The EU-Canada trade agreement – which may be concluded on May 8 at the Foreign Affairs Council – should not be used as a ‘Trojan horse’ to smuggle in a controversial Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) warned the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). “This looks like a cynical attempt to create a fait accompli for the EU-US trade talks” said Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the ETUC “and to undermine opposition to ISDS.”

Commenting on today’s European Commission spring 2014 economic forecast, Veronica Nilsson, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade union Confederation, said

Today Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the leaders of Spanish trade unions demand investment in growth and jobs in a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy in Madrid.

Speech given by Bernadette Ségol, ETUC General Secretary CMKOS Congress   Check against delivery     Friends, Thank you for inviting me to speak to CMKOS congress, on behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation. It is 10 years since the Czech Republic joined the European Union. The Czech people wanted the democracy, fundamental rights and freedom of movement that the EU guarantees.

DISK members arrested while holding a meeting about May 1 On April 21 the Turkish police burst into a peaceful gathering of trade union representatives who were organizing their activities for May 1 in a hotel near Taksim Square, Istanbul. The police intervened with tear gas & shields, injuring people and 12 DISK members were detained, some of them members of the board. ETUC firmly demands the release of the detained Trade Union members.

Commenting on the outcome of the vote today on the Enforcement of the Posted Workers Directive – in which MEPs rejected all amendments designed to strengthen enforcement - Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said  “At best, the European Parliament has failed to strengthen the enforcement of what are weak and  minimum rights for those working temporarily in other member states.” “At worst it undermines the ability of those member states who do try to enforce this Directive to do  so in future.”

The European Parliament must strengthen the enforcement of the Posted Workers Directive, or reject the compromise text reached in trialogue, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) told MEPs.   The European Parliament debates tomorrow (April 15), and votes the day after (April 16) on, the Posted Workers Enforcement Directive – the enforcement of rules on the rights of EU workers employed for a limited period in another member state. The ETUC believes that the text must be strengthened.  

MEPs are being urged by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to vote for equal treatment of workers in the same workplace – against employers bringing in workers from other parts of the world in order to pay less.   The European Parliament votes tomorrow (April 15) on the ‘Intra-Corporate Transfer’ Directive – which sets out the rules for the transfer of workers within a company to the EU from outside the EU.

Speech given by Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the ETUC Paris, 10/04/2014   Check against delivery   Thank you for inviting me to this conference on an important and increasingly political subject. I must say that when I was asked to address the question “what is the lowdown on the negotiating positions?"  I wondered whether you shouldn’t be asking the successors to the Washington Post’s Woodstein dream-team.  I’m afraid I don’t have a Deep Throat inside DG Trade.

Today, the Spring Alliance - bringing together European trade unions and environmental, social and  development organisations[1] launched its new manifesto “A better Europe now” which aims to present a positive vision of Europe “that puts people and planet first”.

The European Commission’s draft Directive on a ‘single member limited liability company’ is a charter for avoiding tax and national labour rules warns the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). While the European Commission presents the Directive as a means of helping small business to trade across the single market, the ETUC points out that there is nothing to stop large companies setting up single member subsidiaries to avoid tax and labour regulations.   The ETUC says the Directive has two major faults in that it 

Speech given by Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the ETUC 
 
 2 April 2014, Autoworld, Brussels 
 
 Check against delivery 
 
 

  Commenting on today’s Euro demonstration for a new path for Europe, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said     “50,000 people from 21 countries across Europe made a huge effort to come to Brussels to demonstrate peacefully against austerity, against unemployment and for new policies to create jobs and growth.