epsucob@NEWS Collective Bargaining in the Public Services - re local government , waste , electricity , child care -

UK	Action on pay building up over autumn Public sector workers across the UK are either preparing for or voting on strike action on pay. Local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland already have date for the second day of strike action on 14 October. Meanwhile, local government workers in Scotland and workers across the health service are being balloted for strike action. Non-teaching staff in academy schools are also being balloted for action. The push for higher pay across all sectors is being supported by the TUC confederation which has called a national demonstration for 18 October. Read more at > Unison And at > the TUC
Switzerland	Unions block pay cuts Protests by the the Vpod public services union, along with other staff unions at the Winterthur city council were successful in getting the council to reject a proposal to cut city workers’ pay by 2%. Over 300 workers joined the demonstration before the crucial vote. The Vpod welcomed the victory but recognised that it still had work to do to challenge other cuts being proposed by the Council. [Read more at > Vpod (DE)->http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrich...[
Netherlands	Mobilising for a new collective agreement FNV Abvakabo and CNV Publieke Zaak are organising local committees to discuss the next steps in a campaign to negotiate a collective agreement covering civil servants. The previous collective agreement expired more than 1000 days ago (31 December 2010) and the unions are now looking to build up active support for a new agreement at local level to try to change the idea that a collective agreements is simply something delivered by the trade union. Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)
Europe	Collective bargaining news from around Europe The July/August edition of the ETUI Collective Bargaining Newsletter includes several articles on public service developments including: a 3.5% pay increase for public sector workers in the Czech Republic, a strike over staffing and working time by nurses in Portugal and a court ruling in Portugal against public sector pay cuts; and pressure in Serbia from employers to cut public sector pay. Read more at > ETUI
Italy	Massive support for strike in Venice The public service federations - Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp and Uil-Fpl - report over 85% of workers supported the strike in the Venice local authority at the end of August. The protest was over €47 million in cuts that were not only threatening the pay and conditions of local government workers but the quality of local services. The unions underlined the fact that these cuts in pay and conditions at local level were coming after a five-year freeze on public sector bargaining at national level. Read more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)
Ireland	March shows continuing support for waste workers Workers employed by the Greyhound waste company have been locked out for three months following their protests over an attempt to cut pay by up to 35%. They are continuing their protests and were supported other trade unions in a march through Dublin city centre on 2 September. Read more at > SIPTU
Denmark	Concern over employment and training in private childcare The FOA public services union is concerned about the growth of private childcare and the extent to which this poses a threat to levels of employment, training and quality of childcare. The union notes that large companies have made inroads into childcare provision in Norway and Sweden, often cutting costs by reducing the ratio of childcare workers to children. Read more at > FOA (DK)