The ETUC’s Dutch affiliate FNV has won an important court case against a subcontractor for the IKEA furniture sales giant, combatting social dumping among delivery drivers. Brinkman Trans Holland, based in Emmen in the Netherlands, transports goods for IKEA and subcontracts work to companies based in Eastern Europe. By hiring drivers from Poland and Moldova to work in western Europe on low-paid eastern European contracts, these firms aimed to circumvent Dutch tax, social security payments and workers’ rights.

Trade unions in Estonia have secured a new minimum wage for 2019, to be paid by employers throughout the country. The minimum wage agreement is equivalent to a top-level, universal collective pay deal, which means that it applies to all Estonian employers. Next year, a full-time employee will earn no less than €540 a month – up from €500 in 2018 – or €3.2 an hour.

A pact between the social partners and the Spanish government provides for €250 million to be invested in mining communities, as the country’s coalmines shut down in the near future.

Unite the union has launched a ‘Period Dignity’ campaign to secure access to sanitary protection in workplaces across the UK. The campaign includes a range of communication materials including a video and tools to help union members encourage employers to support the campaign and provide free tampons and pads in staff toilets.

Bike couriers from all over Europe came together in Brussels in October to launch a Transnational Courier Federation.

Trade unions and employers in Luxembourg’s building sector have reached a new collective agreement after two and a half years of bargaining.

Trade unions have secured an agreement with Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever that commits the company to respect trade union rights.

Collective bargaining in Austria has brought positive results for workers in the metal and railway sectors. A trade union agreement with the Association of Metal Industries will mean significant wage and salary increases of 3% to 4.3%, or at least €1,120 per year. Apprentices in particular will benefit from a pay hike of up to 16%. Some 6,600 apprentices in the metal-working industry will get an increase in their first year of €100 euros to raise their earnings to €719, rising to €920 in the second, €1,204 in the third and €1,590 in the fourth year of training.

Dear readers, We’re pleased to publish the latest edition of Workers’ Voice National UPdates, demonstrating how national and sectoral trade union organisations in different countries and industries are taking a constructive role in promoting social progress and justice in Europe, often working in cooperation with employers, governments and civil society organisations. In this issue, trade union activities range from brightening the lives of disadvantaged children to tackling intercommunal misunderstandings. 

Ryanair, the notoriously anti-union low-cost travel company, has signed a series of union recognition agreements in the European countries where it operates, in recent months.

Journalists’ trade unions in Cyprus have joined together in a bid to overcome the longstanding social tensions that divide Greek and Turkish Cypriots and help media workers to be more aware of the sensitivities of neighbouring communities.

A meeting of the World Players Association and UNI Europa Sport in Brussels in July gave its backing to a strong European Basketball Alliance to help overcome the obstacles facing many female players. Among the top athletes taking part were Melissa Diawak, Maud Medenou and Pauline Lithard from France, Kathrin Ress and Martina Fassina from Italy, Olympic medallist Lucila Pascua Suárez from Spain and Gülşah Akkaya from Turkey.

Dutch unions FNV and NU'91 have secured a new collective agreement offering 9,000 maternity nurses a 5.75% pay rise over two years, with 10% increases in the first two years of employment, to make the job more attractive to young workers.

The ETUC’s three Italian affiliates have secured a new collective agreement 2017-2019 for the 20,000 employees of the ANPAS non-profit national emergency and social assistance organisation, offering a basic pay increase of €85 (around 5.7% for emergency drivers) and a one-off payment of €300. Other key provisions cover training, transport time, illness and injury, limitations on fixed-term contracts, recognition of civil partnerships and enhanced rights for women. The unions hope that this will lead to other agreements in the non-profit sector.

In 2018, the metalworkers’ federation (FGTB) of Hainaut-Namur in Belgium helped once more to offer disadvantaged young people a summer to remember.

A new framework agreement on the platform economy in Denmark will establish a ‘sharing economy council’, where the social partners will work with government and experts to define fair employment conditions in the sector. LO-Denmark has welcomed the deal, involving the Danish government and three political parties, which builds on earlier trade union proposals. It means digital platforms will have to report automatically to Danish tax authorities. The government will invest 10 million DKK in tax control measures targeting platform companies.

Irish union SIPTU has negotiated an agreement to bring an end to precarious working for around 8,000 home carers in the community, providing significant improvements to their pay and conditions and benefitting the people who depend on their services.

Some 3,500 new young teachers are expected to enter Bulgarian schools in 2019 thanks to a 20% increase in salaries. The Bulgarian Teachers' branch of CITUB has reached a collective agreement with the government to raise wages in the upcoming academic year to meet the challenges facing the education system. The government has also pledged to increase the average gross wage in secondary schools to 1,500 leva (€766) by 2021. “This will have a positive effect on staffing," said union chair Yanka Takeva in an interview with FOCUS News Agency.

Turkish workers employed in the contact centre of German airline Lufthansa are hoping to secure a collective agreement with the company. The 268 staff, who provide customer service to clients in Turkish, German and English, are members of the Sosyal-IS union, which began organising in early 2018. The union now represents the majority of Lufthansa contact centre employees in Turkey.

Trade unions in Spain have urged the government to step up the fight against sexual exploitation and trafficking of human beings.

Dear readers, Welcome to the summer 2018 edition of Workers’ Voice National UPdates, showing how trade unions in different countries are taking a constructive role in promoting social progress and justice in Europe, in collaboration with employers, governments and civil society organisations. To coincide with the ETUI-ETUC conference on ‘The worlds of work in transition’, this newsletter highlights examples of how unions are involved in organising workers and improving conditions in Europe’s new digital industries.

Amazon workers are celebrating a significant victory. An agreement between Amazon and Italian trade unions is thought to be a first in the multinational distribution company’s history. It aims to reduce mandatory night shifts and share out weekend work in a fairer way.

A landmark agreement between Danish cleaning services digital platform Hilfr and the United Federation of Danish Workers (3F) takes a ground-breaking step towards safeguarding the rights of online workers – guaranteeing the same conditions as elsewhere on the Danish labour market. The one-year ‘trial’ agreement – in force from 1 August – covers pensions and sickness benefits, holiday pay and collectively agreed wages. 3F President Per Christensen hopes in future to include unemployment benefits, training and education.

With the support of Austrian transport and services union vida, cyclists working for restaurant delivery service Foodora in Vienna have set up a works council (Betriebsrat), as a first step towards bargaining for better working conditions. The move is another milestone in trade union organisation in the digital economy: it is one of the first works councils within an app- or platform-based business.  

A number of fixed-term contract workers at the Danone Nutricia Research Centre in the Netherlands have moved into secure jobs, thanks to the intervention of the FNV trade union.