Commenting on EU employment figures - which show an increase of just 0.3% in the Eurozone and 0.1% EU 28 in the last quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter, and 1.2% in the Eurozone and 1% in the EU28 compared to the same quarter the previous year – Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said
“A 1% increase in EU employment over a year, and employment growth almost at a standstill in the final quarter of 2015, should ring alarm bells with EU leaders meeting at the summit later this week.”
Meeting today in Washington, Richard Trumka, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), together stressed that, from available information, the current negotiations on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are on the wrong course. If this course isn’t corrected, TTIP will fail to create the people and planet-centered agreement needed to benefit the working peoples of the European Union and the United States.
Occupational cancer kills 100,000 people every year in the European Union. It is the most common work-related cause of death.
Between 8 and 16% of all cancers in Europe are the result of exposure at work;
Almost 1 in 5 workers in the EU are routinely exposed to carcinogens;
Around 50 known cancer-causing substances account for more than 80% of all workplace exposure to carcinogens.
The 2004 EU Directive on Carcinogens or mutagens at work sets binding workplace exposure limits for only 3 substances.
The ETUC welcomes the proposed Pillar of Social Rights, an ambitious initiative launched today by the European Commission containing many good principles.
At the same time, the ETUC has some doubts about where and how it will be implemented, and about some discredited policies such as flexicurity that will make workers suspicious of this much-needed initiative.
Today the European Commission proposed a revision of the Posted Workers Directive that delivers equal pay for many, but not all, posted workers.
The proposed wording on remuneration has been improved from earlier drafts. However, the proposed restrictive definition of the type of collective agreement recognised is not satisfactory: excluding most sectoral collective agreements in some countries (including Germany and Italy), and all company-level agreements.
The European Trade Union Confederation is strongly critical of the lack of progress in negotiations with Turkey on a Joint Action Plan on Refugees, and the lack of humanity shown in the Council Statement following last night’s summit.
“The EU should not even contemplate paying Turkey to keep refugees in inhumane camps without any prospects”, said Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC “and there should be no trade-off between keeping refugees out of Europe and accelerated EU membership talks.”
On International Women’s Day, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) calls on men and women to break the glass walls that segregate the sexes in different occupations at work - and reach more gender equality in the labour market.
Women continue to be held back:
not only by glass ceilings that stop them rising up the work hierarchy,
but also by glass walls that segregate women into particular jobs and shut them out of others.
The figures are stark
First of all, thank you for inviting the ETUC to your conference, and for inviting me as a new confederal secretary.
Congratulations to Therese and Vivian, the conference chairs.
I think is a good idea to pay tribute to all the Irish women who have dedicated their lives to fighting for equal opportunities, and for better lives for future generations. We need to continue this work.
A revision of the Posted Workers Directive is due to published by the European Commission on Tuesday 8 March without any prior consultation with the social partners – employers and trade unions.
A revision would be welcome given the fact that the principle of equal pay has been undermined by a series of European court cases including the notorious Laval and Viking cases.
President Juncker has promised equal pay for equal work for posted workers in the Commission Work Programme 2016 and his political programme ‘A new start for Europe’.
Today a major new coalition of businesses, cities, trade unions and NGOs, are calling on EU leaders to act on the Paris Agreement and ensure that EU climate policies are coherent with its goals.
The new informal Coalition for Higher Ambition is an unprecedented gathering of stakeholders standing together to influence Heads of State and Ministers ahead of the 4 March Environment Council and the 17-18th March European Council – the largest and most diverse such grouping in Europe, on this topic.
Dear Readers,
We have just published the February 2016 edition of the ETUC Newsletter.
To read the document, please click here.
Enjoy!
The ITUC and the European Trade Union Confederation today welcomed the release of two Turkish journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, held in prison since November after being charged with revealing state secrets relating to weapon trafficking to Syria. Prosecutors had been seeking life imprisonment for the two journalists from leading independent newspaper Hurriyet.
The European Commission’s Country Reports – due to be issued today – are a test of its commitment to
a fairer EMU (a key part of President Juncker’s programme);
involving trade unions and employers in the economic semester process (a key part of the Commission’s relaunch of social dialogue in March 2015).
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and its national trade union members are actively involved in the semester process, and have submitted recommendations for the country reports of each member state.
European and Japanese trade unions are demanding that negotiators should work towards an EU-Japan trade deal that protects workers’ rights, creates decent jobs and promotes high social, environmental and health standards.
Japan is the EU’s second biggest trading partner in Asia, and together the two blocs account for more than one-third of world GDP, so the stakes are high.
Commenting on the UK deal, Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation said
"Cameron had succeeded in exempting the UK from important duties of EU membership."
"The EU must ensure that none of the exceptions and restrictions apply to other member states.
The ETUC criticises the conclusions of the Heads of state today on refugees. Instead of enhancing humanitarian efforts, Europe turns toward a war against refugees. Refugees coming to the EU are represented as a 'flow' to be stemmed.
Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), together with ITUC and DISK trade union leaders, went to Istanbul prison to show solidarity with Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, two journalists and trade unionists who are in jail accused of being spies and enemies of the state for having published articles about weapon trafficking to Syria by the Turkish secret services. European and International trade unions demand the immediate release of the journalists.
European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), trade unionists from Europe and Lithuanian politicians will be in the Lithuanian Parliament on Wednesday 10 February to discuss social dialogue and modern legislation, while the rights of Lithuanian trade unions and workers are in danger from proposed changes in the Labour Code.
Many highly problematic changes were proposed for the Draft Lithuanian Labour Code that would dramatically deteriorate workers’ and trade unions conditions in Lithuania.
The European Commission’s winter 2016 economic forecast predicts moderate growth and unemployment to fall at snail’s pace.
European Commissioner Moscovici acknowledged that more work is needed to increase investment, and called for richer member states to increase public investment.
“Richer countries must invest more to drive growth and create jobs,” said Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. “We are with Commissioner Moscovici on that one.
Members of the European Parliament echo calls from civil society, public service providers and workers to fully exclude public services from trade agreements.
As the EU digests the contents of the Donald Tusk’s proposed deal with the UK on EU membership, the European Trade Union Confederation said that robbing-low paid workers of their rights would help neither the UK nor the EU.
“What Europe needs is investment and decent pay for workers” said Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary “not robbing low-paid migrants of their rights.”
The European Parliament will debate in Plenary on Monday, and vote on Wednesday, on its opinion on TISA – the Trade in Services Agreement.
This Agreement has been in negotiations since 2013 with over 20 members of the WTO including the EU, USA, Japan, Mexico and Turkey.
The ETUC is not against TISA, which could boost trade and economic activity, but has concerns about the impact on public services and workers’ rights.
Key issues for ETUC in the report, and the Agreement are
The tax proposals put on the table by the European Commission today represent two steps forward and two big steps backward according to the European Trade Union Confederation.
Two small step forwards
Obligatory sharing of information on how much tax multinational companies pay
Establishing the principle in European law of paying tax on profits where they are generated
Two steps backward
With youth unemployment over 22% across the EU*, and a shocking 53% in Spain*, European trade unions are demanding that funding for the EU’s Youth Guarantee is extended.
Youth representatives of the European Trade Union Confederation and European sectoral trade union Federations will meet European Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen on Thursday 21 January at 17:00h to press the Commission to continue funding the Youth Guarantee beyond 2016.
