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Over 100 participants from 23 countries met in Brussels on
13-14 December to discuss a range of issues related to collective bargaining
and social dialogue in the public services. There were key sessions on
economic governance, austerity, public sector pay trends, outsourcing, equal
pay, coordination of bargaining and national level and changes to labour law
across Europe. The conference also discussed the first findings of the survey
to evaluate the European sectoral social dialogue and had the opportunity to
comment on EPSU’s recent and planned work on collective bargaining issues. A
full report of the conference is now available along with all the
presentations. Read
more at > EPSU
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On 1st February 2013 DG Employment in coordination with the
Employment Committee of the European Council is organising a one-day meeting
(with half-day preparatory meeting on 31st January) to exchange views on
wages developments. The meeting will include European and national
representatives of trade unions and employer organisations as well as
representatives from labour ministries. Read
more at > EPSU
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The EIRO industrial relations observatory has published a new
study of restructuring in the electricity sector across Europe. It found that
employment has fallen considerably since the mid-1990s and restructuring and
reorganisation have continued ever since. The study argues that while the
business structure has undergone considerable change, industrial relations
have remained relatively stable, with continuing high union density rates and
collective bargaining coverage. Read
more at > EIRO (EN)
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The sectoral social dialogue committee for central government
administrations has signed its first framework agreement. The agreement for
quality service in central government includes a number of key commitments
to, among others, efficient public services, equity and integrity, quality of
life at work, trade union rights, communication and transparency in relation
to users and in the relationship between employers and employees. The text of
the agreement is available in French, German, Czech, Romanian, Greek, Spanish
and Italian. Read
more at > EPSU (EN)
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The ADEDY public sector confederation organised a 24-hour
strike on 19 December in its latest protest at austerity measures. It argues
that the cuts in public sector are so deep that it can no longer operate
effectively and deliver services to citizens. It is difficult to keep up with
the "reforms" being imposed on public sector workers but this
article by the EIRO industrial relations observatory reviews some of the main
cuts and freezes on pay and recruitment. There is a new public sector pay
structure, a weakening of the role of trade unions and restructuring of
public sector organisations, all carried out without any form of social
dialogue. Read
more at > ADEDY (GR) And
at > EIRO (EN)
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Workers in national administration are facing further changes
to their pay and hours with the government planning changes to sick pay,
holiday arrangements and working time flexibility. Sick pay will be reduced
when on short-term sickness with larger reductions for each subsequent case
of sickness absence in each year. Some government offices may be closed
completely for two weeks over the summer leaving employees no choice when to
take their holiday and their will also be restrictions on working time flexibility
so reversing measures that had increased employees’ work-life balance. Read
more at > FSC-CCOO (ES)
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Public services union Unison reports further successes in
ensuring that outsourced workers are paid at least the living wage as opposed
to being stuck on the lower official minimum wage. The living wage is
calculated on the basis of the cost of living and there are different rates
across the country. The new rate in London is £8.55 (€10.50) compared to the
national minimum wage for adult workers (21 and over) of £6.19 (€7.60) an
hour. Read
more at > Unison And
at > Unison And
at > Unison
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The government has refused to sign a job security agreement
covering central government workers. The unions will take the matter to
arbitration and in the meantime will try to secure agreements at ministry
level in order to provide protection for their members. The government is
also taking a hard line on pay, saying it wants another two years of pay
freeze on top of the two-year freeze in 2011 and 2012. Read
more at > FNV Abvakabo (NL) And
at > CNV Publieke Zaak (NL)
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The GDG-KMsFB union representing local and regional government
workers is working to establish new bargaining arrangements in response to
the government’s reluctance to negotiate a public sector wide pay increase.
In recent years some regional governments have also refused to implement the
increase negotiated at federal level. The union will work towards
establishing a new social partnership involving regional and local government
employers. It wants to see this happen by 2015 but will also work to ensure that
its members are not left without a pay increase in 2013 and 2014. Read
more at > GDG-KMfSB (DE)
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A new study commissioned by FIPSU, the group of nine public
sector unions, finds that in many cases any cost savings arising from
outsourcing have been at the expense of employees. The report also found that
workers affected by outsourcing end up being covered by inferior collective
agreements. The reasons for outsourcing are often political and ideological
and many public sector employers were reluctant to reveal what kind of cost
savings or quality changes the outsourcing had brought. Read
more at > FIPSU (EN)
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The Kommunal municipal union has submitted its main collective
bargaining demands to the SALAR and PACTA employer organisations. The union
is looking for a 2.8% pay increase with a minimum guaranteed increase of SEK
700 (€81). It is also calling for a reduction in the use of temporary
contracts in the local government sector where there are currently around
140000 fixed-term workers. Kommunal’s other claims include an end to split
shifts and higher additional payments for weekend and night work. Read
more at > Kommunal (SV)
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Workers have been getting a smaller share of national income,
as a bigger slice has gone to profits in most countries. This is one of the
main conclusions of the Global Wage Report 2012-13 published by the
International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO goes on to argue that this
has has wide-ranging economic and social implications, causing public
dissatisfaction and increasing the risk of social unrest. It has in many
cases hurt the economy by suppressing demand or causing unsustainable
household debts. The ILO also argues that reducing labour costs to boost
competitiveness on the export market appears an increasingly popular option
for crisis-hit countries but is not guaranteed to prevent economic stagnation
or current account deficits (when countries import more than they export,
including services and capital). Read
more at > ILO
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Services union vida has agreed a €45 increase in the minimum
wage covering assistants in private kindergartens that is regulated by the
Ministry of Social Affairs. This will bring the monthly minimum payment to
€1325. Read
more at > vida (DE)
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For the first time, the vida and GPA-DJP trade unions are
negotiating simultaneously 120000 health and social workers covered by three
agreements - private sector, charities and churches. They are calling for a real
wage increase that is a just reward for the physical and mental stress
endured by many workers in the sector. The unions also want to see changes to
pay that recognise workers’ experience in previous jobs, that take account of
parental leave and that ensure that Sunday and night payments have a bearing
on the calculation of Christmas and holiday pay. Read
more at > vida (DE)
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EPSU has published a new study looking at the history of pay
clauses in public procurement and focuses on five countries (Denmark, German,
Norway, Switzerland and the UK). The study provides ample evidence and
examples of the positive impact of pay clauses, which are also enshrined in
an International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention ratified by 10 EU
Member Stares. By requiring all bidders for public contracts to respect
locally established standards there is no downward pressure on wages and
working conditions and a level-playing field for competition. The study was
published to coincide with the current lobbying campaign around the revised
Procurement Directive. Read
more at > EPSU
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Public service union ver.di has called for a 6.5% pay increase
for employees of regional government. The pay claim is based on the need to
close the pay gap with the private sector and to keep pay increases in line
with those negotiated in the local and federal government agreement signed
earlier this year. Ver.di is also calling for jobs for those qualifying from
apprenticeships and for an increase of €100 in the apprentice allowance. The
union wants to negotiate improvements in employment conditions and will
demand that any agreement is immediately applied to the 1.2 million civil
servants who are not directly covered by collective bargaining. Read
more at > ver.di (DE)
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Meter readers employed by the E.ON energy multinational took a
day of strike action on Monday 17 December in protest at this year’s pay
offer and several years without a consolidated pay increase. They are also
protesting because management have received higher increases in recent years.
The workers will refuse to work overtime and will withdraw goodwill from 2
January until the dispute is resolved. Read
more at > Unite
Advice from EPSU 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 January 2013
epsucob@NEWS Collective Bargaining in the Public Services 2012 December
