The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) Committee today voted for amendments to the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence that would improve the conduct of European companies and hold them accountable for violations of human rights.
The most basic living costs, like housing and utilities, increased up to four times faster than wages across Europe last year, new Eurostat data shows.
This week the European Parliament voted to adopt the political deals at the heart of the ‘Fit for 55’ package. Including the revision and extension of the Emissions Trading Scheme and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. IndustriAll Europe, and the ETUC reiterate their demand that the industrial and social changes that ambitious climate targets must be accompanied by new rights for European workers to anticipate and manage changes to guarantee a Just Transition for every worker in every region of Europe.
Europe’s record labour shortages are being driven by low wages and working conditions, new research shows.
The job vacancy rate in Europe is currently at a record high and more than a quarter of EU businesses reported production problems as a result of labour shortages last year.
EU leaders and business representatives have blamed the shortage solely on a skills gap among European workers. Equipping more workers with the skills needed to work in the industries of the future is a crucial part of a socially just transition to a green economy.
Delays in implementing the EU’s newly passed pay transparency directive would cost women workers an average of €17,000 in lost wages.
The directive designed to close the EU’s gender pay gap of 12.7% cleared its last hurdle today after the final text was adopted by the European Parliament.
The directive includes a ban on pay secrecy clauses and the right for women workers and their unions to request transparent information on pay.
The prison sentences for union leaders in Belarus upheld today show the EU needs to act in support of unionists who oppose the country’s authoritarian regime.
Tripartite Social Summit – 22 March 2023 - Intervention of Esther Lynch, ETUC General Secretary
"Cracking Europe’s Competitiveness Code"
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President von der Leyen, President Michel, Prime Minister Kristersson, Vice-President, Commissioner, Deputy Prime Minister, colleagues,
The title giving the right answers to Europe’s competitiveness challenges – how to make Europe the place to be for industrial investments creating growth and quality jobs was chosen carefully.
The European Commission today published plans for the future of the single market which puts the EU on course for a race to the bottom and takes it even further away from Jacques Delors’ vision of a social Europe.
The communications on the 30th anniversary of the single market and “long-term competitiveness of the EU” includes an arbitrary target of cutting “regulatory burden” by 25%.
Dear readers,
As European countries count the cost of the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, trade unions have scored successes in defending workers’ livelihoods, as illustrated for example in our top story in this edition, from Germany. Elsewhere, unions continue to negotiate for higher pay and improved conditions, such as reduced or flexible working hours and a better quality of life. Joining a union is of real benefit to working people.
The European Commission today proposed a revision of the EU’s internal electricity market design.
Commenting on the proposal, ETUC Confederal Secretary Ludovic Voet said:
“Working people have been badly let down by the EU’s privatised energy market, which has exacerbated the energy price crisis causing misery for millions this winter.
“A reform of EU energy policy which puts people’s right to clean and affordable energy before discredited liberalisation dogma from the 1980s is long overdue.
Employers are ignoring their responsibility for the safety of women workers during their commute to and from work, trade unions have warned on International Women’s Day.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and its affiliates today held a “Safe all the Way” protest outside Brussels Central Station to raise the alarm over this “blind spot” which leaves women at a higher risk of violence and harassment on their way to and from work.
MEPs have today voted for the explicit involvement of trade unions and workers’ representatives in defending human rights in corporate supply chains.
The Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) of the European Parliament has adopted with a large majority (28 votes in favour, 20 against and 1 abstention) its opinion on the proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence.
The Deputy General Secretary of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), Fahrettin Engin Erdoğan, was among union leaders and members detained at a protest in Istanbul yesterday.
The protest was organised by the DISK and the Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (KESK) over reports of corruption hampering efforts to help victims of the country’s recent earthquake.
Members of both unions were among more than 100 people detained.
Responding to the developments, ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
From working under missile fire to delivering humanitarian aid, Ukrainian workers today told of the heroic sacrifices they have made to keep their country running since Russia’s illegal invasion.
Women and men working in all sectors of the Ukrainian economy shared moving personal testimonies about their experience of the war during an online event held by the European Trade Union Confederation and International Trade Union Confederation to mark the first anniversary of the invasion.
After a delay of six years, the European Council has today finally cleared the way for EU ratification of the Istanbul Convention for action on violence against women.
The Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention was launched in 2011 and is the world’s first joint binding effort to fight and prevent violence against women.
The process of EU accession began in 2015 but has been blocked in the Council since 2017. Six EU member states have still not ratified the convention: Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia.
The General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) arrived safely in Brussels this afternoon after being ordered by the Tunisian Government to leave the country after taking part in a protest against its crackdown on trade unions and workers’ rights.
Esther Lynch had travelled to Tunisia as part of a delegation of international union leaders to show solidarity with the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), whose members are being subjected to a campaign of harassment by the country’s government.
European trade unions are throwing their weight behind tomorrow’s protests in Tunisia over the authoritarian crackdown on workers’ rights and democracy by President Kais Saied.
ETUC general secretary Esther Lynch has travelled to Sfax for a protest organised by the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) in response to a campaign of arrests, sackings and harassment of trade unionists in the country.
Wages don’t reflect the rising cost-of-living and are unlikely to catch-up in the near future, the European Commission has warned today.
The Commission’s winter 2023 economic forecast says:
The price of a pizza is rising up to nine times faster than wages in Europe, showing the need to stop speculation on food prices and deliver pay rises which match the rising cost of living.
European leaders must ensure subsidies for green industry come with social strings attached.
The EU’s response to the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act will be discussed by heads of government at the European Council today.
While the European Commission has published plans to keep industry in Europe by matching US subsidies for clean-tech, the EU is so far being left behind when it comes to social conditions to ensure public money is used for the common good.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes:
