EU leaders must take action to prevent the decline of good jobs in Europe
On 13-14 March, European Union leaders meet to assess the state of the European economy and labour market, at the Spring Council meeting in Brussels. On the eve of the summit, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has carried out a study among its national affiliates, which shows that the proportion of insecure, low-paid jobs is spreading across Europe. Action is needed to reverse this trend.
The European Commission claims that 6.5 million new jobs have been created in the last two years. However, trade unions in the Member States testify that they leave much to be desired in terms of quality.
The number of workers on fixed-term contracts has increased by 10 million since 1997.
Many of the new jobs are part-time, with almost one-fifth of EU workers now employed on this basis – at least 20% of them because they cannot get a full time job.
Some 31 million workers earn poverty wages and 17 million are living below the poverty line.
“Europe’s workers are told they must be more flexible in order to meet the challenges of globalisation. But experience shows that weakening workers’ rights does not create more opportunities – it merely turns secure jobs into precarious and short-term work. Bad jobs are driving out good jobs,” said ETUC General Secretary John Monks. “Too often, flexible contracts have nothing to do with better work organisation, but are simply means of undercutting wages and conditions.”
The ETUC calls on the Spring Council to take action to promote good quality jobs by reactivating the European social acquis: secure, permanent contracts should be the general rule, there should be limits to the use of fixed-term contracts, part-time workers should be awarded equivalent rights to full-timers and temporary agency workers should earn equal pay for equal work.
The ETUC invites EU leaders to
add a new guideline to the European Employment Strategy requiring Member States to improve the implementation of the letter and the spirit of the European social acquis;
urge the Commission to enlarge the European social acquis, for example to protect temporary agency workers and improve work/life balance.
Was this article interesting and relevant for you? Do you have any comments?
You can post a reply to this article here.