Industrial Relations in Europe 2012 - European Commission - Europa

conditions. At the same time, their capacities and the substantive results of negotiated
responses at the national, sectoral and company levels remain contested.
2.4.4 Responses of CEEC trade unions to public sector austerity
The crisis has also induced government responses that aim to consolidate the public sector,
public debt and state budgets. As a consequence, various public sector austerity measures
have emerged across the CEECs. The extent to which consultation on these measures takes
place with trade unions as social partners varies across countries and governments. The most
common aim of trade union responses is to protect employment and working conditions in the
public sector in the context of these austerity measures. Table 2.12 and the text below review
the available recent evidence on responses to public sector austerity through collective action.
In a small number of cases, the social partners have succeeded in being part of negotiating or
revising austerity measures that governments have adopted. Other cases, where social
partners, especially trade unions, have mobilised against announced austerity measures, this is
in alignment with the overall view that mobilisation is the preferred strategy in conditions
where social dialogue is weakly established or where the social partners are excluded from
negotiating or consulting austerity measures with the government (see also chapter 6 for
details on models of social partner involvement in the EU).
Table 2.12 Public sector austerity measures in the CEECs since 2006 and social partner
responses
Wage
developments in
the public sector
Reform of pay
system
Job cuts Social partner responses –
collective action
BG 2009-2011:
wage freeze
CZ 2011: 10%
reduction in
public
administration
Reform of pay
system in
public
administration,
strengthening
the role of
performancerelated
pay
For parts of
public sector
(i.e.
health care,
artistic
professions,
manual
workers and
workers
receiving
lowest base
pay rates)
Jobs were cut
to ensure 10%
reduction
of overall
costs in
ministries
and publicly
funded
organisations
as a first step
for 2010,
cancellation of
unfilled
positions
later on,
dismissals to
achieve a
10%-
reduction of
the
public sector
wage bill
06/2009: joint public-private
national demonstration
03/ 2010: doctors strike over
delayed funds
11/2011: three-week national
railway worker strike
12/2009: strike threat of
Prague public transportation
workers, strike averted
through compromise:
workers agree on wage cuts,
in exchange the local
government halts outsourcing
03/2010: doctors start
resignation campaign
09/2010: public sector
workers, led by the police
trade union, protest against
austerity
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