Poland: Health workers strike and demonstrate to win higher pay
Nurses and other health workers have been demonstrating and taking strike action in Poland in a
campaign to win higher pay. So far, the government has offered to increase pay by 15% over the
next three years. Around 200 nurses have been camped outside the prime minister’s office for
several weeks with a small number briefly threatening a hunger strike over the issue.
ETUC attacks pensions directive
Following a vote in the European Parliament, the ETUC has attacked the latest version of the
directive on the portability of pension rights for being much weaker than the original version. The
ETUC points out that the directive no longer contains any provision covering transfer of
entitlement and its minimum standards for vesting rights (five years rather than two) and age of
pension scheme membership (25 rather than 21) are too high, excluding many workers from
being covered by supplementary schemes.
The minimum wage in Europe
Eurostat has published its annual survey of the statutory minimum wages in the 20 European
countries that have legal minima. The countries break down into four groups based on the
minimum rates as percentage of average earnings:
Less than 35%: Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia
36%-41%: United Kingdom, Hungary, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal
45%-46% Slovenia and the Netherlands
Over 49%: Bulgaria, Malta, Luxembourg and Ireland.
Campaigning for better pay for receptionists
The GPA-DJP trade union has launched a campaign to win better pay and conditions for
receptionists in doctors’ surgeries. The union is calling for a 1,100 Euro minimum monthly salary
(currently 800E Euros) and a 40 hour week. The union points out that these workers have a
demanding job, having to combine administrative, social and medical skills.
IMPACT wins Labour Court judgement
The public service union IMPACT has won a Labour Court judgement stating that managers at
University College Hospital Galway should have consulted over the proposal to use agency staff
for a range of clerical and administrative jobs. The union points out that the agency workers are
doing the same job as permanent staff but for less pay. The Court has required the hospital to
take immediate steps to take on permanent staff rather than agency workers.
Civil servants balloted
Civil servants are being balloted over the introduction of a new pension scheme. Existing pension
scheme members can retain their current arrangements including the right to retire at 60. New
starters will have 65 as normal pension age and a pension scheme based on career average
salary rather than final salary. However, pension entitlement will build up more quickly each year.
There will also be a new right to work and draw pension at the same time. The leadership of the
PCS union is recommending acceptance of the new arrangements.
Verdi union negotiates new working time agreement
Services union Verdi has negotiated a new working time arrangement with the rehabilitation
clinics owned by the Helios group. The agreement will mean that on-call time will be counted as
part of working hours. The 4,000 workers in the 19 clinics will have new flexible hours
arrangements that will average out at 38.5 hours a week in the West and 40 a week in the East.
Verdi union ends strike
The Verdi services union has ended the strike in the Deutsche Telekom company following a
compromise over the company’s plans for outsourcing of 50,000 jobs. The outsourcing to three
new companies will go ahead but the employees affected will not suffer the level of pay cuts
initially sought by the company. However, there will be a 6.5% cut in pay and increase in weekly
hours from 34 to 38. At the same time there is a commitment to reduce outsourcing and to
increase training. The company has agreed that there will be no redundancies at least until 2012.
Public service federation calls for strike action
The FSAP-CCOO public service federation has called on civil servants and employees of the
foreign office in embassies around the world to take strike action in protest at the government’s
failure to confirm that workers are covered by the basic statute that covers all public sector
workers as a minimum. The union says that the government has not honoured promises made at
the last election and that the workers are in an ambiguous position in terms of their employment
conditions. The union has also criticised the pressure faced by some embassy staff not to go on
strike.
Industrial relations annual review published
The EIRO industrial relations observatory has published its annual review of industrial relations
developments in Europe, covering the year’s main developments in European social dialogue and
employment legislation and policy. It also presents a comparative overview of the most
noteworthy industrial relations developments at national level. It examines the key issues covered
by collective bargaining and highlights the issues of cross-border mobility and reconciliation of
work and private life.
Information from the European Federation of Public Service Unions: http://www.epsu.org/