Publications

Lithuanian Statistics (LS [1]) has been gathering data on the membership of
trade unions since 2006. In that year, the number of union members was
recorded at 115,700. In 2008, membership had decreased to 111,700. By the
following year, there had been a slight increase to 115,400, accounting for
13% of those working with employment contracts in Lithuania. In the same
year, 2009, trade unions collected a record amount in membership fees,
pulling in LTL 11.1 million (€3.21 million as at 6 December 2012). Since
then, however, Lithuania’s trade union membership has continued to decline
(Table 1).

[1] http://www.stat.gov.lt/lt/

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS [1]) is a former government monopoly airline in
Sweden, and a major airline in Scandinavia. Ever since air traffic in Europe
was deregulated in the mid-1990s, the airline has been struggling to be
profitable, as reported in Swedish press articles [2]. As a part of its
latest cost reduction scheme, the management gave an ultimatum to unions –
either they accept downgraded collective agreements, or the company would be
forced to file for bankruptcy. By 18 November 2012, the deal had been signed
by representatives from all eight unions.

[1] http://www.sasgroup.net/SASGroup/default.asp
[2] http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/sas-fran-monopol-till-mordande-konkurrens

The European Court of Justice (ECJ [1]) has ruled on a case brought after two
workers were dismissed, and then given extended employment contracts as
‘zero hours short-time workers’. This meant the employees did not have to
work, but could receive a financial allowance from Germany’s Federal
Employment Agency (BA [2]).

[1] http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7024/
[2] http://www.arbeitsagentur.de/nn_426332/EN/Navigation/Startseite/Englisch-Nav.html

A union-backed report on the Greek economy has questioned the government’s
current austerity measures. The Annual Report by the Labour Institute of the
Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE/GSEE [1]) evaluated the economic
policies implemented by the government between 2010 and 2012.

[1] http://www.inegsee.gr/kalwshlthate.html

The economic crisis of the past five years, during which a total of almost
250,000 jobs have been lost, has resulted in employers generally providing
lower redundancy payouts than in the past. However, the level of enhanced
redundancy payable since the start of the recession is not an even one,
according to Redundancy Settlements in the Crisis, 2008–2012 (press
release, 107Kb PDF [1]), a guide that has just been published by the
specialist weekly, Industrial Relations News (IRN [2]).

[1] http://www.irn.ie/dynamic/pdf/IRN%20Severance%20Ad%20BW.pdf
[2] http://www.irn.ie/

In 2009, when Latvia’s budget deficit became acute, the Saeima [1], the
Government of the Republic of Latvia, capped the salaries and bonuses of
public sector employees. Between 2009 and 2011, cuts in the public sector
wage bill accounted for almost half of the money saved through deficit
reduction measures. Salaries in the sector decreased by an average 30%.
Virtually all forms of performance-related bonus were stopped.

[1] http://www.saeima.lv/

Employers make contributions to Poland’s Labour Fund calculated on the
basis of their employees’ wages. The fund is regulated by the 2004 Act on
employment promotion and labour market institutions (*PL0405105F* [1]) and is
intended to help finance Poland’s public employment services, including
paying for measures to help the unemployed back to work. Among such
initiatives are subsidised employment for disadvantaged people in the labour
market, apprenticeships, training and the provision of additional work
equipment or subsidies for people starting up a new business. The fund also
finances special programmes for unemployed people whose situation in the
labour market is particularly difficult. Under the Act, the Ministry of
Labour and Social Policy allocates the fund’s resources.

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-labour-market-legislation-adopted

There is a history of formal cooperation agreements being made between
Lithuania’s political parties and trade union confederations.

This report summarises the findings of ‘Faktaboken om arbeidsmiljø og
helse 2011’ [Factbook on working and health 2011], which presents updated
statistics on the Norwegian working environment and identifies trends in
work-related health problems by gender, age and occupational and industry
groups. The data, based on responses from a representative sample of more
than 24,000 workers, show that Norwegian working conditions and occupational
health continue to improve. Most people have favourable working conditions
and are in good health, and nine out of ten respondents say they are
satisfied with their jobs. However, there are still challenges in some
sectors in order to ensure a safe and healthy working environment that
promotes motivation, good health and work satisfaction for everyone.

A report published by the National Trade Union Bloc (BNS [1]) in August 2012
has examined the impact of vocational training and retraining on the supply
and demand of labour in Romania.

[1] http://www.bns.ro/