Brussels, 22/02/2007

Brussels, 20-21/02/2007 To be checked against delivery Madam Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen You are here to think about the prospects opened up by the low carbon economy and we welcome you to an overheated room we still have some way to go!

Brussels, 20/02/2007 The results of the Fourth European Working Conditions Surveys (2005), conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, show that poor working conditions have a negative impact on the health of millions of workers in Europe. The upwards harmonisation of working conditions is consequently a key priority for Community action. The European Union's latest enlargement to 27 countries has sharply increased the gaps between Member States.

Brussels, 20/02/2007 This is the first time a systematic study has been made of measures to combat climate change and their impact on employment. It specifically analyses the implications in different sectors of the economy: energy generation, transport, iron and steel, cement, housing and construction, which alone account for over 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Paris, 13/02/2007 To be checked against delivery President, Minister, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to visit this lovely building in this always beautiful city and addressing a question that is highly relevant to the future of Europe and the future of France.

Brussels, 08/02/2007 The conference aimed to enable both sides to get to know one another better, in order to improve day-to-day business management as well as dealing with the more general challenges posed by the European Union in a global context. Indeed, both organisations - the ETUC youth committee and Yes for Europe - agreed that it was essential to undertake a joint initiative to deepen mutual understanding between the young social partners, and also to discuss topics of mutual interest.

Brussels, 29/01/2007

Vienna, 23/01/2007 To be checked against deliver President, friends, I bring the greetings of the ETUC to you and the trade unionists of Austria. You have come through a difficult period and I want to congratulate Rudolf and his colleagues for the way they have steered the organisation through the hard times. It cannot have been easy and in addition the ÖGB was able successfully to host the founding Congress of the new world body - the International TUC which met in Vienna last December.

Brussels, 23/01/2007 Joël Decaillon, Confederal Secretary of the ETUC, representing the European trade union movement in Nairobi, reaffirmed its solidarity with the Guinean unions and people, and added that this terrible example reinforces the need to assert respect for fundamental rights and the principle of democracy across the African continent. The European Union (EU) and the German Presidency of the EU must act as swiftly as possible to put a stop to this escalation and to ensure respect for the law in Guinea and across the continent.

Brussels, 19/01/2007 ETUC Confederal Secretary Joël Decaillon and advisers Juan Moreno and Gabrielle Clotuche will make up the confederation's three-strong delegation. The ETUC's contribution will focus on "decent work - decent life", and present trade union strategies in support of poor and unemployed people. The ETUC delegation will also take part in seminars on migration, relations between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and multinational companies.

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.