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Firefighters’
union meets minister after 8-day strike
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After its latest period of strike action, involving eight
stoppages, the FBU firefighters’ union has agreed to meet the fire service
minister to discuss the continuing dispute over changes to the pension
scheme. The union has insisted that it has been willing to negotiate
throughout the dispute and has sent the minister a letter setting out the key
issues which include extra protection for firefighters who have signed up,
and paid into, an agreed pension scheme only to see the terms of that scheme
change; the increasing costs of the pension scheme that is becoming more
unaffordable for members; and the establishment of a fitness and capability
working group that will not address the very real issue of firefighters being
dismissed for naturally declining fitness, due to age. Read
more at > FBU
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Urgent
call for action after death in waste sector
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The Fp-Cgil public service federation has sent its condolences
to the family of Carlo Silva, the most recent victim of a fatal accident in
the waste sector. The union has called on the industry and government to take
urgent action to tackle the safety crisis which it believes as a result of a
combination of inadequate investment, cutbacks in spending, reductions in the
workforce, increased workloads and an inadequate health and safety culture. Read
more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)
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Federations
warn government on reforms and pay freeze
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The four main public service federations - Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp,
Uil-Fpl e Uil-Pa - have sent a clear warning to the government that it cannot
hope to proceed with its unprecedented reforms of the public administration
at the same time as maintaining a block on bargaining in the public sector
for another two years. It is already more than four years since pay
negotiations took place and in the meantime there have been substantial cuts
in public sector employment. Read
more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)
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Unions
sign new agreement at energy company
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Around 6,700 workers employed by the EDP are now covered by a
new collective agreement which covers a range of issues such as ensuring the
financial sustainability of social provisions to employees and retired workers,
career development, work organisation and health and safety. For the main
union, SINDEL, some of the key provisions include: extending the 38-hour work
week to all workers; keeping compensatory rest for overtime; payment for
night work continues with the addition of 25%; and retaining 24 days’ annual
leave plus municipal and other holidays. Read
more at > SINDEL (PT)
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Energy
workers’ strike victory and ballot for action
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While union members at EDF Energy celebrate securing an
improved pay deal after taking strike action, Scottish Power workers are
being balloted over action to defend their employment conditions. Workers at
EDF will get a larger lump sum, an additional amount for workers in the South
East to compensate for pay differentials and further improvements for revenue
protection staff. Around 1000 Scottish Power Energy Network employees are
being balloted for industrial action short of a strike in protest at the
company’s imposed change to the entitlement to rostered days off and refusal
to negotiate. Read
more on EDF at > Unite And
more on Scottish Power at > Unite
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Minister
foresees pay negotations in 2015
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The public expenditure minister has indicated that 2015 could
see negotiations between the government and public sector unions that would
look at clawing back some of the pay cuts that have been imposed since 2009.
The cuts began with the introduction of a "pensions levy" in 2009
and cuts in basic and other pay elements followed in 2010 and 2011. Read
more at > IMPACT
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Waste
workers locked out by employer
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Workers employed by the Greyhound waste and recycling company
have been locked out by management for over two months. The company is
attempting to force workers to accept wage cuts of up to 35% and has employed
strikebreakers to carry out waste collections during the dispute. SIPTU has
80 members in the company which has a contract to collect household waste for
Dublin City Council. Solidarity is being provided by trade unions and
messages of support have been sent by EPSU and EPSU affiliates. Read
more at > SIPTU And
at > EPSU
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Pay
freezes continue particularly at local level
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The latest official figures on collective agreements indicate
that local-level agreements are more likely to involve pay freezes in 2014
than deals negotiated at a sector level. Some 40% of workers covered by
company deals face a pay freeze this year compared to 18% of those covered by
higher agreements. The CCOO confederation sees this is one of the results of
the labour reforms imposed by the conservative government in 2012 which, in
line with the European institutions, has wanted to see a shift to more local
level bargaining at the expense of sectoral negotiations. Read
more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)
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Sick
leave falls in municipal sector
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The number of sick leave days in the municipal sector fell
again last year - part of a downward trend since 2009. In 2013 the number of
average sick leave days per employee was 16.7 days. A year before it was
17.2. Municipal union JHL thinks that local authorities might be contributing
to the decline by focusing on working ability together with occupational
health. Read
more at > JHL (EN)
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Working
time back on the agenda
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Working time and possible revisions to the Working Time
Directive are likely to be a priority for trade unions at the beginning of
2015. The European Commission is not only undertaking a standard review of
the implementation of the Directive but has also called in consultants to
work on studies that will assess possible changes to the legislation. One of
the studies is focusing on the health sector in particular and includes
interviews with a range of actors, including EPSU affiliates, in the Czech
Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the UK. In
anticipation of a further attempt by the Commission to amend the Directive,
EPSU has organised a meeting in Brussels on 4 September to discuss working
time issues. Read
more on the meeting at > EPSU (EN,DE,FR,CZ,SV,IT) And
on the implementation study at > EPSU (EN,DE,FR)
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Social
care survey responses top 7000
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Over 7000 workers in social services have now responded to a
survey on pay and working conditions. The survey is supported by EPSU with
the view that it will provide important and up-to-date information that
affiliates can use at national level in their lobbying, campaigning and
collective bargaining. The survey will run until October when results will be
analysed in time for a conference in Amsterdam on 18 November. So there is
still plenty of time to encourage members to complete the questionnaire
either online or on paper. Online
surveys for 34 countries in national languages Versions
of surveys to download and print
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Unions
continue 35-hour fight
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Public sector unions are continuing their campaigns to retain
the 35-hour week in the fact of the government’s attempt to impose a 40-hour
week and what would effectively be a 14% cut in hourly pay. Hundreds of
agreements have been negotiated and signed in local and regional government
to retain the 35-hour week but the government has refused to officially
publish the agreements. Read
more at > STAL (PT) And
at > SINTAP (PT)
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Call
for more jobs and better conditions in childcare
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Services union ver.di has reacted to the latest figures on
childcare provision to call for more investment in the sector and the
creation of 120000 additional jobs. The union says that a recent report on
early years education underlines the wide variation in staffing levels across
the country and the fact that in many cases staff are responsible for too
many children. Ver.di stresses the importance of linking quality of provision
with quality of working conditions and that meeting the recommended staffing
ratios will enable workers to devote more time to quality care and education.
Read
more at > ver.di (DE)
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