The ETUC has cautiously welcomed the European Commission’s proposal for a new Directive to protect companies that are insolvent or nearly insolvent.
The new rules, giving a period during which the company can explore all opportunities to provide for its survival, will stop creditors from forcing a company into insolvency and provide much needed breathing space for a Restructuring Plan to be put in place, helping to save some of the 1.7 million jobs lost to insolvency in the EU every year.
The EU can and should do a lot more to protect workers who come forward and blow the whistle on wrongdoing.
Legal protection for whistleblowers throughout the EU is a complicated maze of protections and the various civil liability laws mean that some people may be penalised and held personally liable if they came forward. The lack of legal protection against persecution means that whistleblowers are subject to reprisals from employers which can be devastating for their careers and livelihoods.
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
Commenting on today’s ‘Semester Package’ announcement by the European Commission Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said “We were hoping for a much clearer announcement of an end to the EU’s damaging austerity regime. As far as we are concerned austerity will not end until the misnamed Stability and Growth Pact is reformed at least to encourage investment, and collective bargaining is yielding wage rises for workers across Europe.”
The government of Turkish President Erdogan has recently fired a further 10,131 of its employees, bringing the total number of public sector employees dismissed or suspended since the failed 15 July military coup attempt to more than 100,000. The dismissals, across 35 different government ministries and agencies, were mainly in the health, education and justice departments. New recruitments may be arbitrary, not based on objective criteria, in education institutions where most dismissals have occurred so far. Those fired are barred from future employment in the public sector.
Commenting on the European Commission’s autumn economic forecast, Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said
“Global uncertainty and a weak and unequal recovery, providing too few and precarious jobs, are creating the conditions for a social and political storm that could blow away any modest progress in Europe’s fortunes.
“It is a gathering storm which has to be deflected through a determined change in economic course.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), together with sectoral trade union industriAll Europe, urge Trade Ministers meeting on 11 November to adopt robust anti-dumping measures to protect European jobs and industry from unfair, subsidised competition.
The ETUC warn trade ministers of the urgency to effectively tackle unfair trade practices from countries like China, to save jobs in Europe.
“Unfair competition is destroying EU manufacturing jobs” said ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini. “Europe must have the proper tools to defend its industry.”
The European Trade Union Confederation will welcome European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for a discussion on the future of Europe with trade union leaders from all EU countries. Also joining the ETUC debate are Sweden’s Europe Minister Ann Linde, European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, and MEP Maria João Rodrigues
The discussion meeting will take place on Monday 7 November.
The EU’s Youth Guarantee has not done enough to help young people into work in Europe, states a new report from the European Trade Union Confederation.
ETUC Youth have assessed progress since the Youth Guarantee was launched in 2013, and call for higher investment and more commitment from employers and national governments.
ETUC and CLC statement on CETA
MORE DEMOCRACY FOR A FAIR AND PROGRESSIVE TRADE AGENDA
The failure of the signature of CETA and the consequent postponement of the EU-Canada Summit show that our concerns were right and shared by local and national politicians, and that the deal cannot be ratified unless the flaws in CETA are fully addressed.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) supports a mandatory common consolidated corporate tax base across the European Union.
“A common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) will make aggressive tax planning more difficult” said ETUC Deputy General Secretary Veronica Nilsson, “and remove some incentives to move money around in order to pay less tax, especially through the use of transfer pricing".
The ETUC regrets
The ETUC urged EU Heads of Governments to break out of their cycle of failure after yet another Summit in which practically nothing was agreed, and what was agreed should not have been according to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
President Juncker, President Tusk, President Fico,
Vice President, Commissioner, deal colleagues,
Europe is facing extraordinary circumstances, and needs ambitious replies to the needs and concerns of its citizens.
Social partners want to be on board for this discussion.
This was the main objective of the quadripartite declaration we signed few months ago – now it’s time to put it into practice, and the best way is to align our dialogue with what is going to be addressed by leaders tomorrow.
Your Royal Highness, President of the Chamber of Deputies, Honourable Prime Minister, Mayor, friends and delegates,
It is a great pleasure to be here today at this celebration of the centenary of Luxembourg trade unionism.
Joint statement by European trade unions and employers which will be presented to, and discussed with, Presidents Juncker and Tusk, Prime Minister Fico, Vice President Dombrovskis and European Commissioner Thyssen at the Tripartite Social Summit on Wednesday 19 October, 14-17h in the European Council’s Justus Lipsius Building.
JOINT STATEMENT OF ETUC, ITUC, TURK-IS, HAK-IS, DISK, KESK
Following the visit of ETUC and ITUC to Ankara on 12-13 October 2016
A joint ITUC and ETUC delegation visited Ankara on 12 and 13 October 2016.
The European Trade Union Confederation is calling on the European Commission to tackle the number one cause of occupational sickness in Europe: the epidemic of back, shoulder, neck, elbow, hand and knee pain costing workers severe loss of quality of life and millions of days off work.
The cost to employers, workers and health services has been estimated at €163 billion.
A new website – up online today with the support of the European Trade Union Confederation – will enable workers to find out more about cancer risks at work and the dangers of exposure to carcinogens.
Every year, more than 100,000 people die in Europe as a result of working with carcinogens. The new site: www.roadmaponcarcinogens.eu highlights the need to limit exposure to cancer-causing agents.
Trade unions see low-carbon industry as an opportunity for a sustainable prosperity, and want industrial regions in the EU to draw up long-term strategies for reducing emissions, with close involvement of trade unions and employers.
That’s the conclusion of a 2 year EU-funded project conducted with trade unions and other regional organisations in seven industrial regions across the EU.
The EU could raise low pay, benefitting workers and families throughout Europe and beyond, says the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
In the run up to the World Day of Decent Work on October 7, the ETUC is highlighting
Industries where some wages are far from decent;
How wages would be improved if companies and other organisations were given legal responsibility to ensure that companies in the supply chain (from whom they buy products or services from) are legitimate and offer decent pay.
Examples of work that is far from decent include
Commenting on European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen’s proposals – announced today - for tackling youth unemployment, the European Trade Union Confederation warned that the funds did not match the good intentions.
