EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 36 - Page 2

VILLEROY AND BOCH, a German-headquartered porcelain manufacturer, who recently more than halved their workforce in Luxembourg (see issue 34) and made 50 redundancies in the Netherlands, have concluded an agreement to try to save their remaining Dutch jobs. In the first deal of its kind in the country the CNV union has agreed that employees will increase their working time by two hours a week without extra pay. In exchange the employer promises to maintain a five-year employment security period and pledges to pay the extra hours of any worker made redundant during this time. While the trade union hopes to stave off further relocation of jobs to the Czech Republic, it stresses that ‘This is not setting a precedent. The company is not performing well and this arrangement should prevent it from collapse’.

PROFITS IN THE NORWEGIAN oil industry do not seem to have declined in recent years judging by the pay deal recently negotiated by the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemical Workers’ Union (NOPEF) and the employers’ association OLF. After a four week selective strike in the summer the national mediator held a meeting between the parties and a 5.9% rise over the period 2006-2007 was agreed. This works out as an annual wage increase of €5,347 per year but oil service workers will also receive a seniority increment of €2,114 bringing the total rise to €7,460 per year. NOPEF expressed satisfaction with the deal while OLF pronounced it expensive but better than a continued strike.

MIGRATION OF WORKERS FROM the ‘new’ EU members has strengthened the hand of at least one union in its negotiations with employers. The Estonian Transport and Road Workers Trade Union (ETTA) planned a warning strike over regional differentials in pay this summer but before the action was held the employers GoBus agreed to raise the worst paid drivers salary to €447 a month, the norm in provincial cities. Meanwhile drivers in the capital Tallinn received a 20% rise to try to stem the tide of emigration to neighbouring Helsinki where wages are around €2,000 a month.