EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 41 - Page 2

EVER SINCE THE CONTROVERSY over the original ’Bolkestein’ directive which sought to open up services in the EU to unfettered free competition, European trade unions have been pushing for a new directive to define exactly what public services are and so exempt them once and for all. Although the outcome of the campaign against the law was seen as a victory for European unions, for instance the principle of ‘country of origin’ was abandoned and social, health care, security and transport services were exempted, the ETUC still felt that separate legislation was needed. To this end they collected over half a million signatures on a petition which aimed to ensure ‘the right to choose whether public services stay public’. Mayors from ten EU capitals, including London’s Ken Livingstone, also signed a declaration in support of ‘high-quality public services, accessible to all’.
Despite the campaign it became apparent that the EU Commission President Barroso was not in favour of a new law. Instead the Commission chose to emphasise a protocol to be added to the new reform treaty and the public service exemptions in the existing directive, also publishing a ‘package’ on the single market which deals with ‘Services of General Interest’,  ‘Social Services of General Interest’ and ‘Services of General Economic Interest’.  While areas like police, justiice and social security, which are not directly paid-for, remain outside the market, the Commission’s paper states that ’the vast majority of services can be considered as "economic activities" within the meaning of EC treaty rules on the internal market’. Furthermore the Commission considered ‘high-quality, accessible and affordable services of general economic interest’ compatible  with an ‘open and competitive internal market’ while trusting Member States to use national law to protect local traditions.
Reaction to the decision and associated papers was not good among trade unions and the left of the European Parliament. John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation said ‘The Commission is negative and short-sighted if it does not respect the essential role of public services and accord them adequate protection from market forces ... a more detailed Framework Directive would have clarified the necessarily general intentions of the EU Reform Treaty and the Commission should have seized the moment, and not ducked it’. MEPs from the Socialist and United Left groups also showed disappointment: ‘It is an illusion to want to conclude a debate that is not finished’ and ‘It’s very negative. The conclusion that there is not a problem [with services of general interest] is not my conclusion’ being typical comments. While the Commission intemds to set up a web-based ‘interactive assistance service’ to answer questions on EU public service law and to carry out an analysis of further liberalisation in the sector, few would agree wiith Mr. Barroso that the reinforced single market will include ‘a strong social dimension’ and ‘a specific way forward on services and social sevices of general interest’.

FINNISH NURSES WERE RECENTLY ASKED BY their trade union to take a course of action that many in the UK would think too dangerous to contemplate. After failing to get satisfaction from employers in their demand for a 24% salary increase, the TEHY union recommended that their members resign en masse. The purpose of the move was to avoid legislation which forbade strikes in sensitive services. Over 15,000 nurses had indicated that they were willing to resign by mid-November when the government passed a new law banning the tactic on pain of a fine. Other unions vowed to join in with the action against the ‘coercive’ measure. However faced with such escalation of the dispute negotiators came up with a deal which will see salaries rise by about 22% over 4 years.
GERMAN INDUSTRY STILL RECORDS low levels of industrial action despite recent strikes in the engineering sector but the railway industry recently experienced the longest stoppage since the Second World. A small independent union, the GDL, demanded a 34% pay increase compared to the 4.5% agreed in July by the larger rail trade unions. The employers, ‘Deutsche Bahn’ believed that inter-union rivalry was responsible for the impasse but the GDL claim that German train drivers are significantly underpaid compared to their colleagues in similar countries. Eventually Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened as goods such as cars piled up at factories and ports. A one-off payment of €800 and an 8% pay rise with another 11% to come in September was enough for union chairman Manfred Schell to say ‘It's a good result with which we can live well’.
WHILE TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP has been growing in Lithuania in recent years (see our last issue) the retail sector has remained largely unpenetrated. While employers maintain that shop workers are quite satisfied or do not intend to stay in their jobs for long, unions have evidence of non-recording of working hours including overtime, systems of fines and wage cuts. When attempts have been made by reps to recruit workers in shopping centres security staff have been used to ‘neutralise such visits and asked them to leave and not disturb workers’ according to the President of the Lithuanian Service Structure Trade Union, Aleksandras Posochovas. However, in August spontaneous action by cashiers at an ‘Iki’ shop in Vilnius closed the store for three hours. Unions hope to capitalise on the publicity that this has provoked to increase unionisation of the sector.