Collective Bargaining

After five rounds of negotiations for a new collective agreement, unions and employers in cleaning have not approached. The employers' association sticks to a pay freeze, while the FNV Bondgenoten Union emphasizes the modest demands of the cleaners, in starting up the "two dimes campaign" as part of the "Clean Enough" campaign, pointing at the net demand of Euro 0.20 hourly extra each for 2010 and 2011. The selective strike and related actions continue. The earlier attitude of major cleaning principals that they were no party in the conflict seems to change as both Dutch Railways (NS) and Schiphol Airport have announced to be willing to play a mediating role. Meanwhile, public support for the strike is growing. With the cleaners' actions as a trigger, in the Dutch parliament and in a number of municipalities discussions have started up concerning sustainable procurement, including minimum wage and quality of work standards (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 February 2010).
Dutchÿ: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/branches_bedrijven/branches/
English: http://unionrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/03/cleaners-strike

The latest figures published in the Labour Research Department's Workplace Report magazine, based on LRD's database of negotiated settlements, suggest that there is now little gap between the increase in lowest basic rates in new deals and those under existing long term agreements. For the three months December 2009-February 2010, LRD's published mid-point for settlements monitored was 1.6%. This is only slightly up on the previous 1.5% figure (November-January). Pay freezes still account for just over a quarter (28%) of December-February settlements. In new settlements only (excluding existing long-term agreements) the mid-point for the three months up to and including February was 1.5%, with pay freezes making up almost four out of ten (39%) of these.
English: http://www.lrd.org.uk/issue.php?pagid=1&issueid=1373

From coming April on, LOT Polish Airlines plans to change its labour and wage system, which according to the company's trade unions will imply lower wages. Neither the Transport Pilots Trade Union nor the Trade Union of Cabin Crew are willing to accept the proposed changes and are now in a dispute with the airline's management. Strikes seem imminent, as the unions do not rule out strike action. By March 30, the matter will be taken up by the Tripartite Commission (KT).
English: http://www.wbj.pl/article-49020-lot-labor-tensions-rise-strikes
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Poland

The ver.di services union welcomes the decision in favour of a minimum wage for nursing staff ("Pflegemindestlohn") and hopes that the decision will soon be put into practice. Ver.di board member, Ellen Paschke, said: "This decision is long over due. Anyway, it terminates extreme forms of wage dumping." Earlier, representatives of employers and employees in the relevant committee at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs agreed upon a minimum wage, to be effected as of 1 July 2010, for the western part of the country of Euro 8.50 and for the eastern part of Euro 7.50. Paschke added that employee representatives and part of the employers were in favour of a clearly higher minimum wage, and that a differentiation between West and East 20 years after the unification could hardly be justified.
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=2f47715e-37f9
Lufthansa cabin crews may join pilots in new strike
March 24, 2010
One month after Lufthansa flights were disrupted by a pilots' strike, the pilots' union Cockpit is planning a new four-day strike. This time, however, the airline is facing more pressure as negotiations with the UFO cabin crew union head towards an impasse. Prior to enteringÿa second round of negotiations with Lufthansa on Wednesday 24 March, UFO representative Joachim Muller said that he doubted a strike could be avoided. Lufthansa wants to increase the hours cabin crews work before their overtime pay starts, alter the structure of their pay raises, and link portions of their income to profit levels. UFO may coordinate its efforts with Cockpit, which is planning to strike from April 13 to 16. The two unions will have a joint meeting April 12 in Frankfurt.
English: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5384770,00.html

The Independent Union of Retail Workers has turned to all Labour Courts throughout the country where Tesco supermarkets are located in order to press the UK retailer to pay equal wages. Csaba Bubenk¢, union President, said wages of Tesco employees performing the same job may differ 10, 20 or even 30 % depending on the location of the store. He added that Tesco pays less in regions where the unemployment rate is higher, thus saving at least HUF 1 billion (Euro 3,8 million). Tesco has replied that the same job means the same wage within a store.
English: M t‚ Komiljovics, union correspondent

On 24 March (budget day), PCS, the public and commercial services union, responded to the government budget as up to 200,000 civil and public servants from across the country stayed away from work in a strongly supported budget day strike over cuts to redundancy pay. Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary, said: "Today's budget of so called efficiency savings, makes it clear that the reason the government is ripping up the contracts of loyal civil servants is to make it easier and cheaper for whoever wins the election to cut them. It is ludicrous to think that efficiency savings can be somehow pulled out from down the back of the sofa and have no effect on services."
English: http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm

The GMB union has welcomed the announcement of the government that it has accepted the recommendations from the Low Pay Commission (LPC) on the new rates for the National Minimum Wage. The new rates, which will come into force on 1 October 2010, will be UKP 5.93 (currently Euro 6.64) per hour for workers aged 21 and over (a 2.2% increase); UKP 4.92 (Euro 5.51) per hour for 18-20 year olds (plus 1.9%), and UKP 3.64 (Euro 4.07) per hour for 16-17 year olds (plus 2%). Paul Kenny, the union's General Secretary, said: "The increase is much needed by the lowest paid in these difficult times and will help to boost consumer demand and thereby sustain the recovery underway."
English: http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/latest_news/national_minimum

Metro workers in Bucharest have won a new collective agreement ending a five-month-long dispute. The workers represented by the Uniunea Sindicatelor Libere Metrou (USLM) union suspended strike action planned for 18 March after managers of the state-owned company Metrorex and the union signed a new collective agreement. The settlement includes a reasonable wage increase, a commitment to retain all jobs, the harmonisation of benefits for certain categories of employees and a pledge to improve working conditions. The existing agreement had expired on 1 November 2009; negotiations on new agreements normally take place 30 days before expiry. USLM organised a protest on 29 October calling on government to approve Metrorex's budget for 2009-10; its failure to do so blocked negotiations. It also took a number of other steps to resolve the matter, including a picket in front of the Romanian government headquarters as well as strikes on 12 and 17 November, which the government suppressed through legal action.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/4328

A ground-breaking collective agreement employers is set to help combat social dumping and discrimination against foreign nationals. The 3F union has negotiated an agreement with employers' representative Dansk Industri (DI) which is unique in that it entitles shop stewards to access wage slips and other information if the union believes that overseas workers are being paid less than their Danish counterparts. The new clause is likely to be inserted into the majority of collective agreements across the transport sector. In addition, company members of DI will inform the union when they use a contractor. This will enable the union to enforce their collective agreement and to take industrial action against the contractor if necessary. The clause will not only apply to Danish contractors but also to overseas companies operating in Denmark.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/4322

On 22 March, Fellesforbundet, the largest private sector union, broke off negotiations in the metal sector with the employers' federation Norsk Industri. The result of negotiations in the metal sector, together with those in the textiles and clothing sector, the packaging sector and a couple of smaller sectors will be decisive for bargaining outcomes throughout the country. After more than a week of negotiations, Fellesforbundet President Arve Bakke gave up concluding collective bargaining without mediation. "We have a responsibility towards every low paid worker in Norway and the offer made by Norsk Industri does not come close to shouldering this responsibility. There was also no substantial move on other important questions like securing normal working hours and keeping guaranty wages for all low paid workers in industry. Also there was no move on our demands for fairer treatment of foreign workers and rotation schedules for workers far away from home", Bakke said.
English: message of EUCOBAN network of EMF / EFFAT / ETUF-TCL / EMCEF