Dear Readers,
The ETUC is pleased to launch the first edition of our new newsletter illustrating how trade unions at national as well as EU level are contributing to the wellbeing of the economy and society in general.
We want to show how unions are working successfully with other partners, including employers, governments and civil society organisations, to push for social progress and justice in Europe.
These stories demonstrate the trade union movement’s vital and constructive role in society.
Commenting on today’s ‘economic package’ and ‘country specific recommendations’ from the European Commission, Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said
“The ETUC is encouraged by the slightly more flexible approach on budget deficits, by the greater emphasis on education and training, employment and fairer taxation than in previous years. It’s good that there are no new fines for excessive budgets although Portugal and Spain face new evaluations already in July.
The European Trade Union Confederation has written to the European Commission demanding that it
• rejects the arguments against the revision of the posting of workers directive in the ‘yellow card’ from some Member States;
• allows a democratic debate without delay on the existing proposal through the normal EU legislative procedure with governments
and the European Parliament.
The ETUC letter accuses the Member States involved of neglecting their own workers.
Trade unions in Europe and Latin America have united in demanding real benefits for working people in any future Bi-Regional Association Agreement between the EU and Mercosur.
This week, the two blocs will start negotiations on opening market access to each other’s goods, services, investments and public tenders. Earlier talks were halted in 2012 due to disagreements.
On Friday, the European Commission is expected to announce ‘binding occupational exposure limits’ for 13 cancer-causing substances.
“This is important news for the health of workers across Europe,” said Esther Lynch, ETUC Confederal Secretary, “and a hard-won victory for workers and their trade unions.
The European Commission today issued a package of proposals to reform the Dublin system: Towards a sustainable and fair Common European Asylum System.
The European Trade Union Confederation deeply regrets the lack of ambition and solidarity in these proposals.
Said Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation:
Hassan Yussuf and Luca Visentini – President and General Secretary of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) respectively – today signed and issued a joint statement on “what needs to be changed” in CETA – the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
The trade unions on both sides of the Atlantic agree that 5 key changes are needed to the CETA text negotiated in secret and “allegedly no longer open for debate”.
The 5 changes are:
According to the Spring 2016 Economic Forecast issued by the European Commission today, economic growth in Europe will remain "modest" in light of an unfavourable global environment. Furthermore, recovery is proving uneven in the euro area, leaving wide inequalities. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is concerned that the Commission's response is to urge further "structural reform efforts" rather than laying emphasis on higher investment and boosting internal demand.
Veronica Nilsson, ETUC Deputy General Secretary, commented:
3,515 people died in reported accidents at work in the EU in 2012 – the last time the EU collected the statistics. 100,000 die in the EU every year from work-related cancers.
The EU has done very little in recent years to strengthen the protection of workers from workplace diseases and injuries, despite the fact that new technology and innovation has created, and medical research has identified, new risks.
“Workers need better protection,” said Esther Lynch, ETUC Confederal Secretary. “New laws are needed now.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) says the decision by the European Commission to set up an EU Observatory for nanomaterials, instead of a Register, fails to protect workers from health risks and does not contribute in any way to the traceability of nanomaterials, and the transparency and accountability of industry.
Twenty quality standards for apprenticeships are proposed by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Unionlearn (TUC) in their new publication “A European Quality Framework for Apprenticeships – a European Trade Union Proposal”.
Despite increased interest by policy-makers in apprenticeships as a means to combat youth unemployment, apprenticeships have been in decline in recent years (and even more so since the 1980s).
