Russia’s
First Post-Soviet Labor Law
Reform Makes Industrial Action Harder
Russia’s first major reform of labor legislation in the 10
years since the winding-up of the Soviet Union makes it harder for employees
to strike and eases restrictions on bosses seeking to dismiss employees. The
new labour code also compels companies to accept collective bargaining and
penalises employers failing to pay wages on time. Late payment of wages,
sometimes for several months, is a frequent complaint of many working people.
Employees suffering more than 15 days arrears of wages will be allowed to stay
away from work. The original labor code updates the previous rules which have
hardly changed since 1961.
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German
Unions Seek Big Pay
Increases in Face of Jobless Rise
As unemployment approaches four million and the recession
deepens, German unions are preparing to lodge big pay claims. After a year of
austerity the powerful 2.8 million-strong IGMetall engineering and electrical
union is to press for wage increases of 5-7 percent. IGMetall president Klaus
Zwickel said the union also wanted action to combat growing unemployment which
now stands at 9.5 percent of the labor force.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Schroeder, the country’s leader, has
started his Social Democratic Party’s campaign for re-election. When he was
elected in 1998 he pledged to reduce unemployment to 3.5 million by September
2002. He said the present 3.96 million figure was "worrying" but
pointed out that the number of workless had hit 4.5 million in late 1997 under
the former conservative administration. He announced a scheme to pay subsidies
to workers who take low-paid jobs. The scheme has been criticized because it
also includes phasing out tax exemptions for single parents.
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New French
Labor Law Scuppered;
35-hour Week Extended
A major political scandal has erupted following the French
Constitutional Council’s rejection of a new law which made it harder for
companies to dismiss employees. The council, the official guardian of France’s
constitution, rejected key elements in a law restricting the bosses’ powers
to sack workers. The law was adopted following massive union protests over job
losses by international companies that were making a profit. The council’s
decision is a victory for the employers who campaigned strongly against the
proposals saying they impinged on business’ freedom of action. The nine-man
council comprises seven members named by conservative parties and two
nominated by the Socialist Party.
Meanwhile, two years after the 35-hour week was introduced
without loss of pay in the public service, and private and public companies
with more than 20 employees, the measure has been extended to small firms. By
Jan. 1, more than 87,300 companies together employing 10,300,000 people had
established the new working hours. The small companies have a two-year
transition period to reduce weekly working hours from 39 to 35 hours.
Introduction of the 35-hour working week has already created
or saved 364,000 jobs.
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Germany
Abandons
Nuclear Power
After three years of bitter debate, the Bundestag, Germany’s
parliament, has enshrined in law the closure of all its nuclear power plants
by 2020. This date could be later because if some plants are closed earlier
than expected, others will be allowed to stay open longer. One of the country’s
19 nuclear power stations — which account for one-third of Germany’s
electricity production — was taken off-line indefinitely in October
following a safety scare. The conservative CDU party said it would repeal the
law if it won next September’s congressional election.
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Big
Corporations
Accelerate Layoffs
The world’s biggest corporations shed nearly 600,000 workers
in the first nine months of 2001 — and layoffs are continuing. Meanwhile,
unemployment in the 15-country European Union was expected to jump by 500,000
in 2001 and it is not all due to the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.
Even before New York’s Twin Towers were destroyed, the U.S.
and many European countries were going into recession. Economists estimate
that since September the world’s biggest companies have accelerated the pace
of layoffs. Most jobs have gone in technology, finance, aviation, media,
engineering and telecommunications as major corporations used the attacks as
an excuse to lay off even more employees.
The International Labor Organization warns that 24 million
people world-wide could be thrown out of a job in 2002. This includes an extra
half a million onto the dole queues in the European Union member countries —
the first jobless rise since 1997.
The number of U.S. jobless is expected to rise to 5.8 percent
this year from a 30-year low of 4 percent in 2000. And Japan last year
recorded 5 percent on the dole — its highest unemployment rate for half a
century. But it expects 5.5 percent jobless in 2002.
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UK
Manufacturing
Workers Bottom of League
UK manufacturing employees are the lowest paid in the
developed world while the country’s top company executives are paid more
than their European counterparts. A new salary survey has heightened union
anger and shareholder concern over the huge bonuses and share awards paid to
senior executives even when companies are not doing well.
The survey, published by Management Today, claims that the
average manufacturing wage for British manufacturing workers is $29,500,
compared with $37,600 in Germany, $45,500 in the U.S. and $53,000 in Japan.
The report also says that UK workers are the cheapest in the developed world
to dismiss.
Meanwhile, top UK company executives are paid more than
$145,000 a year more than their European counterparts and have received an
average 29 percent pay rise over the last two years. The survey shows that
British chief executives take home an average annual salary package worth
$730,000, a third more than their colleagues in France who are the second
highest paid in Europe. Germans executives are bottom of the top peoples’
pay league with an average $430,000. Only U.S. employers outstrip UK
executives, with an average $1.45 million a year.
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Italian
Unions Take Action
Against Anti-Employee Bill
Italy’s three trade union federations, representing some 11
million members, have taken mass action against the conservative
administration’s plans to reform the country’s labor laws. It is the first
serious clash between the unions and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi since
his election in spring 2001.
The CGIL, CISL and UIL union federations conducted a series of
two-hour national stoppages in protest at Berlusconi’s plans to change Italy’s
"workers’ statute" by removing the obligation on employers to
reinstate sacked employees if a labor court states they have been unfairly
dismissed. Introduced in 1970, the workers’ statute is the cornerstone of
labor law.
The unions, who called the action after talks with the prime
minister broke down, say the stoppages could be the first acts in more serious
industrial action. Berlusconi is cautious about the bill and has given no
deadline for the new legislation’s passage. The multi-millionaire media
mogul, backed by the employers’ federation, has never forgotten that strikes
against his plans to reform the pensions system contributed to the downfall of
his previous administration in 1994 after only seven months in power.
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UE News - 02/02
