A collective agreement covering painters in the Netherlands, guaranteeing automatic wage indexation, means that 16,000 workers in the sector will get a 10.3% pay rise. The new agreement (SAVG) stipulates that wage increases for 2023, 2024 and 2025 at least equal the consumer price index.

The Finnish trade unions Tehy and SuPer have reached an agreement with municipal employers covering pay developments over five years, Covid-19 compensation payments and other improvements to working conditions. The average salary in the health and social services sector will increase by at least 17.3% over five years, with an increase of 15.3% in the first three years. Workers who were involved in treating Covid-19 patients will get a separate one-off payment of €600. It will bring nurses’ average monthly pay to over €3,000.

In the wake of Covid-19, understanding the mental health impact of the pandemic and learning from the way it was handled is crucial for trade unions.

The German ver.di trade union and Swedish fashion retailer H&M have concluded the first ever collective agreement on digitisation in the retail sector. It applies to the 14,300 employees of H&M nationwide. “We want to set exemplary standards with this collective agreement," said ver.di negotiator Cosimo-Damiano Quinto.

The Irish government is considering a new plan that would penalise employers who fail to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with trade unions. The final report of a high-level working group set up to review collective bargaining and industrial relations recommends a ‘good faith engagement’ between employers and unions. Under the proposal, if a union represents 10% or more of a grade, group or category within a company, the employer must engage with the union and can be ordered to do so by the Court.

The Amsterdam District Court in the Netherlands has ruled that Deliveroo meal deliverers are employees under the terms of the collective agreement for professional freight transport and must therefore be paid as employees – the outcome of a case launched by the FNV union in 2018. It concerns a group of 12 workers employed by Deliveroo before 2018, who demanded a supplementary wage payment based on the collective agreement for professional freight transport.

Over 145,000 people are employed in Romania’s textile, clothing, leather and footwear sectors. European social partners and policymakers have been meeting in Bucharest to discuss how to adapt the industry to a digital and sustainable future. The TCLF sectors are significant for Romania’s economy, employing 14% of workers in the manufacturing sector. The country is a major exporter, mainly to the EU, so future EU legislation aimed at ensuring only sustainable TCLF products reach the European market from 2030 will have a major impact.

Workers at the Thales Digital Identity and Security (DIS) printworks in Poland have joined together to set up their own branch of the ZZP union, with the support of Thales trade union organisations from across Europe.

Van drivers working for the state-run Norwegian postal service Posten and its subsidiary Bring will get permanent contracts, following a major win by the trade union Fagforbundet. Up until now, the companies have relied on ‘self-employed’ drivers to transport parcels and goods. “The workforce has not had the security that lies in an employment relationship with, among other things, regulated working hours, pension rights, earned holiday pay and the right to sick pay,” said the head of the Post and Finance Trade Union Gerd Øiahals.

A milestone agreement between Italian unions FIOM-Cgil, FIM-Cisl and UILM and Trieste-based Fincantieri, Italy’s largest shipbuilding group, sets new standards on diversity, inclusion, work-life balance and employee well-being.

Swedish trade unions have agreed to work more closely together in coordinating collective bargaining and wage claims. The LO confederation, with 14 affiliates representing mainly blue-collar workers, has worked out a formula for coordinated collective bargaining on pay in the upcoming wage round. This includes a commitment to focus on lower-paid workers, with the aim of securing higher minimum wages to underpin general percentage pay rises. Discussions continue on the specific figures to be applied.

The British Trades Union Congress is supporting Disability History Month, celebrated in the UK from November to December and focusing on disabled people’s struggle for equality and human rights across society.

Dear readers, As soaring inflation raises food and energy prices and the war in Ukraine drags on, trade unions across Europe are fighting to defend their members’ living standards. Securing higher wages and better working conditions are unions’ core business, but they do much more. In this edition of Workers’ Voice National UPdates, we look as well at some of the other ways trade unions are working for a better society. 

Around Europe, trade unions are calling for action to combat the astronomical rates of inflation that are putting food and energy bills beyond the reach of many workers.

Following pressure from the trade union confederation ÖGB and the AK (Chamber of Labour), Austria’s federal government has put forward an anti-inflation package with measures to help the population in the short and longer-terms, implementing a significant number of the social partners’ demands.

Trade unions in Belgium are mobilising on 21 September, demanding government action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, lower energy bills and recognise that liberalisation of the energy market has been a failure for consumers.

An autumn of action is on the agenda for trade unions in the UK. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling for a minimum wage of £15 (€17.35), help with soaring energy bills, and a real pay rise for every worker.

Staff at the Spanish telecommunications operator Telefonica will be able to opt for a four-day week from this month (September), The so-called jornada semanal flexible bonificada (flexible working week with bonus) will be open to the group’s 18,000 employees

Multinational motor manufacturer Stellantis has signed a new agreement with trade unions in France to promote female employment and gender equality in the sector.

The German trade union confederation DGB and its collective bargaining partners have agreed new pay rates for temporary workers. The changes mean wage increases between 16 and 24.1% for the three lowest wage groups. Adjustments become necessary after the Bundestag agreed to increase the statutory minimum wage to €12, from 1 October this year. The agreement also includes an additional bonus for trade union members:  an extra €150 in holiday and Christmas bonuses from November 2023 for workers who have belonged to a trade union for at least six months.

Italian trade unionists have linked up with Libera, the organisation established in 1995 to bring together all sectors of society to combat the Italian mafias.

A court in Turkey has upheld the right of workers at the Posco Assan steel plant in Kocaeli to be represented by the union Birleşik Metal-İş and said that 80 employees who joined the union were unfairly dismissed.

This summer, young people planted thousands of saplings in the forest named after Finnish trade union confederation Akava, in North Ostrobothnia. The 4H organisation’s Taimiteko project is restoring forests in areas where peat has been taken for energy production, and at the same time supporting summer employment for young people.

July 24 was a day to remember and pay tribute to the work of night and shift workers in Belgium. Trade unionists established Shift-workers’ Day in 2021 to highlight the sometimes-invisible contribution of the women and men who are on duty at all times of the day or night, 24 hours, seven days a week, to keep essential services running. They are the workers who ensure the continuous operation of society’s activities, businesses and sectors.

In July, Peep Peterson left his position as president of the Estonian Trade Union Confederation (EAKL) at short notice to take up an important role as Minister of Health and Labour in the new Estonian coalition government. Peep Peterson had led the EAKL since 2013. With qualifications in law and journalism, he speaks Estonian, English, German, Russian, Finnish, and Latvian. From 2003 to 2013 he was chair of the Management Board of the Estonian Transport and Road Workers’ Trade Union.