March-May 2016: 47 new collective agreements from 12 countries uploaded in the database

May 2016:

The WageIndicator CBA database now contains 549 collective agreements from 29 different countries. Since March 2016, 47 new agreements have been added, mostly from manufacturing and agricultural sectors: 

August 2015:

Working Hours: CBAs from Guatemala, Honduras and Kenya give better provisions than the labour law.

Here's a comparison of working hours per week in the recent uploaded CBAs from Guatemala, Honduras and Kenya. Among the 10 recently uploaded CBAs for Guatemala, while the Law offers 48 working hours a week, the judicial organism of Guatemala (Organismo Judicial del Estado de Guatemala) offers 37.5 working hours a week to its employees and the rest of CBAs offer 40 working hours a week.

Among 6 CBAs recently uploaded from Honduras, la Municipalidad de Comayagua offers 44 working hours to its employees (which is the same as provided by the labour law), El Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez Y la Familia “IHNFA” offers 40 hours a week, while the rest of CBAs don’t talk about working hours.

In Kenya, the number of working hours per week provided by the Law is 52 hours. However, some CBAs seem to be offering better than that; this is the case of some recently uploaded CBAs. ELIMU Co-operative Savings & Credit Society Ltd offers 40 working hours per week, Kenya Paint Manufacturers Group of the Federation of Kenya Employers offers 42 working hours a week, M/S Panesar’s Kenya limited and bags and balers manufactures (K) limited offers 44 working hours a week to their employees, while Premier Academy, Medivet Products Limited, Butterfly Properties Limited and Gourmet Meat Products offer 45 working hours a week.

In summary, the recently uploaded CBAs from Guatemala, Honduras and Kenya are doing better than the law in terms of working hours per week.

June 2015:

• By end of May 2015, 8 new collective agreements have been uploaded in the system: 4 from Kenya (sectors: finance, textile, private health, chemical), 2 from Indonesia (chemical, cosmetics), 1 from Colombia (public sector) and 1 from Honduras (municipality).

• New insight in the Collective Agreements Database: the probation period

Among all the provisions set in a collective agreement, trial period may not seem a big deal. Actually, for those who already work in a company covered by that collective agreement, probation period is not that important (anymore), but it becomes significant for someone who is about to be hired or is going to attend an interview.

At present, the WageIndicator Collective Agreement Database gives us the opportunity to analyze and compare the provisions about trial period (and about all other work-related issues) in 24 countries.

In this analysis we consider the maximum days of probation provided to manual skilled workers.

Malawi, South Africa, Peru and El Salvador had to be excluded, because none of the collective agreements that we got from these countries has provisions on trial period.

We also excluded those CBAs where probation period was not mentioned at all, while we kept those providing a trial period, but not defining the number of days. In total, we took into account 260 collective agreements from Africa, Latin America, Cambodia and Indonesia.

How long is the probation period? Almost half on the collective agreements provide for 90 days (3 months) of trial period.  Rather common are also CBAs providing for 6 months (17%) and 2 months (15%). 

The lowest number of days required as a probation period is 14 and is given to the workers of bread factories in Senegal.

The longest maximum trial period is one year and can be found in 8 collective agreements from Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The reason for this lies probably in the labour law of those countries.

Comparison with the national labour law

Using the data we collected in the Labour Law database, we can easily check what the law provides on probation period in those countries. What we see is that in Uganda and Kenya the labour law sets a very high limit (one year), in Tanzania the limit is not explicitly set and in Ghana there is no limit at all.

While collective agreements should actually give better provisions to workers, what happens often is that they rather stick to the maximum limit set by the law.

If we consider only the 228 collective agreements of countries where the law sets a limit to the trial period, we can see that 2/3 provide exactly the same amount of days as stated in the labour law, while only 1/3 gives better provisions. 

Of the 72 CBAs giving better provisions, 60 are from Kenya, which is the country where the collective agreements play a major role in giving workers better rights than the basics set by the labour law. We must remember, though, that the limit set by the law in the case of Kenya is pretty high (1 year of probation period).

Do collective agreements give worse provisions than the law? Yes, they do, although in rare cases. That 2% of CBAs giving more days of trial period than the limit set by the law corresponds to 5 collective agreements. Three of them are from Senegal. The explanation for asking for more days of probation period lies probably in the fact that these CBAs are for high profile jobs: journalists and technicians of social communication, insurance employees, teachers in private schools. In Guatemala, the municipalities of Chichicastenango Quiche and of Santo Tomas Chichicastenango Departamento de El Quiche ask for 6 months of trial period instead of the 3 provided by the national labour law. Same does the  PT. Sarana Meditama Metropolitan (RS Omni Medical Center) collective agreement from Indonesia.

March 2015:

• New country in the database: Malawi
• New collective agreement from Ghana in the database
• Eleven new collective agreements from Colombia, but no precise provisions on most topics
• Workers of PT. Sarana Meditama Metropolitan are subjected to the longest trial period in Indonesia: 26 weeks

By March 2015, 1 Ghanaian, 3 Malawian and 11 Colombian collective agreements, in addition to 2 collective agreements from Indonesia were uploaded into the system.

New country in the database: Malawi

Malawi is new in the database and new Collective Agreements cover three different sectors: extraction, mining and quarrying (Water Boards CBA), Manufacturing – and specifically textile/garment/leather – and hospitality and catering (Sunbird Tourism Limited CBA). Differently from other collective agreements that we have, these CBAs do not really specify information on topics of maternity leave, working hours, probation/trial period, etc., but just set the rules for collective bargaining and workers' representatives in Malawi. They are a kind of ‘first step’ towards more specific collective agreements.

New collective agreement from Ghana in the database

The new collective agreement added for Ghana is the HPW Fresh and Dry Ltd. Agreement (agricultural sector). The provisions in this CBA are in line with most Ghanaian collective agreements. 

Eleven new collective agreements from Colombia, but no precise provisions on most topics

In the 11 collective agreements from Colombia that became part of the database last month it is really difficult to find specific provisions about what is more interesting for workers, like working hours, days of leave, maternity provisions etc. They are all quite general, and this could be observed in all sectors: manufacturing, education and research, public administration and police, health care and social work. In these cases probably labour law applies.

However, among these 11 collective agreements, there is one (the Pliego de Peticiones Que Presenta el Sindicato de Trabajadores del Hospital Luis Ablanque de la Plata “SINTRAHOSPLAP" a la Gerencia del Hospital Luis Ablanque de la Plata) with very good provisions on annual leave, which is of 25 days instead of the 15 provided by the law. Unfortunately this not a collective agreement in force, it is a proposal written by the trade union.

Workers of PT. Sarana Meditama Metropolitan are subjected to the longest trial period in Indonesia: 26 weeks

As to the four new collective agreements from Indonesia, one has a surprisingly long probation period: 26 weeks. It’s the CBA of PT. Sarana Meditama Metropolitan (RS Omni Medical Center). Normally, the probation period in Indonesia should be of 13 weeks.  This collective agreement has also a longer vacation period, which can go from the usual 12 days for those who work 4 days a week up to 18 days for those who work 6 days a week.

February 2015: focus on Colombia and Ethiopia

In December 2014, 8 collective agreements from Ethiopia and 11 collective agreements from Colombia were uploaded in the system.

For Ethiopia, the CBAs are from the following sectors:

• Transport, Logistics and Communication: 4 CBAs
• Hotel and Tourism: 1 CBA
• Construction: 1CBA
• Manufacturing: 2CBAs

Most of these collective agreements are similar in many ways. They offer the same working hours (48 hours a week, 8 hours per day for 6 days in a week); maternity leave of 90 days, sickness leave of 180 days, annual leave of 14 days for one year of service and then one day is added for every year of service.

For Colombia, the CBAs were from the following sectors:

• Public Administration: 5 CBAs
• Entertainment, Culture and Recreation: 3 CBAs
• Healthcare: 1 CBA
• Education and Research: 1 CBA
• Transport, logistics and Communication: 1 CBA

In general, these collective agreements do not contain much information found in most CBAs from other countries related to working conditions such as working hours, maternity leave, sick leave, annual leave, probation period etc. The information found in most of these agreements is about wage increase. A 10 % salary increase is offered by SINTRAADMIN and Municipio de Govenas-SUCRE, 8% by SINEMPUBLIC and 5% by SINDECODEBOL and SINTRAVILLANUEVA.

January 2015: focus on Indonesia

Lately Indonesia is the country that contributed the most to the database in terms of number of collective agreements. Nineteen Indonesian CBAs have been uploaded to the system. All of them are company CBAs and they belong to the following sectors: 

• Manufacturer : 8 CBAs
• Mining : 1 CBA
• Garmen and Textile : 1 CBA
• Hospitality : 1 CBA
• Financial Service : 1 CBA
• Agriculture, Forestry : 3 CBAs
• Wholesale (supplier) : 1 CBA
• Logistic : 1 CBA
• Construction : 1 CBA
• Publishing : 1 CBA

Among these 19 CBAs, the most favorable sick leave clause was found in the Collective Agreement of Century Batteries Indonesia, which pays sick leave up to 2 years to its employees. This is one the most outstanding results from a global comparison between 400 Collective Agreements, conducted in January 2014.

The Indonesian Collective Agreement is outstanding, because other CBAs only have 12 months of paid sick leave, which is in accordance with the Indonesian Labour Law. 

Other new agreements in the database from Ethiopia, Colombia, Indonesia don't show a difference with the minimum labour standards in these countries.

Other topics from the months before: annual leave, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave and probation period 

The best Collective Agreements, topic  Working week

• A maximum working week of 36.5 hours for permanent workers only, at the Lanxess Elastomeros do Brasil S.A.
• Similarly at the Telemarketing ASK–PR from Brazil, the week for headset-workers cannot exceed 36 hours (or 180 hours per month).

Next in line when it comes to the duration of the working week are 6 Collective Agreements from Central America, East Africa and Cambodia, ranging from public sector to tourism, and airlines, each with maximum 40 hours:

• Ethiopian Airlines, Babaka Horizon Plantation, Comet Transport Enterprise, Shashamane Water Work Organization, Education Materials Production, 

  Rapi Soap and Deterjent Factory in Ethiopia (New December 2014)

• All Indonesian collective agreements (New December 2014)

• Public administration, i.e. the Departments of Chiquimula and Suchitepequez and Municipalities of Chicacao and Chiquimula, all in Guatemala
• Municipality of Cantón de Palmares in Costa Rica (New December 2014)
• Employees of the Ministry of Economy in El Salvador (New December 2014)
• General Motors East Africa and Metal workers Union in Kenya
• Telkom and the Kenyan oil industry as a whole
• Lsg Sky Chefs, as well as Scania, both from Tanzania
• All collective agreements in Ghana provide for a maximum of 40 working hours per week (New December 2014)
• A working week of maximum 44 hours has been agreed at Siem Reap International Airport of Cambodia
• Security Guards of Uganda coffee plantations are guaranteed a 45 hour week plus recorded hours of overtime worked.

The best Collective Agreements in topic Annual leave

• Benin public servants after one year of employment enjoy 30 consecutive days of leave.
• At Cambodia’s Siem Reap airport annual leave is 21 days, plus one additional day for each 3 completed years of service up to a total of 25 days per year.
• Colombian Filmtex agreed to pay a premium to the equivalent of 21 days of salary when employees decide not to take their paid holidays but continue working instead.
• In El Salvador the employees at the Instituto Salvadoreno del Seguro Social may choose between 21 consecutive days of paid holiday or use up their annual leave in three shorter holiday periods.
• Neoplan Limited employees from Ghana after twelve months of uninterrupted service are entitled to 30 working days annual leave. (New December 2014)
• Guatemalteq municipalities and departments of Estor, Izabal and Chiquimula grant their employees 25 days of paid annual leave, after at least one year of service.
• Honduran municipality of Tela abridges paid annual leave for its part time workers to 13 days. 
• Indonesian KORPPRA, SP-KEP and SPK provide 16 calendar days of paid leave per annum.
• Welding Alloys from Kenya grants employees, after 12 months uninterrupted service, annual leave of 29 days for those with up to 8 years of service.
• Journalists and technician in the communication industry of Senegal, after 12 months of service, are entitled to 30 days of paid leave per year.
• Tanzaniteone Mining from Tanzania grants its miners 36 paid calendar days leave per annum.
• Tropic Inn Hotel from Uganda grants its employees, after 6 months of continuous service, 30 days annual leave.
• The Ethiopian Commercial Bank provides its employees with 18 days of annual leave after one year of service. (New December 2014)

The best Collective Agreements in topic: Sick leave

• Benin CNSS-personnel and port-workers are granted sick leave of 6 months for those with 2 years of service; 12 months after 2 and up to 5 years; 24 months for those employed 6 years and more. Port-workers are entitled to 12 months sick leave after one year of service already.
• The Brazilian collective agreement for food industries in São Paulo provides for one year of sick leave. (New December 2014)
• About 10 collective agreements for private sector in Ethiopia ranging from chemical sector to transport, from flowers to soap, provide for 6 months sick leave. (New December 2014)
• Employees of the Quality Insurance Company Limited in Ghana are entitled to 2 years sick leave: one year with full pay and one year with half pay. (New December 2014)
• The Municipality of Guatemala grants its employees 6 months of sick leave, which become one year if the illness is due to work accident. (New December 2014)
• Honduran Tela Department grants paid sick leave for up to 1 year and reintegrates its employees after their illness at the levels they are up to.
• Perjanjian Kerja Bersama Antara PT. Century Batteries Indonesia Dengan Serikat Pekerja Kimia  Energi Pertambangan  Minyak Gas Bumi dan Umum PT. Century Batteries Indonesia. (New January 2015)
• Four collective agreements in Indonesia - tyre and tobacco sectors - allow for paid sick leave up to one year. (New December 2014)
• Brasseries in Madagascar are obliged to reintegrate employees wanting to return after a period of illness of up to 10 months, in a similar position as they held before falling ill.
• Public servants in Niger have a recovery period of up to 5 years after falling ill.
• Journalists and technicians in the communication industry of Senegal are entitled to full pay during the first 6 months of a disabling illness, and during 8 ensuing months half pay.
• Uganda Flower Exporters and Horticulturists agreed to pay workers fallen ill full benefits for the first month and half payment for the second month's absence. Thereafter termination of the contract shall be considered on medical grounds.

The best Collective Agreements in topic: Maternity leave

• Macedo S/A from Bahia, Brasil, grants 6 months of maternity leave, starting 30 days before the estimated date of birth. 
• Lanxess Elastomeros do Brasil augmented the maternity leave by 60 days to 180 days. 
• Telefonica Brasil offers the choice between 120 and 180 days. 
• Siem Reap International Airport of Cambodia entitles its workers to a maternity leave of 100 calendar days with full remuneration, after at least 1 year of service in the company. 
• El Salvador’s Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources grants 120 days for maternity care from the day of birth.
• Ethiopian Airlines agreement has a detailed woman-related section.
• Bomarts Farms agreement from Ghana has a detailed woman-related section.
• Guatemalteq Departments and Municipalities Estor, Izabal, Santa Barbara and Suchitepequez grant 30 days with full pay before birth and 60 days after, with a possibility to transfer days from ante to post.
• Honduran Statistical Bureau grants 6 months before and 6 months after giving birth, plus a lump sum of 3000 Lempiras at the beginning of the maternity leave.
• Empresa Minerales de Occidente from Honduras grants 6 months pre and 6 months post natal leave.
• Pekerja PT from Indonesia entitles its female workers with 4 months paid leave (plus benefits), 2 months before and 2 months after giving birth.
• Columbus Stainless from South Africa grants maternity leave of 6 months: 4 months with full pay (pro-rata if the employee has not completed one years’ service), plus 1 month employee leave and 1 month unpaid leave.
• Tanzaniteone Mining grants paid maternity leave of 100 days, 110 days per leave cycle of 36 months, and if an employee gives birth to more than one child.
• SMB Nyehunge Express of Tanzania entitles its female workers to 100 days of paid maternity leave from the day of birth.
• Uganda’s Tropic Inn Hotel grants 90 working days maternity leave on full pay, with a minimum of 8 weeks.

The best Collective Agreements in topic: Paternity leave

• Acelormittal Brasil grants its employees 5 days of paternity leave. (New December 2014)
• Salvadoran Pension Fund for the public sector entitles its male employees to 5 days of paternity leave for birth of their child by spouse or partner, upon request. 
• Ethiopian company East African Bottling grants its employees 4 days of paternity leave. (New December 2014)
• Adamus Resources of Ghana grant their male employees up to 3 working days paternity leave upon request when their wives deliver. 
• Guatemalteq Departments and Municipalities of Guatemala, Estor and Izabal grant their male employees 3 working days of paternity leave at the discretion of their manager. (New December 2014)
• At least six companies in Indonesia grant their male employees recently become father 2 days leave. (New December 2014)
• Ader from Madagascar grant their employees 5 days of paternity leave.
• Peruvian Minera Antamina entitles their employees to 5 days of parental leave.
• Private School teachers in du Senegal are allowed 2 days leave upon the birth of their child.
• Tanzania Portland Cement grants their male employees 7 days paternity leave within thirty days after discharge of his spouse from a hospital after giving birth there.
• Tanzaniteone Mining entitles their male employees to 7 days paid paternity leave per leave cycle of 36 months , to be taken within 7 days of the birth of the child and upon submission of proof that the employee is the father of the child.
• Mofed Tanzania grant their male employees paternity leave of seven 7 days.
• Togo Religious School teachers get 3 days off at the birth of their child.
• Tropic Inn Hotel from Uganda grants their male employees 7 days paternity leave per child birth from their registered wife.

The best Collective Agreements in topic: Probation period

• Municipal workers in the Tela Department and Municipality in Honduras have agreed to a probation period of 40 working days. 
• Olpejeta Ranching from Kenya agrees to a probation period of two months. During the probationary period, employment shall be terminable by either party by seven days’ notice in writing or payment of wage in lieu of such notice. 
• Kenya Kazi Services and the Private Security Workers’ Union agreed to the first two months of employment as the probationary period. During these termination may be given by seven days’ notice or prompt payment of not less than seven days’ wages. 
• Bakeries in Dakar, Senegal, agree to 2 weeks of probation, during which each party may quit without prior notice. 
• Insurance companies in Togo agree to 1 month probation for junior and 3 months for senior employees.