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5 May, 2008
ICEM’s Central European Regional Council was held in Katowice, Poland, on 29 April, and leaders of affiliates from eight Central European countries discussed trends and developments within the ICEM region, as well as global matters.
The problems mentioned by ICEM’s trade union leaders of the region often mirrored those from neighbouring countries. Workers in most countries face problems with stagnant wages – and extremely low minimum wages – as well as high inflation rates. In Croatia, many workers do not earn more than €8 per day.
The ICEM Central European Regional meeting was hosted by Polish trade union sentre Solidarnosc
Unions in Croatia are calling for a minimum wage to be set at the level of 50% of the average wage. Unions in other countries are setting that bar at 60%. In several Central European nations, the current minimum wage is often lower – 40% of the average wage, or even lower.
Croatia
Progress is slow on that front, but it is being made. In Slovakia, for example, union and employers are now jointly negotiating a new minimum wage through social dialogue. In Romania, the minimum wage was raised last year from €100 to €150 per month.
Standard wages do differ between countries. An average wage in Bosnia stands at around €300, whereas the average salary in Poland, before taxes, is around €800. The wage differences between sectors inside some countries are oftentimes wide. Some Polish workers barely earn €300 per month, while others make €1,700.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Overall, unions in Central Europe are generally reporting progress. One such area that is progressing is negotiations with multinational companies. In nearly all countries, privatisation exercises continue and that does cause serious hardship for many trade union members. Unions do report that fair dismissal packages are now being won, a welcome change from previous years. Another positive aspect is that relations with incoming multinational companies are improving.
Engagement in social dialogue is a key priority for most unions, including with several non-European multinational investors. This phenomenon has grown rapidly over the last few years. Multinational companies from Russia, Turkey, India, and South Korea are no longer the exception. Regrettably, industrial relations with some of these firms (for example, Korean Hankook Tire in Hungary) are acrimonious, since some of these newly-arrived companies lack relevant experience with the European social dialogue system.
Nearly all trade union leaders attending the regional meeting also mentioned the positive, and growing, international cooperation between unions in the region. Trade unions and their members are increasingly attending each other’s demonstrations, across borders, and are sharing more and more information.
Also reported was the vastly improved trade union cooperation inside countries. This is occurring between unions that often belong to different national confederations. One clear example came from Poland, where a joint ICEM-EMCEF office is being set up, allowing six industrial unions to speak with one voice.
As a result of this increased cooperation, there also appears to be a growing political will to do away with the problem of having too many unions inside one country. Leaders spoke of the need for consolidation and mergers, in order to avoid situations where unions compete with each other.
Unions in Serbia, for example, spoke of improvements in their own operations, as they manage, frequently after changing internal structures, to halt the drop in union membership and boost affiliation fees.
Serbia
Related to these efforts was an overview by Mato Lalic on the South-East European Education Project for ICEM and IUF affiliates. He reported on a number of successes from this project, which is expected to enter its last two-year cycle this year. For over ten years, Lalic has organised over 300 seminars, workshops, and seminars, with over 6,000 trade unionists attending. And some 30-to- 40% of these participants have been women.
Some problems, however, remain country-specific, such as the after-war issue of the non-payment of pensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Also, austerity measures were cited as a measure to offset the GDP deficit in Hungary.
Other problems appear simultaneously in all countries. Many spoke, for example, of anticipated difficulties – and possible long and hard struggles – in relation to the expected increases of the statutory pension age in their respective country. The issue of green jobs, and the need to have an ecological balance, but also the possible difficulties that industries may face as a result of a more stringent emissions rights system, were equally mentioned by many.