Negotiations over a new local
government agreement have been broken off and now move into mediation. Among
the key union demands are a general increase with a higher increase on the
lowest salaries along with increased supplements for working anti-social
hours. They also want to seen managers’ salaries kept in proportion to
employees’ wages. Read more at > Fagforbundet (NO)
And at > YS Kommune (NO)
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After more than a year of
negotiations, campaigns and action trade unions in the local government
sector have managed to get the employers sign a new collective agreement
covering the 180000 workers in the sector. The unions wanted to protest
purchasing power and the deal involves a 1% pay increase backdated to 1
January 2012 and a further 1% backdated to 1 April 2012. There will also be
lump sum payments in August of €200 or €400 depending on salary level. The
deal includes a commitment on job security as well as more flexibility in
working time. Read more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL)
And at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)
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A survey commissioned by the FOA
public services union found that over a fifth of childcare workers said they
often didn’t have enough to comfort children who are upset. The survey also showed
that 41% (up from 35% in 2010) of childcare workers thought that at least
once a day there were unable to provide proper care to children who are upset
or those with disruptive behaviour. The FOA was pleased that the government
had pledged an extra DKr 500 million (€67 million) for staffing in the sector
although it wasn’t convinced that this was enough to provide adequate levels
of staffing for the whole sector. Read more at > FOA (DK)
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Public service union federations
are having to respond at regional government level to attacks on their pay
and condtions. The five trade unions that organise in the regional government
of La Rioja have written a joint letter to the regional president calling for
a proper process of negotiation and rejecting worse conditions of employment
imposed with any form of consultation. Unions are also protesting about
imposed cuts in salaries and conditions faced by the 30000 workers covered by
the regional agreement in the Basque country. The agreement effectively
expired at the end of 2010 and there has been no progress in negotiations
since then. Read more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)
And at > FSC-CCOO (ES)
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The Kommunal union, representing
around blue-collar workers in local and regional government, has negotiated a
new one-year agreement that runs to 31 March 2013. The agreement covers
around 350000 workers and will mean a pay increase of around 3% (SEK 650,
€73). The lowest paid workers will also get SEK 650 and so this will mean a
pay increase of 3.7%-4.0% for them. Other allowances increase by 2.6% and
there is also an agreement to limit fixed-term employment. Read more at > Kommunal (SE)
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Worker employed by the SPIE DEN
engineering company, subsdiary of SPIE Nucleaire, have been on strike since
16 April at the Cattenom and Fessenheim power plants in the Alsace-Lorraine
region of North-East France. The dispute has also spread with stoppages at
the Bugey and Cruas power stations in the Rhone-Alpes region. The dispute is
over payments for working at different sites and the FNME-CGT union
federation is calling for the same pay and conditions for all SPIE employees
it is also urging the EDF energy company to make sure its contractors pay the
same to all their employees doing the same job. Read more at > FNME-CGT (FR)
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The GPA-DJP services union ran a
campaign in the week beginning 16 April urging members to check their pay
grades. The union points out that a worker’s position on a pay scale normally
depends on the occupation, level of qualifications and length of service.
However, workers can often be placed on the wrong grade and this could be a
particular problem for women workers and contribute to the gender pay gap. Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)
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Earlier this month services union
ver.di negotiated a 6.3% pay increase for two million workers employed by the
federal government and local
authorities. The first stage of the increase is backdated to 1 March 2012
and is for 3.5%. There will then be two increases of 1.4% in 2013, the first
on 1 January and the second on 1 August. There will also be increases for
apprentices and a commitment to offer jobs to those apprentices who pass
their qualifying exams. The deal was negotiated following high profile
campaigning by ver.di and a series of warning strikes. Union members have
until 24 April to vote whether or not to accept the agreement. Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Advice from EPSU http://www.epsu.org/
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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.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
latest news from Europe - local govt & utilities - EPSU
