MEPs on the European Parliament's Employment Committee approved today with an overwhelming majority significant amendments to the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive, to protect workers from the risks of exposure to dangerous substances at work. Among the adopted amendments there is the long-lasting ETUC demand to extend the Directive's scope to substances toxic to reproduction and the inclusion of Hazardous Medicinal Products in its Annex I.

Trade unions speeches delivered at Tripartite Social Summit on 24 March 2021:

Dear readers, As European countries continue to battle waves of pandemic and lockdown,  trade unions are fully occupied in defending workers’ health, welfare and livelihoods. March is also the month when trade unionists celebrate International Women’s Day, and attention turns to the discrimination women continue to suffer both at work and in society. This edition of National Updates highlights a few of the efforts and achievements of national unions across Europe.

The European Trade  Union Confederation is seriously concerned that the decision of the President of Turkey to pull his Government country out of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence is a very retrograde step and urges the Government to reconsider this action and reaffirm its international commitment to protect the human rights of women and girls and all their citizens.

The EU-Georgia Association Council meeting on 16 March is called on to do more to advance workers’ rights and European values by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC). ETUC and GTUC point out that

Spain has become the first EU member state to tell platform companies that food delivery riders must be recognised as workers and automatically receive rights like social security contributions.  The law, which was negotiated by the ETUC’s affiliates in Spain, covers the following food delivery giants: Deliveroo, Glovo, Stuart, Amazon and UberEats. Other platform companies will also have to inform trade unions about how their algorithms affect working conditions.

Pressure is mounting on the EU to legislate to hold EU businesses accountable for violations of human rights and environmental standards across the world. The 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh caused the death of 1,134 garment workers and injured about 2,500 people. International clothing factories and brands that were subcontracting the production of their products paid no attention to the disastrous working conditions of suppliers they worked with directly or indirectly.

Employers, legislators and law enforcement bodies are not doing enough to tackle violence and harassment at work, a survey of European women trade union leaders has found. Carried out January-February 2021, the ETUC survey of women union leaders in 21 European countries found that only

The European Commission has finally published its proposal for a directive on pay transparency - 460 days after President von der Leyen took office with the

Responding to the European Commission’s action plan on implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Effective Active Support for Employment, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said: “The time for a socially fairer Europe has come. This action plan could make it a reality. “The need for a more social Europe has never been stronger. The Covid crisis has exposed the problems with a Europe built on insecure work, low wages and badly funded public services.

Commenting on the European Commission’s proposal to extend the ‘escape clause’ from the Stability and Growth Pact, European Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Luca Visentini said:

The gap in earnings between the richest and poorest Europeans had got wider even before the Covid crisis struck, official EU data shows.

Dear Readers, We have just published the February 2021 edition of the ETUC newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!