Brussels, 31/03/2009 Chemicals bring benefits with which our society could not do without and there is no denying that the EU chemicals industry also contributes to our economic prosperity in terms of trade and jobs. However, European workers pay a high price for the use of chemicals in workplaces. About one in three of the occupational diseases recognised each year in Europe is due to the exposure to hazardous chemicals, according to the ETUI study REACHing the workplace.

Brussels, 27/03/2009 The unemployment figures are very bleak and are predicted to top 10% across the European Union. It is urgent for the decisionmakers to abandon any complacency affirming that the national state welfare systems act as a social buffer instead of tackling the problems head on and showing evidence of a genuine political determination to get out of the rut.

Brussels, 26/03/2009 Subcontracting has experienced a boom in recent decades that has benefited a great number of enterprises; however, it also means that labour is externalised to subcontractors and employment agencies. Subcontracting is increasingly misused by main contractors to circumvent their legal and financial obligations with the aim of reducing labour costs. Evidence points out that a great number of social fraud cases exist in long and complex chains of subcontracting.

Brussels, 25/03/2009 With this open letter, the trade union movement expresses its discontent over the way the negotiations are proceeding and the limited participation of civil society in these negotiations. The proposal for a social chapter, tabled several months ago by the trade unions as a way of guaranteeing socio-professional rights, have not been taken into account to date.

Brussels, 23/03/2009

Brussels, 23/03/2009 A trade union delegation composed of John Monks and the leaders of the Belgian trade unions will meet, on Monday 23 March, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy and the deputy prime ministers, as well as European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, to assess the European Summit on 19 and 20 March and to prepare the G20 in London.

Brussels, 17/03/2009

Brussels, 17/03/2009 Economic forecasts are bad and are even getting worse. Unemployment will rise fast and reach more than 10% by 2010. This situation will further weaken the position of certain population groups. Indeed, the European labour market is flexible but not secure. Workers are suffering mass redundancies, while their rights to robust unemployment benefits have been hollowed out by years of structural reforms and widespread precarious employment practices.

Brussels, 16/03/2009 On the agenda is a resolution calling for strong European leadership to guide the markets out of the recession. The trade union leaders will discuss a framework of actions required to prevent the current recession turning into a new depression. In addition, they will launch a European-wide campaign to ‘Fight the crisis: put the people first’, culminating in three action days in Berlin, Brussels, Madrid and Prague on 14–16 May.

Brussels, 03/03/2009 Social protest movements are taking place in many European countries – such as in France, Iceland, Ireland and Latvia – as Europeans find themselves paying the price of a crisis caused by unbridled speculation. ETUC is calling for a New Social Deal that gives priority to workers and citizens. This social agenda will have to focus on the main concerns of European citizens: employment, purchasing power and their fundamental rights.

Brussels, 10/03/2009 The biggest fear was that the establishment of an SPE could give companies incentives to circumvent employees’ rights to participation. ‘The proposal of the Parliament aims to ensure that workers’ rights are not undermined. It is a step forward and an important improvement to the draft statute presented by the Commission’, says ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann. This solution respects workers’ rights that already exist both under Community law, notably the SE Directive, and in national legal traditions.

Brussels, 06/03/2009 As the recession spreads and deepens in the global economy, both women and men will suffer the labour market consequences, and gender inequality risks being exacerbated by the crisis. In times of an economic downturn, women often experience the negative consequences in different ways then men, related to their double role as workers and carers. As they are also more likely than men to be in low-paid, precarious employment they face a greater risk of immediate poverty when becoming unemployed.

Brussels, 05/03/2009 ETUC notes that none of the over-arching objectives of the Lisbon Strategy has been met to date. Indeed, the Commission's joint report on social protection and social inclusion, presented yesterday, shows that 16% of Europeans live below the poverty threshold. Similarly, the rate of poor workers (8%) proves that not all jobs offer protection against poverty, a risk that is even greater for certain less favoured groups like children (19% exposed to the risk of poverty) or older people (notably women) (19% compared with 16% in 2006).