Ver.di has called on its members in the Vattenfall and RWE energy companies to support warning strikes in order to strengthen the unions' position in the next round of collective bargaining. In Vattenfall the union has criticised the company for failing to make a concrete offer after two bargaining rounds in response to the union's demands for a 6.5% increase for the 20,000 employees. The ver.di and IGBCE unions in RWE also want a 6.5% increase and there the employers have so far offered only 2.4% plus a lump sum after already five rounds of collective bargaining. These unions report that the widespread support for the warning strikes of 24 January proves that workers' discontent at RWE is "wide and loud" (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/398;
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4216-German-Power-Workers ...
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...;
http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...
Search results
Find articles
The Labour Relation Committee (LRC) is expected to soon make an renewed conciliation attempt as to restart talks between Aer Lingus and cabin crew members of the IMPACT union. The conflict, leading to the grounding of dozens of flights daily, is already in its third week. It focuses on new rosters for cabin crew, that have seen some 300 members of staff suspended by the airline after it claimed they refused to co-operate with the new work practices. Earlier talks in the LRC were adjourned without agreement. Efforts by the ICTU union confederation and the IBEC employers' association to find a solution also shipwrecked.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0130/aerlingus.html;
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0128/aerlingus.html
The country's Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, has made a too hasty statement regarding the freeze of minimum wage and pensions, according to Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov. The two ministers clearly have different opinions on the subject. Mladenov reiterated that there is a possibility to increase the minimum incomes, saying "pensions can go up in the second half of the year." In contrast, Djankov is firm that minimum wages are to remain frozen in 2011 since the budget for 2011 has already been passed and it does not include extra funds for salaries and pensions. A few days earlier Lyuben Tomev, Director of the Research Institute with the KNSB union confederation, pointed at the "unreasonably high" increases of the cost of living in Bulgaria. He argued that there were no valid grounds for the price increase of 6.4% in December 2010.
English: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=124683; http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=124473
The president of the German Employers' Federation (BDA), Dieter Hundt, has characterized the unions demands for the upcoming bargaining rounds "straight out of never-never land and completely illusory", though he said that employers are prepared to pay their workers more than a cost of living increase.ÿ According to Hundt, even if the country's economy grew last year at its fastest rate since reunification, the catastrophic plunge in 2009 means that output will only reach pre-crisis levels at the end of this year.
English: http://www.forexpros.com/news/interest-rates-news/german-employers-say ...
German: http://www.arbeitgeber.de/www/arbeitgeber.nsf/res ...
In reaction of the agreement that Fiat reached on 23 December 2010 with two unions for investing in the Mirafiori plant in exchange for labour concessions, FIOM, the CGIL-affiliated metal union federation, staged an eight-hour nationwide strike. On Friday 28 January, protests were clearly at hand in Rome, Turin, Milan and Cagliari. Addressing a crowd of some 10,000 people on the square facing Milan's Cathedral, FIOM secretary-general Maurizio Landini called again for a general strike, to fight against what he said was the undermining of the country's national contract system (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 July-August, September and December 2010).
English: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2011/01/28/Italian-autoworkers ...;
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article ...
One of the Dutch unions involved in the basic agreement reached on 15 December with TNT Post on limiting job losses, Abvakabo FNV, has stated that its membership has endorsed the deal; 57% voted in favour. Union negotiator, Peter Wiechmann, commented to have expected no more than this small majority, also because of the major unrest and the high work pressure at the TNT shopfloor. A second union, CNV Publieke Zaak has until the end of January to finalise its vote, but a CNV spokesman has told a press agency that he thinks CNV members will also back the agreement (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 June, October, November and December 2010).
English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/27/tnt-idUSLDE70Q1U020110127
Dutch: De Volkskrant, 28 January 2011;
http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/nieuws/nieuws/leden-tnt-akkoord
On 28 January, leaders of the TUC affiliates joined to co-ordinate their response to the government's spending cuts and explore the possibility of staging mass strikes. Co-ordinated industrial action against proposed job losses is one course of action being examined. The TUC confederation already announced a major march and rally in London on 26 March to protest against the cuts and highlight the damage being caused to public services. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers is preparing to ballot its members for industrial action against proposed pension changes.
English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/28/unions-mass-strikes .
Work-sharing, in the form of short-time arrangements, has saved a considerable amount of jobs throughout the crisis in Denmark, two assessments concluded. Companies were allowed to introduce work-sharing for up to 13 weeks. If necessary, they could extend that with 13 weeks after consulting the Regional Employment Council. The conditions for work-sharing were set out in collective agreements, and work-sharers received supplementary state unemployment benefit. A check of the Employment Region Copenhagen and Zealand found that 94% of the workers taking part in a work-sharing arrangement remained in work when it ended. A survey of the 3F union concluded that in 2009 83% of its members that were into work-sharing schemes continued in full-time employment afterwards. Many 3F members, working in manufacturing and construction, were hit by the crisis.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2010/03/articles/dk1003021i.htm
Danish: http://forsiden.3f.dk/assets/pdf/SD1868722830.PDF
The Finnish-Swedish packaging group Stora Enso announced on Tuesday 25 January that it will adhere to the decision made by the Finnish High Court in December 2010, implying finally paying performance bonuses to employees whose bonuses it had withheld because of their participation in strikes in 2005-2009. The dispute originates from spring 2006 when Stora Enso refused to pay bonuses to employees who had taken part in industrial action. The Trade Union of Salaried Employees (now Pro, after the merger with the Pro union) took the company to the court on behalf of about 1,000 members concerned. Prior to its announcement on Tuesday, Stora Enso had refused to pay the performance bonuses despite the High Court ruling. Faced with this situation, shop stewards of Pro decided to organize a two-day strike, set to begin 27 January. The move of Stora Enso meant that the strike was called off. The company said on Tuesday it will book an extra charge of €21 million due to the payout of the bonuses.
English: http://www.artto.kaapeli.fi/unions/T2011/o03; http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/26/storaenso-idUSLDE70P03920110126
On 28 January, for the third successive weekend dockers and other port workers led by the CGT-affiliated union Syndicat General des Ouvriers Dockers du Havre have staged a four-days nationwide strike in the conflict over working conditions and pensions. The union spokesman said that there has been no progress in the negotiations. He added that the strike would not affect oil traffic and passenger ships, but would halt mainly container traffic and bulk shipments. In May 2010, the union reached a basic agreement with port employers for 6,000 dockers with arduous jobs to retire four to five years before the national pension age. Yet the government, which would have to partially finance early retirement, insists the agreement must comply with the new national pension rules introduced in November 2010. On 21 January, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and ETF, its European arm, called on European dockers' unions to stand by their French colleagues (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 October 2010).
English: http://www.portworld.com/news/i100185/French_ports_set_for .; http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/5559
French: http://actualutte.info/?p=948