Efforts to deliver improvements to workers’ pay and working conditions in Europe accelerated today as trade unions toured the EU institutions with an advert van displaying workers’ demands for the Quality Jobs Act.
The road to quality jobs began outside the headquarters of the European Trade Union Confederation this afternoon before making its way through the EU quarter of Brussels and into the evening passing the headquarters of the European Commission and European Council before continuing to the Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, the European Parliament, and the headquarters of Business Europe, which represents employers’ associations.
The giant screen on the van displayed the demands of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) for the Quality Jobs Act announced by Commission President von der Leyen in September:
- Regulation of AI in the workplace to ensure the human always remains in command;
- Regulation of subcontracting and labour intermediaries to prevent abuse;
- The promotion of collective bargaining through public procurement.
- A Just Transition Directive to save jobs during economic change;
- A directive on psychosocial risks to end stress and burnout at work;
- Enforcement of the right to disconnect and regulation of telework;
Commissioner Mînzatu, who is responsible for the Quality Jobs Act, will also be presented with the ETUC’s priorities when she attends its executive committee in Brussels on Wednesday.
It comes at a time when low paid workers spend at least a third of their wages on rent in most EU member states, 10 million more people can't afford to heat their homes properly despite being in work, and chief executives of Europe’s top companies are paying themselves 110 times more than the average worker.
ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
“Millions of people in Europe today are working harder than ever with lower pay, security and rights. This growing precariousness has widened inequality, damaged our economy by creating labour shortages, and played into the hands of the far-right.
“We need to end to the experiment with diet Trumpism and restore the social contract on which the European project was built. Through the Quality Jobs Act, the Commission have given a vehicle to do that, but now we must ensure that we take the right direction.
“That’s why we’re on the road today to deliver solutions to decision makers that will genuinely restore dignity and respect to a rapidly changing world of work. Working people won’t tolerate anymore their priorities being parked behind those of CEOs and shareholders becoming richer than ever.”
