In a ballot closing 23 March, GMB members working for British Gas have voted 82% in favour of strike action on a 61% turnout. GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny said, "We are giving British Gas a week to give us a constructive response. We want an independent inquiry into the profit-at-all-costs culture at British Gas." Earlier the 8,000 employees involved, mainly engineering workers, gave 90% support for action in a consultative ballot. They are responding to threats from management to cut up to 25% of full-time equivalent staff working in non-customer facing roles.
English: http://l-r-c.org.uk/blog/post/strong-vote-in-gmb-british-gas-ballot/;
http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/latest_news/british_gas_ballot.aspx
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Public-sector workers across France went on strike on Tuesday 23 March to protest the country's economic woes and the government's unpopular reforms. The strike caused some disruption for commuters in French cities. Trains to Britain and Belgium were running normally, but only 65% of traffic was being guaranteed within France. Unions say French President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government has not offered satisfactory plans on jobs, salaries, purchasing power and working conditions, and they hope to hammer home that message in the wake of Sunday's regional election defeats. After that defeat, Sarkozy fired his labour minister, Xavier Darcos.
English: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/23/france-strike.html
French: http://www.spterritoriaux.cgt.fr/spip.php?article3870
Belgian union leaders have warmed to a plan by General Motors European arm Opel to grant a stay of execution to its plant in Antwerp and push through fewer job cuts than previously envisaged. GM said it was now proposing that the Opel Antwerp plant be allowed to hunt for an investor until the end of September. That investor would have to take over by the end of the year, union leaders said, adding GM was now also looking to cut 1,200 of the 2,600 jobs of Opel Antwerp. Rudi Kennes, main negotiator of the ABVV/FGTB union and Opel's European deputy labour leader, said the plans were a sign of progress, though the plant needed longer than six months to find an investor and the job cuts were more than the 1,000 maximum unions had been willing to accept (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 January 2010).
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE62L20J20100322?
On 20 March, the joint unions announced not to be prepared to accept a reform of the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA) or any other government measures which will negatively affect the standard of living of employees, and more in particular those in the lowest wage bracket. Representatives of the three major union federations, PEO, SEK and DEOK, made the statement in response to the government's proposed austerity measures.
English: http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/unions-say-don-t-touch-cola/
via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Cyprus
The trade unions and the government have reached agreement on levying incomes of unprovided people, thus legalizing the non-regulated incomes of physical persons, as they stated at a press conference over anti-crisis measures. Yet, at the press conference a dispute rose over the proposed measures. Bozhidar Danev from the Bulgarian Industrial Association said that over the last 20 years many people received non-regulated incomes from the grey sector by not paying their taxes and insurances, and announced to discuss with the government whether to declare amnesty.
English: http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n213856
The FNV Bondgenoten union has announced its demands for the new collective agreement at the Corus steelworks, subsidiary of the Tata Steel Group and employing 9,500 workers, after preparations with members. The spearheads are a larger focus on youth and a floor for pay increase for the low-waged, and the union asks a clear statement of Corus concerning the state pension reform plans. FNV Bondgenoten wants a wage increase of 2% by 1 April 2010 for one year, with a floor of Euro 416.38 per percent per year. The union demands the salary scales of young employees to be increased 2% by 1 January 2011. The current collective agreement expires on 1 April 2010.
English: message of EUCOBAN network of EMF / EFFAT / ETUF-TCL / EMCEF
Following further negotiations on 8 March, the local government employers are sticking to their demand for a pay freeze. In response the three trade unions involved - FNV Abvakabo, CNV Publieke Zaak and CMHF - have announced that they will suspend all consultations with the employers over issues like restructuring for at least three months. The unions are determined to secure a deal that at least protects their members' purchasing power (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 December 2009 and Year 3 January and February 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/358
Dutch: http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/Thema's/cao-lagere-overheden1/?OverviewType; http://www.cnvpubliekezaak.nl/Oproep_aan_OR_overleg_Gemeenten_op_te
On 12 March the CGIL union confederation organised a four-hour general strike and a series of demonstrations across the country in protest at the government's policies on dealing with the crisis, taxation, employment rights and migrants' rights. The confederation claims that one million workers flooded into the country's squares. CGIL General Secretary, Guglielmo Epifani said during a demonstration in Padua: "Unemployment rises, especially in more industrialized areas, and the government does nothing. Taxes are paid only by workers and retirees". He warned for a labour law reform, blaming the government of "bringing down the rights through a kind of arbitration which forces workers to abandon the labour courts."
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/358; http://www.cgil.it/;
Italian: http://www.cgil.it/dettagliodocumento.aspx?ID=13331
Negotiations in the state sector were initially difficult as the government wanted to freeze pay over the next two years. However, the unions managed to negotiate increases in pay and protection of the employment status of civil servants in light of the major reforms taking place across the state sector. The agreement runs from 1 March 2010 to 29 February 2012. An across-the-board-increase of 0.55% will be paid as of 1 March 2010 and an agency-specific instalment of 0.43%, which is to be agreed and implemented locally, will be paid on 1 September 2010. The agreed increases for the year 2010 are in total around 0.98%. Increases for 2011 will be negotiated by the end of January 2011. Antti Palo, President of Pardia, the Federation of Salaried Employees, called the outcomes satisfactory.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/358; http://www.pardia.fi/in_english/?
After some hard bargaining and the threat of strike action across the university sector, unions have managed to negotiate a deal that they believe delivers good employment protection with the employer withdrawing their demands for much greater working time flexibility and cuts in sick pay. The agreement runs from 1 March 2010 to 29 February 2012 and includes a pay increase of 0.98% from 1 November 2010. This is a 0.4% general increase and a 0.58% installment for the development of the salary system. In addition, a 5.5% lump sum of the monthly salary will be paid to compensate for the postponement of pay increases from this spring to the beginning of November 2010.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/358 ; http://www.pardia.fi/in_english/?