Jul 13, 2015
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Next year's budget could be forced to lift the budget for around 3.5 million workers.
The country’s highest court ruled that a public-sector wage freeze in place since 2010 was illegal. The decision will force the government in next year's budget to lift the budget for around 3.5 million workers. However, the court stopped short of ordering the government to compensate workers for raises they missed out on. Making up for five years of freezes would have cost the government around €35 billion. The wage freeze was brought in by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's government for a three-year period, extended by successive governments, and would have run until 2017. Trade unions have always contested the measure.
English: http://www.thelocal.it/20150625/public-sector-wage-freeze-is-illegal …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.