Highlights, 16 May 2012

16 May 2012
Italy: Groundbreaking verdict for asbestos victims
A trial described as the biggest health and safety case ever heard in a European court ended on 1 February 2012 after almost three years of hearings. The Court of Turin sentenced two executives from the asbestos manufacturer Eternit S.p.A. to 16 years each in prison and ordered them to pay damages of €95 million. They were found guilty of causing an environmental disaster through their negligence and of knowingly failing to introduce adequate health and safety measures.
03 May 2012
Germany: German labour market in stable condition
In March 2012 the Institute for Employment Research released data that show measures used to combat the global financial and economic crisis are no longer needed to stabilise the German labour market. The number of short-time workers has plummeted since 2009, and the trend of reducing hours accumulated in employees’ working time accounts has stopped. However, despite a comparatively low unemployment rate of 7.4%, the social partners are divided on current developments.
03 May 2012
Austria: New agreement signals better deal for retail workers
Social dialogue in Austria’s retail sector has led to significant improvements for its employees, a large share of whom are women. The new collective agreement secured significant wage increases in the autumn collective bargaining round and improvements in working conditions include the crediting of up to ten months’ childcare or family hospice leave when calculating wage levels and long service payments. A recent Supreme Court verdict has also put an end to the practice of underpaying cashiers in the sector.
03 May 2012
United Kingdom: Government amends controversial work experience programme
In February 2012, the UK government announced changes to a work experience programme for young unemployed people, after some employers withdrew from or criticised the scheme amid high-profile allegations that it amounted to unpaid ‘forced labour’. After a meeting with employers, the government agreed to change the scheme, so that if young workers withdrew early from their work experience, they would no longer be under threat of losing their unemployment benefits.
03 May 2012
Malta: Unions committed to fair treatment for immigrant workers
A European Union-funded project examining discrimination in the workplace has found that Maltese trade unions respond well to specific issues affecting immigrants. The report highlights union initiatives to ensure equal pay and conditions for immigrant employees and publicise the pressures they face in the labour market. It concludes, however, that unions are not formulating more general anti-discrimination strategies that might address such problems before they arise.
23 Apr 2012
Germany: Temporary agency workers granted national minimum wage
National minimum wages for temporary agency workers came into force on 1 January 2012, setting a minimum hourly wage of €7.89 in western Germany and €7.01 in eastern Germany, including Berlin. Rates will increase to €8.19 in the west and €7.50 in the east from 1 November 2012. They apply to all temporary agency workers in Germany regardless of their employer’s country of origin. Around 900,000 workers are estimated to be covered by the decree, which expires on 31 October 2013.
23 Apr 2012
Hungary: Young doctors leave to work abroad
Hungarian trainee doctors are unhappy with their wages, claiming they earn less than fast-food restaurant workers. Since 2004, at least 3,000 physicians have left to work abroad, creating a growing problem with some 1,500 medical posts unfilled. The government has plans to retain young doctors, but resources are limited. The Hungarian Chamber of Doctors supports the trainees’ organisation, the Resident Doctors’ Association, in putting pressure on the government.
23 Apr 2012
Norway: EFTA Court rules on employment conditions of posted workers
In January 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association States (EFTA) gave its advisory opinion on the legality of extending Norway’s collective agreement to foreign workers in the shipyard and offshore yard industry. The court advised that foreign service providers could not be obliged to give compensation for travel, meals and lodging in accordance with the posted workers directive. Unions fear that foreign workers’ working conditions will suffer.
23 Apr 2012
Estonia: Teachers strike over low pay
After months of negotiations and demonstrations, the Estonian Education Personnel Union announced its members would strike between 7 and 10 March 2012 in protest at teachers’ low pay. Pay negotiations started in September 2011, and the teachers’ minimum wage has not risen since 2009, but the government has said that it does not have the resources to pay the 20% increase being demanded. Around 15,000 teachers took part in the strike and 4,000 demonstrated in Tallinn on 7 March.
23 Apr 2012
Cyprus: Industrial action in the construction sector
Since the beginning of 2012, a series of strikes have taken place in Cyprus in which workers have protested about violated labour agreements and the refusal of employers to grant wage increases. At the forefront of the country’s currently turbulent labour relations are construction sector workers, who have warned that they will step up industrial action if employers fail to enforce an agreement regulating subcontracting, or to accept government proposals for mediation.
23 Apr 2012
Czech Republic: Retail chain wins equal opportunities award
For the first time, a retail cosmetics and toiletries chain, DM Drogerie Markt, was among the recently announced winners of the Czech Republic’s ‘Company of the Year: Equal Opportunities Award 2011’. In first and third places were the bankers Česká spořitelna and IBM Czech Republic, less surprising winners since the banking and IT sectors are known for supporting female employees. The awards highlight the country’s most successful equal opportunities policies.
23 Apr 2012
EU Level: Commission publishes White Paper on sustainable pensions
In February 2012, the European Commission published a White Paper looking at how to create adequate, safe and sustainable pensions in the European Union. The White Paper contains a range of hard and soft initiatives intended to help create conditions that will enable a balance between time spent working and time in retirement, to ensure that those who move to another country can keep their pension rights, and to help people obtain adequate pensions once they are retired.
05 Apr 2012
EU Level: New agreement on working time in inland waterways
On 15 February 2012, the EU-level social partners in the inland waterways sector signed an agreement setting out specific rules governing working time for workers on passenger or cargo transport ships in inland waterways across the EU. The agreement, which was amicably reached by the partners, covers weekly working time, night working, holidays and daily and weekly rest periods. The agreement means that the Working Time Directive will no longer apply to this sector.
05 Apr 2012
Belgium: Union protest against government’s austerity package
The first austerity measures and pension reforms introduced by Belgium’s new Di Rupo government were met with trade union protests. After a hastily organised public sector strike, the first general 24-hour strike since 1993 was called by three union confederations. The direct cause of the protest was the lack of social dialogue on proposed reforms to the pension system. However, a more fundamental issue has become the polarisation over handling the current crisis.
30 Mar 2012
EU Level: Commission issues 2012 work programme
The European Commission issued its 2012 work programme in mid-November 2011, in which it sets out its priorities in the employment and social affairs field for 2012. Key issues it will focus on include restructuring, flexicurity and the labour market, in the context of an ongoing challenging economic environment. The Commission makes it clear that youth unemployment remains one of the most pressing challenges the Union faces and aims to address this with various actions.
30 Mar 2012
Estonia: Small minimum wage increase agreed
At the end of December 2011, Estonia’s social partners agreed to increase the monthly national minimum wage from €278 to €290 from 1 January 2012. This increase was surprising, as employers had rejected the idea in September, saying that the economy was still weak. Although the increase was well below the 15% demanded by union negotiators, it is being regarded as a step forward after three years of standstill, given that this is the first time the minimum wage has changed since 2008.
30 Mar 2012
Slovenia: Unions attack new subsidies for self-employment
The Union of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (ZSSS) has criticised an increase in funding by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs for workers who want to become self-employed. The ZSSS claims that the ministry is promoting a precarious form of work, and that the ministry needs to focus on training for self-employed people. It also argues that the ministry is allowing the practice of bogus self-employment, which is rife in the construction sector, to go unchecked.
21 Mar 2012
United Kingdom: Key cases highlight impact of consultation legislation
Few employee or trade union complaints were brought under the UK’s Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations (ICE) between 2005–2011, a recent analysis has revealed. However, it also shows that decisions on ICE cases by the Central Arbitration Committee and Employment Appeal Tribunal have addressed key aspects of the legislative framework with significant implications for both employers and unions, suggesting that the regulations can be highly effective.
21 Mar 2012
Italy: Fincantieri to cut 1,200 jobs in restucturing plan
At the end of December 2011, Italy’s state-controlled shipbuilder, Fincantieri, and the unions, Fim-Cisl, Uilm-Uil, Ugl and Failms-Cisal, reached agreement on the company's restructuring programme. However, the largest sectoral trade union, the Fiom-Cgil, refused to sign the agreement because 1,200 jobs will be cut. The future of two of the firm’s eight production plants is also unclear. Fincantieri workers have organised national protests against the programme.
21 Mar 2012
Sweden: Unions divided over Euro Pact
The question of whether Sweden should have approved the Euro Pact has sparked divisions within the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). In a press release on 3 February 2012, the leadership of the 6F amalgamation of unions openly opposed a statement in support of the pact made by the LO President Wanja Lundby-Wedin. LO’s committee will have to work hard to heal the split before the election of a new LO president, which takes place in May and is being contested by four candidates.
12 Mar 2012
Greece: Steelworkers’ strike continues into fifth month
The steel workers’ strike at the Aspropyrgos plant of steel manufacturer Hellenic Halyvourgia is becoming entrenched, with workers now into their fourth month on the picket line. The strikers say they will not end their protest unless Hellenic Halyvourgia renstates 50 colleagues who were made redundant in October 2011. Management maintains that the loss-making plant can only continue to operate with fewer employees and shorter shifts for those that remain.
12 Mar 2012
Italy: New measures to tackle undeclared work in agriculture
At the end of 2011, the Puglia Region in southern Italy introduced innovative measures to tackle the problem of undeclared work in the agricultural sector. This sector has the highest rate of undeclared work in the country, and there is also a worrying amount of exploitation of foreign workers. The measures, following a union initiative, were adopted after demonstrations and strikes by foreign workers in summer 2011, and will be overseen by the social partners.
05 Mar 2012
Spain: Unions oppose new law sanctioning greater flexibility
On 11 February 2012, the Spanish Government brought in labour legislation which radically changed existing rules on collective bargaining and employment protection. The government’s main goals were to encourage open-ended contracts as well as other forms of work, to promote internal flexibility and to improve the efficiency of the labour market. The reform is strongly opposed by unions, who have organised a national protest, and who are threatening a general strike.
27 Feb 2012
Portugal: Unions split over tough labour agreement
The Portuguese government and only one of the country’s two main union confederations, the General Workers’ Union (UGT), signed a new labour agreement on 18 January. Ministers had set up the bilateral talks on growth, competitiveness and employment after a general strike. Although the government withdrew proposals to increase working time, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) refused to sign because other rights of workers have been severely curtailed.
21 Feb 2012
Portugal: Unions force government back to table on working time
Trade unions opposed the Portuguese government’s plans to increase daily working time by half an hour without pay. Ignoring their protests, the government sent a draft bill to parliament without discussing it with the social partners. Employers were not enthusiastic about the proposal, with the exception of the Portuguese Confederation of Industry. After trade union protests and escalating criticism, the government returned to tripartite negotiations on the issue.

Latest studies

News

Updated IR: the global picture
Conference on The role of social partners in tackling the crisis
Eurofound Observer, a monthly selection of articles from Eurofound's Observatories Log in or sign up to subscribe