The role of care workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has been recognised in the Spanish province of Malaga, with an 18% pay increase. The rise will apply to home help staff who support people in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, bringing the hourly wage to €14.60 – the first change since 2007. 

The 2,600 staff of Austria’s federal museums are to have a joint collective agreement after a long campaign by the works councils and the public service union Gewerkschaft Öffentlicher Dienst (GÖD), under the hashtag #WirGehenLeerAus.

Turkish and Dutch trade unions are working together to defend their countries’ public services.  At an online meeting in May, union leaders discussed how outsourcing, privatisation and commercialisation are affecting their public services, and what trade unions can do to prevent privatisation, or to bring services back into public ownership.  

Energy workers in Germany have secured a €1,000 one-off payment in recognition of their work during the pandemic. The deal negotiated by the ver.di trade union on behalf of some 35,000 workers includes a 2.3% pay increase backdated to 1 January. The 27-month agreement that runs until 31 March 2023 provides for a second pay rise of 1.5% in June 2022. Apprentices will get a €600 corona bonus as well as increased pay, with a guaranteed job for all apprentices who complete their training, until 2024.

Trade unions in Finland are setting the pace in promoting women to top positions, compared with employers’ organisations, according to research by Finnish broadcaster YLE. The survey found that women held almost half of trade union board seats, compared with only around one-fifth of equivalent positions in employers’ federations. Ninety-two women and 97 men had places on the executives of the 10 main Finnish unions, with trade unions with large female memberships tending to elect more women.

Branches of ETUC-affiliated trade unions in Italy, Filctem Cgil, Femca Cisl, and Uiltec Uil, have signed an agreement with oil company ENI that promotes a just transition for workers, as the business prepares to reduce its carbon footprint. They agreed on a protocol to pave the way for discussions on ENI’s new business structure and its impact on human resources. The objective is to meet the challenge of energy transition in an inclusive way, based on social dialogue and preliminary consultation, with jobs at its heart. 

Trade unions and private-sector employers in Austria have negotiated a ground-breaking cross-sector collective agreement on measures to protect workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Belgian trade unions have concluded a new nationwide agreement setting out the rules for teleworking during the Covid-19 crisis until the end of 2021 and consolidating some workers’ rights. The agreement, approved by employers’ organisations and the country’s National Labour Council, provides a framework for negotiations in companies or industries that do not have existing collective agreements on teleworking.

Trade unions in France have taken action to preserve hundreds of jobs in the struggling aviation industry since 2020. CFE-CGC, CFTC and FO, the three trade unions represented at the Airbus aerospace group’s helicopter production subsidiary, have concluded several agreements aimed at safeguarding the future of its two French sites.

Cyprus’ Democratic Labour Federation (Deok) has called for legislation obliging employers to take action to deal with sexual harassment at work. The demand follows public outcry over a series of sexual harassment and abuse reports in Greece and Cyprus. According to the union, thousands of employees experience sexual harassment and abuse daily, but only a few businesses have adopted procedures to handle such incidents.

Danish trade unions are taking steps to welcome and support Eastern European and other migrant workers who often suffer unequal pay and poor working conditions. The 3F BJMF building workers’ union has designed posters in some seven languages, providing information on how to get in touch with people who can offer support, and other union initiatives.

Sweden’s IF Metall trade union has negotiated a collective agreement that will benefit the many low-paid workers in the country’s laundry industry.

Following agreement with trade unions and employers, Spain’s Labour Ministry has announced the introduction of legislation that will give security to food delivery riders employed through digital platforms like Deliveroo.

Unite the union and the management of the Rolls-Royce factory in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, have agreed on a plan to save the plant and 350 jobs that are vital to the local community.

The Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro has adopted a platform setting out policy proposals for the newly formed government, covering the economy and labour market, taxation, public administration reform, social policy and trade union rights and freedoms.

Collective bargaining by trade unions has been paying off in the Netherlands, where 2020 saw an average 3% rise in wages – the biggest increase in 12 years. Employees in industry, construction and catering obtained rises of over 3.5%, according to Statistics Netherlands.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many industries are likely to accelerate efforts to restructure their operations, creating uncertainty for employees. It is vital that trade unions should be involved in the recovery process at all levels. Germany’s DGB Confederation has published a new report outlining 21 projects that could map the way forward for structural change in the future.

In October, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved regulations guaranteeing equal pay between men and women and requiring companies to prepare and register equality plans. The measures were negotiated and signed by the trade unions CCOO and UGT.

The UK needs to invest in creating jobs to prevent mass unemployment and severe recession in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, says the Trades Union Congress.

The Polish government has reached a deal with trade unions to gradually close the country’s coal mines by 2049. NSZZ Solidarnosc SGIE, OPZZ ZZG w Polsce and Kadra agreed on the start of negotiations to set out the way forward.

Trade unions and employers in Austria’s metalworking industry took just one hour to negotiate a new wage agreement covering the sector’s 190,000 employees. It brings a pay increase of 1.45% from November, equivalent to the national inflation rate over the past 12 months. Companies that continue to perform well have agreed to award a voluntary tax-exempt corona bonus of €150.

French trade unions have signed an agreement with engineering and electronics company Bosch, France, setting the terms for the application of official, long-term, short-time working arrangements, valid until June 2022.

Uber is an employer and its drivers are employees, according to a legal judgement by a Swiss appeal court. Trade unions hailed the ruling as a ‘landmark decision’. 

Working from home during the pandemic has meant extra costs for many people. In the Netherlands, the FNV trade union federation has made an additional homeworking allowance one of its demands in the current pay round. In the latest collective agreement covering civil servants, trade unions have won a €363 annual payment for those who work at home. It is the first time that a specific payment for homeworking has been included in a statutory pay deal. 

Trade unions and employers in Italy’s rubber and plastics industry have agreed to renew their national collective agreement, covering multinational tyre companies such as Pirelli, Michelin and Bridgestone and affecting some 130,000 workers. The deal, signed by trade unions Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uiltec, also provides for a minimum salary increase of €63, awarded in two instalments of €32 in January 2021 and €31 in January  2022.