The European quality framework for apprenticeships was launched during a conference held on 14 April 2016 in Brussels. This framework consists of 20 quality criteria, which have been developed in a bottom-up approach through engaging with experts at national and European levels over the course of 4 joint sectoral seminars and 20 national country visits.
Other language versions of the publication will follow shortly.
A focus for trade union action during the Dutch Presidency of the EU January 2016 - June 2016
Trade unions throughout Europe support the initiative of the Dutch Presidency to update the EU Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive. We need to act now to ensure that the discussions lead to the type of changes that will protect workers from work related cancer in all industries, occupations and countries in Europe.
The ETUC as well as the ETUFs during the last two decades have been actively involved in the EU level debate on how to improve frameworks conditions for trade unions, employee representatives as well as individual employees in contexts of corporate restructuring – in regard to anticipation and also the handling and management of restructuring operations both at national as well as cross-border level. In various occasions, in trade union run studies and cooperation projects, in bilateral as well as trilateral dialogue structures and events at EU level it has been highlighted and stressed by European unions that there is a need for a substantial strengthening of workers’ rights in order to model and shape a fair handling of corporate restructuring and strengthen the capacity to anticipate change.
This is a propitious time for the publication of the Syndex study, which will help inform European trade unions about the state of play in the economic relations between two of the major world players and feed their discussions towards elaborating ETUC policy on the issues.
The ETUC togheter with OSHA and ECHA published a leaflet dedicated to workers’ reps in companies manufacturing, importing or using chemicals.
The REACH Regulation requires companies manufacturing or importing chemical substances into the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein in quantities of one tonne or more per year to register them with ECHA. If information on the hazardous properties of the chemical is unavailable, it should be generated and safety data sheets should be updated if needed.
