Negotiations over pay are getting underway in the state and local government sectors, with unions seeking to protect their members’ purchasing power and focusing on support for the lower paid. This means there are arguments for a flat-rate increase that will benefit the lower paid, including often undervalued groups like cleaners who have played a key role in the pandemic. More generally, the unions also argue that the negotiations have to address the fact that many of their members have seen working time and overtime increase to maintain services during the pandemic, while those switching to telework have seen a blurring of the separation between work and leisure time.
Read on: in English. Read on: in Norwegian.
For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.