Brussels, 18/01/2007 The informal ministerial meeting focuses on improving the quality of work, and on the European Commission's Green Paper on ‘modernising labour law'. The ETUC welcomes the German Presidency's decision to discuss the urgent question of the quality of work in Europe. The ETUC is ready to take part in the debate on ‘flexicurity', but only if good and safe jobs are at the centre of the discussion. Flexicurity has to benefit workers as well as business.

Brussels, 17/01/2007 The ETUC highlights two major issues likely to occupy the EU in the first half of 2007: energy policy and internal market liberalisation; and a way forward for the EU Constitutional Treaty. The ETUC calls on the Presidency to break the constitutional deadlock, preferably by adding a social protocol to the existing treaty. It strongly opposes 'cherry-picking' aimed at producing a 'mini-treaty', or excluding the vital Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Brussels, 09/01/2007 The case refers to the refusal of Laval, a Latvian company, to sign a Swedish industrial agreement in relation to the construction work being undertaken at a school in the Stockholm region. The Swedish Building Workers' Union (“Byggnads”) and the Swedish Electricians' Union subsequently took industrial action against Laval.

Brussels, 21/12/2006 The trade union movement has been campaigning for this action, at international, European and national level, since 2003. An International Labour Organization (ILO) Commission of Inquiry in 2004 called on Belarus to stop the harassment of trade unions and guarantee freedom of association and the right to organise. This has not happened, and the ETUC and ITUC welcome the European Commission's call to Member States to exclude Belarus from EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) trade benefits.

Brussels, 21/12/2006 The six medical workers were found guilty on Tuesday of deliberately infecting some 400 children with the HIV virus despite clear evidence that the children were exposed to the virus before the medics began to work at the Benghazi hospital concerned and against a background of alleged torture and rape of the accused during their detention.

Brussels, 20/12/2006 The measures come up for review early in 2007. “At a time when trade unionists in Zimbabwe have been so savagely attacked and as the Zimbabwean economy descends into disaster, it would send completely the wrong signal if the EU backed down on sanctions now,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder and ETUC General Secretary John Monks in their joint letter to Commissioners Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Louis Michel.

Brussels, 13/12/2006 The law as adopted puts the burden of proof firmly on producers for the 30 000 substances covered by the reform. “That marks clear progress, because industry will now have to provide information on the safety of their chemicals before they can put them on the market”, said Joel Decaillon, the ETUC's confederal secretary with policy responsibility for REACH.

Brussels, 07/12/2006 “It's not high wages or strong worker protection that are chasing industry out of Europe but a too expensive euro. If European flagships such as Airbus are outsourcing activity to the dollar zone, then something is very wrong with monetary policy-making,” says John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

Brussels, 07/12/2006 The Committee will start to draw up the trade union position for the EU Spring Council 2007, and continue preparations for the ETUC Congress in Seville in May next year. And it will assess progress in the ETUC's petition campaign in support of public services across Europe. General Secretary John Monks will make a statement on how trade unions can respond to the new 'casino' financial capitalism that is undermining jobs and working conditions worldwide.

Brussels, 06/12/2006 Since the European Commission issued its Communication on CSR in April 2006, in which it declared that Europe must become a pole of excellence, and since the start of organisation of the new meeting of the Forum, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), together with NGOs, has stressed that the Communication betrays the spirit of the Forum, in giving voice to the business side only. Even the proposed 'European Alliance for CSR' appears to be more of a self-congratulatory activity than serious work on CSR.

Brussels, 05/12/2006 “The key message from the ETUC is simple,” says Confederal Secretary Joël Decaillon, “The EU needs to invest more on education and training at national and European level. As there are 72 million non-qualified or low-skilled workers in Europe and new jobs will require higher qualifications than before, investment in education and training is a necessity, not a luxury.”

Brussels, 04-05 December 2006 To be checked against delivery The ETUC subscribes to the Decent Work agenda set down by the ILO in 2000, the four strategic objectives of which (including gender mainstreaming throughout) are - Creating jobs - Guaranteeing rights at work - Spreading social protection - Promoting dialogue and conflict prevention.

Brussels, 04/12/2006 The ETUC was alarmed by moves outlined in the European Commission's Communication of October 2006 towards bilateral free trade agreements, which appear to give social and environmental objectives a back seat. In the view of the ETUC, it is through trade negotiations that the EU can best use its weight to promote good jobs, social protection, workers' rights and conflict prevention worldwide. The EU must adopt a coherent strategy that respects all its policies.