Collective Bargaining

Services union ver.di is warning of a deteriorating employment situation in the hospital sector, which will continue to worsen despite proposals for additional funding. Ver.di argues that the new framework law on hospital finance will not provide enough money for decent pay increases and that more workers will leave the sector. With employment shortages existing employees are under increasing pressure and the heavy workloads and poor pay hamper recruiting new staff. On 18 November, thousands of hospitals workers joined lunchtime demonstrations in protest at the financial crisis facing the sector and the inadequacy of the government's funding package. Ver.di general secretary Frank Bsirske demanded in particular that salary increases should be fully funded (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 7).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/273; http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=a6e2ce34-a5c1-11dd-5970-0019b9e321e1; http://www.verdi.de/nachrichten/newsArchive?channel=nachrichtenbox&id=krankenhaus-beschaeftigte_protestieren_gegen_finanznot)

In the week of 17 November, the French government was confronted with a wave of strikes against its reform proposals. Airline pilots, train drivers, teachers, students and postal worklers went on strike for one or more days. Notably the CGT union confederation is planning to continue actions, and plans a week of action in the public and private sectors from 24 November with 26 November a key date. The confederation's protest is over pay, employment and the latest government proposals to reform employment contracts and to raise the retirement age to 70. The CGT argues that an increase to salaries and boost to public services are important elements of a strategy to respond to the current crisis. (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No.'s 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7).
(English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/18/nicolas-sarkozy-france-strike-union; http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; French: http://www.cgt.fr/spip.php?article35341)

UNISON Scotland, the biggest union in local government with around 100,000 members, voted narrowly to accept a two-year pay deal that increases pay by 3% in 2008 and 2.5% in 2009. The union said that it was very disappointed by the pay deal and the narrowness of the vote reflected widespread discontent with the outcome. The pay offer was rejected by two other unions in the sector - the GMB with around 25,000 members and Unite with around 20,000 (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No.'s 4 and 7).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/localgovt/pay2008/index.html; http://www.gmb.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=97820; http://www.amicustheunion.org/default.aspx?page=9622)

On 21 November the FNSFP public services federation organised a demonstration of public administration workers in protest at the government's proposed 2.9% pay increase for 2009. The federation has called for a 5% increase and said that 2.9% is inadequate as it does nothing to begin to recover the lost purchasing power suffered by public sector salaries in recent years (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 6).
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/274; Portuguese: http://fnsfp-pt.inout-decor.com/)

On 20 November, the unions of the public and state services rejected the proposal of prime minister Ivo Sanader for a total freeze on pay increases in both the private and public sector, as part of the nation's response to the global financial crisis. This decision was made by the leaders of the 15 unions that were to negotiate with the cabinet. In 2006 they signed an agreement guaranteeing three years of wage growth. The unions had consulted their members, who clearly evaluated a pay freeze for the 220,000 public servants as unacceptable.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008; http://www.javno.com/home/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=205081)

Four unions (BVPP, CNV Publieke Zaak, CNV Bedrijvenbond and FNV Bondgenoten) have negotiated an industry agreement for the new postal services entering the market besides the large TNT Post company, notably Sandd and Selektmail. Yet, the major ABVAKABO FNV union has not been involved and has also refused to sign. This union argues that it is unclear when and under which conditions 80% of the so-called commission agreements of the Sandd and Selektmail postal workers, based on piece rates, will be changed into regular labour contracts as the agreement suggests. ABVAKABO FNV says in terms of labour conditions a level playing field is missing if the government decides to open the postal market fully.
(Dutch: NRC-Handelsblad, 12 and 17 November 2008; http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/cao/bericht/bond_tekent_cao_nieuwe_postbedrijven_niet/)

The major union confederation ZSSS has made a plea for a substantial hike in the national minimum wage. The federation expresses its target in net rather than gross terms, setting it at Euro 500 per month. The present gross minimum rate, which has stood at Euro 589.11 per month, yields take-home pay of around Euro 426; thus the unions' envisaged increase amounts to 17.4%. By formulating its target as a net sum, the ZSSS is implying that the full cost of the uplift should not necessarily fall on employers and that the government could chip in with concessions on personal income tax.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008; http://www.sta.si/en/vest.php?s=a&id=1333233)

Within and outside the union movement the debate about the level of collective bargaining, and the prospects of a return to centralised policies is still going on. A study for the SAK trade union confederation shows that most local negotiators in the state and municipal sectors think that local bargaining on hours has been more positive than negative. On pay the results are less convincing. While 63% of local negotiators in the municipal sector are more positive than negative about local bargaining the figure in central government is only 46%. A substantial minority of around a fifth in both sectors believe local bargaining on pay has been negative for workers. In general 44% of municipal local negotiators and 54% of state sector bargainers think that the balance between employers and trade unions at local level is not equitable (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 1 No. 5).
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008;
http://www.sak.fi/english/whatsnew.jsp?location1=1&lang=en&ao=news&sl2=2&id=32941; http://www.sak.fi/site/include/tulosta.jsp?id=32941)

Services union ver.di has joined with the German catholic charity federation (Deutches Caritasverband) in calling for a minimum wage for the care sector. Ver.di executive member Ellen Paschke said that care workers should not be left without protection against market forces and Helmut Kohmann from the employer federation argued that the minimum for the sector should not be anything less than the current minimum salary set by the public sector agreement.
Ver.di and NGG, the food workers' union, have announced a new campaign aimed at securing the introduction of a national statutory minimum wage, to be set initially at Euro 7.50 per hour. The drive is due to reach its peak on the eve of the federal general elections scheduled for September 2009. The two unions refer to a representative survey concluding that 72% of the voters believe a statutory minimum wage should become a major election issue.
(English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/273; Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008;
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=568dbb62-a68c-11dd-4ce2-0019b9e321e1; http://mindestlohn.verdi.de/data/pressemitteilung.pdf)

Talks between the three major union confederations and employer association Confindustria about changes in the collective bargaining system have come to a standstill. Following the presentation of amended employer proposals, the CGIL confederations declared the negotiations "have lost all meaning" and are therefore at an end so far CGIL is concerned. The other confederations, CSIL and UIL, remain hopeful that concrete results still can be achieved. The main points of disagreement are the length of industry agreements and the replacement of government's price inflation forecasts by those from another source.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 11/2008)