Call to Action : ETUC Meeting Request - trialogue on TPWCD and whistleblowing

Brussels 04/12/2018

Dear Honorable Ambassador,

I am contacting you to ask for an urgent meeting to discuss the issues of serious concern to workers and their trade unions in relation to two legislative initiatives that are currently under discussion in trialogue, namely

  • the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union and
  • the Directive on protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law

I attach for your information two briefing notes and I would like to briefly highlight our main concerns

  1. Transparent and predictable working conditions Directive

It will be unacceptable to workers if the result of the trialogue discussions resulted in workers with zero hours or low hours contracts being excluded from protection. We have real concern that the Directive will lack all credibility if groups of workers who need the protection most end up outside the scope of protection.

The European Parliament included much needed protection to prevent unscrupulous employers from abusing flexibility and we want to urge you to support its inclusion. Respectable employers have nothing to fear from protections that simply ensure that if they call workers into work for a day of work, then they are obliged to pay them for that day of work.

We urge you to ensure that the armed forces, the police authorities, and other emergency services and seafarers benefit from the protection of this Directive.

2. Directive on protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law

This Directive is also of utmost importance and has been much improved by the European Parliament. We urge you to support the changes that will mean that whistle-blowers are protected when they blow the whistle on abuse of workers. The Commission’s proposal that protection would cover for reporting on abuse of animals but not of workers was unacceptable both legally and morally.

We are seeking your support to ensure that the Directive clarifies that workers can have the assistance and representation of their trade union in the procedures that will be established by the EU in this Directive. It is essential that the EU does not undermine trade unions by creating conditions that allow the employer to pick the worker's representative or to limit the trade union to simply accompany the worker at meetings.

We would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss these further.

Please contact Bezaye Girma for meeting arrangements [email protected] 

Yours sincerely

Esther Lynch

ETUC Confederal Secretary