Nantes, 15-18/03/2005

Brussels,16/03/2005 Following the decision of the Council to postpone the opening of negotiations ETUC General Secretary John Monks said: “I am sorry that Croatia has not met the requirement of full and unrestricted co-operation with the the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)and hope that this will be remedied soon. The fact that the proceedings on the negotiating framework have been concluded successfully shows that Croatia is in other respects ready to engage in the negotiations.

Brussels, 08/03/2005 - Wages have done more than their share in assuring price stability and improving profitability in the euro area. Recent collective bargaining agreements for 2005 resulted in extremely moderate wage increases (between 1 and 2%). There is absolutely no inflationary danger whatsoever!

Brussels, 21/02/2005 The EU and US have many common values, and we wish to build on them. Ours are founded on the Charter of Fundamental Rights embedded in the proposed Constitution, including a social market economy, social dialogue, decent public services and workers' rights. They are not negotiable.

Dublin, 17/02/2005 Getting to know the new EU constitution - Pleasure to meet the Irish Forum on Europe which has done so much to set a more calm, balanced tone in the Irish debates on Europe since the first Nice referendum was lost. - You have your admirers on the other side of the Irish Sea where European debates are anything but calm and balanced.

Brussels, 10/02/2005 The ETUC believes in equal treatment for migrant workers, both in migrants' own interest and to ensure that employers cannot abuse migrants' often vulnerable situation so as to undercut the situation of national workers, in the form of social dumping. Equal treatment must apply, not only in respect of terms and conditions of employment, but also to all areas of human rights, social security, housing and education.

Brussels, 03/02/2005 ETUC General Secretary John Monks said : “It is a good decision by the new Commission to rework the directive and we look forward to working with them on producing a new text which recognises workers and trade union concerns. The importance of services of general interests must be respected. This is a big step in the right direction for the European trade union movement who have campaigned tirelessly against the Bolkestein Directive.”

Brussels, 28/01/2005

Brussels, 14/01/2005 On 19 May 2004, the European Commission launched the first phase of Social Partner consultation on the revision of the Directive on European Works Councils (EWC). Nine months later this procedure is still at a standstill. That is why the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has written to the Commission asking for a relaunch of the revision procedure.

Brussels, 20/12/2004 The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Belgian, Spanish and Italian trade unions have conducted an extensive lobbying effort in the recent Global Climate Change Conference (COP10) in Argentina.

Brussels, 16/12/2004 Because Turkey's accession is one of the greatest challenges for Europe in the coming years, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on the European Council, on 16-17 December 2004, to open negotiations on Turkish integration into the European Union, in line with the criteria defined at the Copenhagen EU Summit.

Brussels, 16/12/2004

Brussels, 12/12/2004 {{ETUC warns policy agenda-makers not to narrow down the Lisbon Strategy to the sole pillar of competitiveness and structural reform but to respect all three pillars of Lisbon.

Brussels, 03/12/2004

Brussels, 25/11/2004 The ETUC is deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine following allegations of massive fraud in the Presidential elections that bring into question the results officially declared by the National Election Commission.

Brussels, 12/11/2004 The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has warned MEPs that some proposals in the controversial ‘Bolkestein' Directive threaten both workers' rights and the supply of essential services to European citizens.

Brussels, 19/10/2004 From the Trade Union point of view, this is one of the main results of the Conference on “European Corporate Governance”, on 18th October 2004, held by the Dutch EU Presidency. Commissioner Frits Bolkenstein stressed that businesses with sound corporate governance perform better and can contribute to meet the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy.

Brussels, 08/10/2004 The trade union movement is aware that the legislation implemented on 8 October provides a European standard for information, consultation and participation of workers in European companies. The European trade union movement has already debated the modernization of company law and is convinced that information, consultation and participation of workers is an asset for modern corporate governance and will lead to economic advantages for companies.

Brussels, 06/10/2004 ETUC welcomes the judgement of the European Court of Justice on the Working Time Directive which was made public on October 5th, as a further step to effectively limit excessive working hours of ‘on-call' work

Brussels, 22/09/2004

Brussels, 10/09/2004 The European Trade Union Confederation joins with its Italian affiliates in expressing solidarity with the families of the four volunteers - two Italian women from the Organisation “A bridge to Baghdad” and two Iraqis, one of whom belongs to the INTERSOS organisation linked to the trade union movement - kidnapped earlier this week.

Brussels, 03/08/2004 In a bid to secure employment, trade unions have recently agreed to increase working time in a number of company-level agreements. Although the number of such cases remains limited, and the associated measures are company-specific, there are opportunistic employer and government 'rabble rousers' throughout Europe who are abusing these arrangements to stir up public opinion in favour of a general increase in working hours."

Brussels, 12/07/2004 The European Multi Stakeholder Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) took place on 29 June, with the ETUC as one of the participants. The Forum was set up as part of the European Commission's strategy for promoting Corporate Social Responsibility, outlined in its Communication of 2 July 2002, and for encouraging dialogue between employers, trade unions, civil society and other partners. The ETUC is pleased to see some progress, but believes more work remains to be done.

Brussels, 08/07/2004 What direction should Social Europe take? Such will be the main debate discussed at the Informal Employment and Social Policy Council Meeting which the social partners took part in (Maastricht on July the 8th)." Strong social partnerships, welfare states and public services are the key elements of the European social model”, declared John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) at the Employment and Social Policy Informal Council meeting, held in Maastricht on July the 8th.

Maastricht, 08/07/2004 Thanks. We in the ETUC are looking forward to this Dutch Presidency. Dutch Presidencies have traditionally been well regarded and of course our meeting here in Maastricht today is a powerful reminder of those previous talks 12 years ago which produced the Maastricht Treaty. Which direction for social Europe is the underlying question posed by the discussion paper. This is a big question and needs to be considered carefully.