A cooperation agreement reached last June by Croatian, North Macedonian and Montenegrin trade unions is bringing concrete benefits for workers.

Women from trade union backgrounds have moved into influential government positions in both Italy and Sweden. In Sweden, Eva Nordmark, ETUC Executive Committee member and head of white-collar union TCO, is the new Employment Minister, appointed under a government reshuffle by Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

Ground-breaking legislation to outlaw the “scourge” of zero-hour and low-hours contracts came into effect in Ireland on 1 March 2019, after a five-year campaign by the trade union movement. Patricia King, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, described the legislation as “one of the most significant pieces of employment law in 20 years”.

In the town of Brighton and Hove on the south coast of England, building workers on local council-controlled construction projects have better working conditions and protection thanks to a ‘Construction Charter’ launched by Unite the Union. The charter ensures that working conditions meet the highest standards. It sets out 11 requirements for contractors and their supply chains, including direct employment status, health and safety, skills development, fair recruitment and measures to support the UK construction industry.

Bike couriers from all over Europe came together in Brussels in October to launch a Transnational Courier Federation.

Today the European Parliament Employment Committee voted to adopt a report on the proposal for a new EU Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions. Commenting on the vote Esther Lynch, ETUC Confederal Secretary, said “What's needed next is that the European Parliament confirms the decision next week in Plenary in Strasbourg.”

The ETUC condemns the Austrian Presidency’s decision to cancel the scheduled meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council today, 11 October, which was due to discuss progress on the European Pillar of Social Rights, and in particular the establishment of a European Labour Authority to assist in enforcing workers’ rights and to fight fraud and abuse of commonly agreed rules to combat social dumping.

Irish union SIPTU has negotiated an agreement to bring an end to precarious working for around 8,000 home carers in the community, providing significant improvements to their pay and conditions and benefitting the people who depend on their services.

Amazon workers are celebrating a significant victory. An agreement between Amazon and Italian trade unions is thought to be a first in the multinational distribution company’s history. It aims to reduce mandatory night shifts and share out weekend work in a fairer way.

With the support of Austrian transport and services union vida, cyclists working for restaurant delivery service Foodora in Vienna have set up a works council (Betriebsrat), as a first step towards bargaining for better working conditions. The move is another milestone in trade union organisation in the digital economy: it is one of the first works councils within an app- or platform-based business.  

A number of fixed-term contract workers at the Danone Nutricia Research Centre in the Netherlands have moved into secure jobs, thanks to the intervention of the FNV trade union.

After four rounds of collective bargaining, German union Ver.di has welcomed the conclusion of a long-term agreement with airline Lufthansa, bringing wage rises of up to 6% for some 28,000 ground staff. The deal also brings to an end the long-term employment of temporary staff in the technology/IT branch Lufthansa Technik, confirming the maximum employment quota for temporary workers of 12.5%.

A deal concluded between the trade union Vida and employers in the small delivery industry in Austria has brought a salary rise of up to 5% for the lowest-paid workers. Under a minimum wage agreement originally drawn up in 2017, employees in the highest pay bracket increase their incomes by 3%, while those in the lowest get a raise of up to 5%, backdated to 1 January 2018, and valid for 12 months.

Migrant women who come to Europe to work as domestic labourers run a severe risk of exploitation, abuse or worse. Trade unions in France are reaching out to organise isolated and exploited workers and fight degrading treatment and domestic slavery through court action and collective bargaining.

A help desk has been set up in Sicily to stop the exploitation of agricultural labourers – many of them migrants – and give workers and employers information about their rights and obligations. Agreement on the centre in Castelvetrano, near Trapani, was signed by union officials from Fai-Cisl, Flai-Cgil and Uila-Uil, together with representatives of the local employment office and the municipality of Campobello di Mazara.

Logistics giant DHL has agreed to offer permanent contracts to 80% of its workforce in the Netherlands, following pressure from the Dutch FNV and CNV trade union federations. The move vindicates the trade unions’ claim that delivery companies do not need to resort to outsourcing and flexi-jobs. "DHL shows you can work without all those flexi-workers and subcontractors," said Reinier Stroo of FNV. "With the basic choice of permanent employees, we can speak of a breakthrough in the sector."

A groundbreaking deal between unions and government in Spain means that more than 300,000 public sector workers currently on fixed-term contracts will have the opportunity to move into permanent jobs over the next three years. The agreement, following the first set of major negotiations with government since 2010, marks a real step forward in tackling precarious employment. However, the unions are still pursuing pay rises that will compensate workers for a 15% drop in purchasing power over recent years.

After long, hard negotiations, trade unionists in Milan have reached an agreement on conditions for transport workers subcontracted to internet sales giant Amazon.    The deal secured by the Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Trasporti (Filt) applies to freight and transport logistics workers in both the Origgio and Milan plants.

American fast-food chain McDonald’s has announced that it will offer fixed contracts with a minimum number of guaranteed hours every week to some 115,000 workers on zero-hours contracts in the UK. The change from zero-hours to fixed contracts comes after months of pressure from the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU).

Sustained action by trade unionists and youth groups in Slovenia has brought more security and better working conditions for young people, but the work goes on. The Youth Plus trade union (Mladi Plus), together with the National Youth Council and the Student Union of Slovenia, won a ban on unpaid internships, which used to be routine in the public sector, but they are still fighting for a quality framework for paid job experience.

Trade unions in the UK have joined forces with independent company shareholders to force a bad employer to change its work practices. Retailer Sports Direct was notorious for its use of zero-hours contracts and punitive employment practices, reminiscent, according to British Parliamentarians, of “a Victorian workhouse”. The Unite trade union collaborated with Trade Union Share Owners (TUSO), a grouping of fund managers who use their investor status to influence company policy.

Trade union activity plays an important role in stopping the spread of precarious employment and helping people into more secure, better-paid jobs, according to a new Global Labour University (GLU) report.

According to the European Working Conditions Survey launched today more than one third of workers report some or great difficulty in making ends meet. This is the reality behind the rosier picture painted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions which highlights an “increasingly skilled workforce, largely satisfied with work”. However, the study also reveals that

On International Migrants Day, the ETUC wishes to express its solidarity and support for undocumented migrants. Too often, sans papiers suffer the humiliating and degrading experience of being excluded from society, on top of inhumane working conditions.