Trade union confederation CITUB has been helping disadvantaged children in Bulgaria during the pandemic.

Icelandic trade unions have resisted moves by the country’s Confederation of Enterprise to break the collective agreement signed in 2019, covering over 100,000 workers. The deal is valid until 1 November 2022 and raises minimum wages by ISK 90,000 (€550) over the contract period. But under financial pressure caused by the global pandemic, the Confederation of Enterprise (SA) considered pulling out.

Ver.di, the trade union representing health and care workers in Germany, has agreed with the employers’ organisation BVAP on a €1,500 bonus for nursing staff and caregivers in recognition of their work during the corona crisis. Part-time workers and trainees also get an extra payment in July.

Spanish trade unions in the chemicals industry have agreed health recommendations with the employers’ organisation Feique. Drawn up with Fica UGT and CCOO Industria, the document aims at protecting chemical sector workers and preventing the spread of COVID-19, while allowing production to resume. The proposed prevention measures bring together many of the steps implemented in different areas of the sector. “The chemical industry has been continuously and permanently monitoring the revision of new measures to guarantee the safety of personnel,” states the report.

An emergency agreement between Swedish unions and employers, dating back to the country’s devastating forest fires in 2018, has benefitted many frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dutch building workers’ union FNV Bouwen en Wonenhas reached a deal with construction employers on how to manage COVID-19 risks. The union carried out a survey of 1,300 workers in the sector on the effects of the pandemic and found that only one-third felt safe in their jobs.

The social partners in Austria developed a model of subsidised short-time work in a bid to prevent a rising toll of unemployment due to the COVID-19 crisis. The scheme, introduced on 20 March, allowed a temporary reduction in working hours while maintaining the employment relationship and paying workers up to 90% of their previous net earnings. The measure aimed to secure a fast return to pre-crisis economic activity.

Over the last year, union membership in the UK has increased by 91,000, reaching a total of over 200,000 new members since 2017.There has been a surge in affiliations since the start of the pandemic in Britain, although in some other countries unions are suffering due to soaring unemployment. The biggest change in the UK came from a rise of 170,000 in the number of women workers joining trade unions. There are now more women carrying a union card than at any time since 1995.

Increasing union density in firms boosts both productivity and wages – it's official.   A study on the effects of union density (union employees as a percentage of the total number of employees) in Norway found that higher trade union membership led to "substantial increases" in productivity and wages. The more bargaining power a union has, the greater the increases.

Italy’s public service unions - Fp CGIL, CISL Fp and UIL Fpl - have signed a new three-year agreement with the Red Cross, running until 2022. It brings a pay increase of around 4.5%, as well as a number of other benefits.

Trade unions welcomed the Welsh government’s decision to award all care workers a £500 (€570) bonus in recognition of the work they have been doing during the COVID-19 crisis. 

In France, the CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO trade unions signed an agreement on a safe return to work after COVID-19 with automotive supplier Valeo. The management and unions agreed on enhanced security measures to allow the restart of production, suspended due to the pandemic.

The Hungarian metal workers union VASAS has struck a deal with the management of Mercedes to maintain workers’ wages and job security during the COVID-19 lockdown, despite a halt in production at the end of March. More than 4,400 workers were affected by the shutdown at the plant in Kecskemét. The company also agreed not to apply the government decree that allows employers to unilaterally allocate working hours within a 24-month time frame.

A new collective agreement reached at the end of May will cover thousands of municipal workers in Finland, including teachers, nurses and other healthcare workers, many of whom have been on the front line fighting the coronavirus epidemic.

The proportion of temporary agency workers has been increasing in the EU, although these contracts tend to mean less security, fewer benefits and lower job satisfaction. But in Germany, trade unions negotiate collectively on behalf of some 98% of agency workers. Eight DGB member unions have reached a collective agreement for around 750,000 temporary agency workers, in force from January 2020.

British trade union Bectu, which organises in the media and creative industries, is investigating the working conditions of fashion assistants. The union wants to uncover the scale of abuse among junior staff, as portrayed in the film ‘The Devil Wears Prada’.

The Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) has teamed up with the Association of Journalists (AJM), the Council of Media Ethics, NGO Onlimit Media and news portal Vidi Vaka to sign the European

Apprentices in the Swiss insulation industry will, for the first time, be sure of earning a guaranteed minimum wage as of January 2020. A collective bargaining agreement (Gesamtarbeitsvertrag – GAV) between the industry association ISOLSUISSE and the trade union Unia not only benefits learners but also increases wages and expenses for around 2,000 insulation plumbers. Apprentices starting out in the business will receive a minimum wage of 1,000 francs (€932,40) per month, increasing in the second and third years of apprenticeship.

Trade union collective bargaining is helping young workers in Belgium and elsewhere to obtain better pay and working conditions. In 2016 the Belgian government introduced unfair, sub-minimum wage levels for young workers, supposedly to create 1,000 new jobs in the wake of the economic crisis. But while the jobs never materialised, this austerity measure had a disastrous impact on the working and living conditions of some 45,000 young people, who suffered cuts in social protection and a drop in wages of up to 18%.

Spanish trade unionists joined civil society organisations in a march through the city of Ceuta in February, calling for justice and fair treatment for refugees and migrants. Several hundred people took part in the seventh March for Dignity, including CC.OO Confederal Secretary of Employment and Professional Qualifications, Lola Santillana. With the slogan ‘In front of your walls, we build bridges’, they demanded respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international humanitarian law, and compliance with the Spanish immigration framework.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions united with community and religious groups and civil society organisations in calling on all candidates in the February 2020 general election to conduct a respectful and truthful campaign.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Polish Solidarność movement, trade union leaders met Pope Francis in the Vatican in Rome. The ETUC-affiliated union, launched by Lech Walesa and others in 1980 at the former Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk, became the first independent labour union in a Soviet country. The Pontiff recalled that throughout the 1980s it not only achieved political and social change in Poland but also inspired others outside the country’s borders.

The Cyprus Union of Bank Employees – the country’s main union representing banking staff –  has concluded a collective agreement with the two largest banks: Bank of Cyprus and Astrobank. The deal means an across-the-board pay rise for all staff of €115 per month. Cost of living allowances will increase from 2021 onwards. But employers’ contributions to the union’s provident fund will be cut by 1%.

Job security is the priority for the IG Metall union, representing German metalworkers, in the current collective bargaining round. In 2019, Germany’s metal and electrical industry – employing some 4 million workers – experienced the biggest drop in production since the economic crisis, putting thousands of jobs at risk. So instead of targeting higher wages,  the metalworkers’ union is focusing on employment protection, seeking a “future package” including shorter working hours instead of layoffs, and further training.

Some 200,000 employees in hospitals in the Netherlands will benefit from a new collective agreement between unions and employers. Workers covered by the accord will get a total pay increase of 8% over 27 months. The deal also extends recovery time after on-call duty from six to eight hours, in a move to improve work-life balance. Staff will get their full salary while on sick leave, up from 90%, and the agreement awarded all hospital workers a one-off gross payment of €1,200 in January.