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The planned one-day local government strike in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland on 14 October was called off and further action
suspended while the trade unions consult with their members over an improved
offer from the employers. The offer includes pay increases ranging from 8.56%
for the lowest paid to 2.2% for those on higher pay scales. The increases
would take effect from 1 January 2015 while there would be lump sum payments
of between £100 (€125) and £325 (€410) in December 2014, again with the higher
amounts for the lower paid. Read
more at > Unison And
at > GMB And
at > Unite
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The Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp, Uil-Pa and Uil-Fpl federations have come
together to organise a national demonstration on 18 October calling for
better treatment of workers from the private and non-profit sectors who
provide public services. The federations note that often these workers are on
poorer pay and conditions with precarious contracts and that the aim is to
begin pay and conditions more into line with public sector practice as has
been done in the waste sector. Read
more at > Fp-Cgil (IT)
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The Federation of Trade Unions organised a major protest
outside government offices on 15 October, arguing against job cuts, freezing
wages and pensions, fiscal austerity, government failure to undertake social
dialogue and in making the socially important decisions without taking into
account the position of trade unions. The health workers’ union was a
significant part of the demonstration, protesting against the threat to 20000
jobs in the health and epidemiological agency. Read
more at > EPSU
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The three confederations are coordinating a series of protests
and strikes against the new government’s proposed austerity budget. The union
argue that the budget is socially unjust, with workers’ paying the price and
no attempt to get the wealthy and high-paid to make a large contribution.
Unions are concerned about the threat to the wage indexation system, the
scope to negotiate pay increases and plans to increase the retirement age to
67. A national demonstration on 6 November will be followed by regional
strikes on 25 November and 1 December and a general strike on 15 December. Read
more at > FGTB (FR) And
at > ABVV (NL) And
at > CSC (FR) And
at > ACOD (NL) And
at > CGSLB (FR) And
at > ACLVB (NL)
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Despite a day of strike and protest action, municipal union
JHL was unable to prevent the Helsinki council from pressing ahead with
changes to the status of the Palmia municipal company. The union argued that
changes in the corporate structure were not necessary to improve efficiency
and effectiveness. 1400 employees are affected by the change and most believe
there is a threat to their pay and conditions. JHL will monitor developments
closely. Read
more at > JHL (EN)
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Latest figures show inflation at very low levels with a
serious risk of a new recession. The FSP-UGT argues that these are proof of
the failure of austerity. Average wages per worker have fell 7.1% in real
terms between 2010 and 2013. The federation calls for tripartite negotiations
to strengthen economic growth and employment and a clear demand to boost the
economy through a revival of household consumption through higher employment
and real wage growth. Read
more at > FSP-UGT (ES)
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After two years without an updated collective agreement,
unions in provincial government are now consulting with their members over a
possible deal. The proposed agreement would be effectively backdated to 1
June 2012 and run until 31 December 2015. There will be a 2% pay increase on
1 January 2015, followed by a 1% increase on 1 July. A lump sum of €450 will
be paid to all workers when the agreement is signed. Other elements include
support for those made redundant in terms of help to find new jobs, training
and careers advice; action on jobs for disabled and young workers; regulation
of flexible working arrangements and measures to take account of increased
retirement ages. Read
more at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL) And
at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)
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The latest collective bargaining newsletter from the ETUI is
now available and includes several articles on public service developments
from Belgium (police pensions), Croatia (public procurement), Cyprus (pay cut
threats), Czech Republic (pay increase in public sector), Finland (problem of
low pay), Greece (protests and strike action), Ireland (prison dispute) and
UK (action in health and social services). Read
more at > ETUI (EN)
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PSI Asia Pacific - Utilities - Electricity - Water & Local Government Network Bulletin Blog - The below items are published as an internal PSI Bulletin monthly or you can follow by each post by e-mail.
Friday, 17 October 2014
EPSU bargaining update , local government and utilities issues
