Dear Readers, We have just published the March 2016 edition of the ETUC Newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

The Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), gathering today for a meeting in Brussels and bringing together trade union leaders from all over Europe, expressed its solidarity with the people of Brussels and the victims of this morning's horrific bomb attacks.

“A hypocritical attempt to circumvent international obligations” is how Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, described the proposed EU deal with Turkey. “The ETUC is appalled by the lack of European unity and humanity in dealing with refugees seeking shelter from war, and is working with employers to support the integration of refugees and migrants into the labour market.

Europe’s economy still suffers from insufficient growth, and unemployment levels remain unacceptably high. Very low inflation rates are close to sending Europe into technical deflation. We appreciate recent efforts by the European Central Bank, but very little of the quantitative easing money has gone into the real economy so far. It has largely benefitted the banks. It’s time to change the macroeconomic course of Europe towards higher investment and internal demand.

Speech delivered today by Veronica Nilsson, ETUC Deputy General Secretary at the rally “No to more walls in Europe”:   I would like to thank the S&D for organising this important event. Europe’s workers support the call for no more walls in Europe. Men, women and children are fleeing war in Syria, in Iraq, in Afghanistan. They are risking their lives to get to safety in Europe. Many have drowned on their way to Europe. Many European citizens have welcomed the refugees. They have given them food and shelter.

Joint statements on

Commenting on EU employment figures - which show an increase of just 0.3%  in the Eurozone and 0.1% EU 28 in the last quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter, and 1.2% in the Eurozone and 1% in the EU28 compared to the same quarter the previous year – Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said “A 1% increase in EU employment over a year, and employment growth almost at a standstill in the final quarter of 2015, should ring alarm bells with EU leaders meeting at the summit later this week.”

Meeting today in Washington, Richard Trumka, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), together stressed that, from available information, the current negotiations on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are on the wrong course. If this course isn’t corrected, TTIP will fail to create the people and planet-centered agreement needed to benefit the working peoples of the European Union and the United States.

Occupational cancer kills 100,000 people every year in the European Union. It is the most common work-related cause of death.  Between 8 and 16% of all cancers in Europe are the result of exposure at work;  Almost 1 in 5 workers in the EU are routinely exposed to carcinogens; Around 50 known cancer-causing substances account for more than 80% of all workplace exposure to carcinogens. The 2004 EU Directive on Carcinogens or mutagens at work sets binding workplace exposure limits for only 3 substances.

The ETUC welcomes the proposed Pillar of Social Rights, an ambitious initiative launched today by the European Commission containing many good principles.  At the same time, the ETUC has some doubts about where and how it will be implemented, and about some discredited policies such as flexicurity that will make workers suspicious of this much-needed initiative.

Today the European Commission proposed a revision of the Posted Workers Directive that delivers equal pay for many, but not all, posted workers. The proposed wording on remuneration has been improved from earlier drafts. However, the proposed restrictive definition of the type of collective agreement recognised is not satisfactory: excluding most sectoral collective agreements in some countries (including Germany and Italy), and all company-level agreements.

The European Trade Union Confederation is strongly critical of the lack of progress in negotiations with Turkey on a Joint Action Plan on Refugees, and the lack of humanity shown in the Council Statement following last night’s summit.   “The EU should not even contemplate paying Turkey to keep refugees in inhumane camps without any prospects”, said Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC “and there should be no trade-off between keeping refugees out of Europe and accelerated EU membership talks.”

On International Women’s Day, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) calls on men and women to break the glass walls that segregate the sexes in different occupations at work - and reach more gender equality in the labour market.     Women continue to be held back: not only by glass ceilings that stop them rising up the work hierarchy, but also by glass walls that segregate women into particular jobs and shut them out of others. The figures are stark