workers, and protest campaigns organised by cultural workers, forensic medical staff and teachers. In order to tackle the problem of remuneration for work in the public sector, the government set up a commission which started work on 6 December. The commission is due to provide parliament with a draft strategy for the sustainable financing of the salaries of public sector employees until 2025. Instruments delivered by the commission are expected to lead to the implementation of a balanced financing system and sustainable changes throughout the public sector.

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According to European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) data, women are still underrepresented in management functions with just 36% of all managers in Europe being women. Even in female-dominated sectors such as education and health, women have a lower proportional representation in management. Furthermore, women that do work in management functions are more likely to be in a non-supervising managerial job than men. EWCS data also shows that women enjoy fewer of the advantages of being managers, such as autonomy, the power to influence change in the organisation. The authors believe that if we are serious about addressing this situation, and ensuring gender equality, we need to both address cultural hang-ups and structural issues in organisations and the broader labour market.

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Energy sector workers went on a one-day strike to protest against government plans to further privatize the sector. In 2018 the government already sold 66% of the national transmission sector. The new bill that was passed in parliament, calls for a merger of subsidiaries. With the new plans the Public Gas Corporation of Greece (DEPA) will also have to split again into DEPA Trading and DEPA Infrastructure, and overseeing the sale of 50.1% of DEPA Trading and up to 14% of DEPA Infrastructures. In their statement, the union said that “the SYRIZA government is pushing for the policy of liberalizing the energy market, which leads to the striking of labour relations, while at the same time increasing prices for households, thus transforming Energy from a social commodity into an expensive commodity”.

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International Women’s Day saw multiple strike actions and more than 500 street demonstrations throughout the country. The strike and many of the demonstrations were organized by the Comisión 8M (March 8 Commission), made up of feminist assemblies scattered throughout the country. The strike conditions were debated by around 500 groups in the northern city of Gijón in October of last 2018. This the second year in a row the country has massive protests on women’s day that call for gender equality and to rally against ongoing discrimination of women. Last year more than 5 million people joined in a national strike on women’s day (see our March 2018 newsletter).

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