ETUC calls on the EU to extend the Globalisation Adjustment Fund to cover restructuring within Europe
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) have today written to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, calling for the proposed European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (GAF) to be available to workers who lose their jobs as a result of major industrial upheaval within the European Union, as well as outside.
In addition, the ETUC and EMF are demanding that the Commission should abandon its approach of “benign neglect” and launch an active and dynamic industrial policy based on strong public and private investment, research and innovation.
The move comes in response to the announced restructuring at the Volkswagen plant in Brussels, with the potential loss of some 4,000 jobs. The ETUC has expressed its solidarity with the Belgian trade unions, and General Secretary John Monks will join the national demonstration in Brussels on Saturday 2 December.
“The benign neglect approach currently prevailing in Europe can only lead to employment disasters similar to the one we are witnessing at Volkswagen Forest,” says John Monks. The ETUC is calling for common employment standards across Europe, to stop companies setting workers in different countries in competition with one another.
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