A European directive on Human Rights due diligence and responsible business conduct including their supply chains will make the difference in better protecting workers rights and environmental standards. The Commission needs to act! In the next days, the European Commission will publish a report of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) on due diligence requirements for supply chains. The report analyses the state of play and the need for initiatives at European level, paving the way to a possible commission initiative.

Forthcoming European Commission Communication on Artificial Intelligence:  ETUC CALLS FOR AN AMBITIOUS STRATEGY RESPECTFUL OF WORKERS Ahead of the upcoming European Commission’s 2020 white paper on artificial intelligence, the European Trade Union Confederation reiterates the need for an ambitious European AI strategy to maintain and reinforce workers’ protection and involvement, and empower them to create sustainable use of AI tools.

Brussels 06 February 2020 Adopted at the Extraordinary Executive Committee Meeting of 6 February 2020

Today the UK leaves the EU. We send this message of support, solidarity and unity among working people. For trade unions there are no borders. We will continue our joint work to make working peoples voices heard, to insist on a level playing field to protect jobs and rights for workers in the UK and the EU. Working together during 2020 we will demand a future agreement that delivers for workers, their families and communities.

Statement to the EU-Ukraine Association Council, 28 January 2020 On the occasion of the EU-Ukraine Association Council that meets to assess the progress Ukraine has achieved in implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the European and Ukrainian trade unions condemn the recent violations of this Agreement by the government of Ukraine, which introduced a number of amendments to the labour laws without any consultations with social partners as required by national and international legislation. 

ETUC Executive Committee statement on the lack of Social Dialogue on Labour Law reform in Ukraine Adopted at the Executive Meeting of 17-18 December 2019 The ETUC Executive Committee expresses its concerns about the perceived lack of willingness of the Ukrainian government to undertake a proper consultation process with the social partners on the Labour Law reform and pledges to raise this with the European Commission and Parliament.

Statement on Albania and North Macedonia accession to the EU We regret the decision of the European Council not to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia and express our solidarity with workers and their trade unions from these counties. They face enormous challenges of decent work deficits, non-respect of the law, low wages, high levels of informal work, as well as systematic violation of fundamental workers’ rights and freedoms.

The ETUC stands in solidarity with the Chilean trade unions and the Chilean people in the biggest crisis of the country since the end of the military dictatorship. We join the call of CUT Chile and the ITUC for the Government to restore the country's democratic institutions and give way to the biggest protest since 1990.

The ETUC has been calling for improvements of the rules on the coordination of social security systems for years. We need improvements to the current rules to better fight against abuses and fraud and to strengthen mobile workers’, posted workers’ and frontier workers’ rights, as well as to improve and operationalise the cooperation between Member States. Now it is possible to deliver much needed improvements to the legal framework by completing in a positive manner the negotiations on the revision of the Regulations on the coordination of social security systems.

Dear Presidents, Prime Minister, Vice President, Commissioner, Ministers, Colleagues from the social partners, This is the last Tripartite Social Summit of the current European Commission, and also the last for Donald Tusk as President of the Council. I would like to warmly thank Donald for the support and leadership you have shown in organising and driving the TSS over the last years. You have done this giving great consideration to the social partners’ ideas and proposals.

Statement signed by over 80 NGOs and trade unions A call for human rights and environmental due diligence legislation

The European Commission has published today its Implementation Report on the Enforcement Directive on posting of workers, as well as a practical guidance on the rules regulating posting.

Statement presented at the ETUC EWC Annual conference 2019 Democracy at work is a fundamental value and a guiding principle of the European Union, recognised in the Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It needs to be high on any ambitious European and national political agenda. Democracy at work matters: for workers, for companies, for public services and for society.