This document is the final report of the ETUC project on "Building an enabling environment for voluntary and autonomous negotiations at transnational level between trade unions and multinational companies" and was attached to the ETUC Resolution "Roadmap on Transnational Company Agreements: Progressing towards an Optional Legal Framework". It is available in EN, FR, DE, IT, ES and PL.
Today, the EU’s basic humanitarian values are challenged by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers. More than 80% of them are fleeing violence and conflict in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 20% are women and one-third children.
We are confronting an ongoing humanitarian disaster. In April and May alone, the Italian Navy saved thousands of refugees in the Mediterranean, but hundreds more died.
This 2016 edition is intended as one contribution to an assessment of what the EU current policies have achieved, or above all what they have not achieved, and hence as an evaluation of the extent to which the European Union is prepared for the future.
All four chapters of this report conclude on a negative note, and each puts forward suggestions for some appropriate policy changes.
The following report aims at contributing to the European trade union movement’s opinion-building on the review of the EWC Directive. It summarizes the results of a survey carried out on behalf of the ETUC and the European Trade Union Federations industriAll, UNI Europe, EFFAT, EPSU, EFBWW and ETF between autumn 2015 and spring 2016 in the context of the ETUC’s EU-funded project “ETUC Action for Workers’ Participation”.
The European quality framework for apprenticeships was launched during a conference held on 14 April 2016 in Brussels. This framework consists of 20 quality criteria, which have been developed in a bottom-up approach through engaging with experts at national and European levels over the course of 4 joint sectoral seminars and 20 national country visits.
Other language versions of the publication will follow shortly.
A focus for trade union action during the Dutch Presidency of the EU January 2016 - June 2016
Trade unions throughout Europe support the initiative of the Dutch Presidency to update the EU Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive. We need to act now to ensure that the discussions lead to the type of changes that will protect workers from work related cancer in all industries, occupations and countries in Europe.
The ETUC as well as the ETUFs during the last two decades have been actively involved in the EU level debate on how to improve frameworks conditions for trade unions, employee representatives as well as individual employees in contexts of corporate restructuring – in regard to anticipation and also the handling and management of restructuring operations both at national as well as cross-border level. In various occasions, in trade union run studies and cooperation projects, in bilateral as well as trilateral dialogue structures and events at EU level it has been highlighted and stressed by European unions that there is a need for a substantial strengthening of workers’ rights in order to model and shape a fair handling of corporate restructuring and strengthen the capacity to anticipate change.
This is a propitious time for the publication of the Syndex study, which will help inform European trade unions about the state of play in the economic relations between two of the major world players and feed their discussions towards elaborating ETUC policy on the issues.
The ETUC togheter with OSHA and ECHA published a leaflet dedicated to workers’ reps in companies manufacturing, importing or using chemicals.
The REACH Regulation requires companies manufacturing or importing chemical substances into the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein in quantities of one tonne or more per year to register them with ECHA. If information on the hazardous properties of the chemical is unavailable, it should be generated and safety data sheets should be updated if needed.
Through the period 2012/2013 - the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) ran a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project backed by the European Commission. This project highlighted the new CSR practices that have been rolled out by ETUC affiliates since 2006 and also resulted in the identification of trade union priorities for the years to come, particularly regarding the renewed EU strategy.
As part of the follow-up to the ETUC Congress engagements towards the promotion of women within its membership and decision-making structures, in 2015 the ETUC carried out the eighth edition of what has become an annual 8th March survey. The aim of this survey is to monitor the proportion of women in the European trade union movement, including in decision-making positions. The objective is to assess progress in reducing the representation and decision-making gap between women and men in trade unions.
In the context of demographic, social and societal change in Europe, it is likely that an ever increasing number of workers will have responsibilities to (help) look after an elderly or disabled relative at home. The main goal of the project was to gather and assess policies and initiatives which have been taken by social partner organisations to influence and provide for a supportive legislative and policy framework to assist workers to combine work with such (non-professional) caring responsibilities .
The aim of this handbook is to provide a comprehensive resource for trade unionists with regards to two aspects: 1.Their role in the management and use of European structural and investment funds (ESI Funds) 2.The use of ESI funds to support trade union activity The funds are explained in general terms, with particular focus on the ESF as it is particularly relevant to the activity of trade unions regarding education and training. The various technical aspects are outlined and linked to the overarching EU policy which is being promoted by the use of EU funds.
