Dear Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis, We, the ETUC and its Spanish members CCOO and UGT, would like to communicate to you our deep concerns regarding the interference of services of the European Commission in the Spanish Government’s work on the Spanish National Plan for Recovery and Resilience. In our view, such political pressure aimed at determining content and milestones of the NRRP dealing with collective bargaining structures and reduction of job instability goes beyond the mandate that the RRF Regulation grants the European Commission.

ETUC’s position on an EU initiative on Individual Learning Accounts Adopted at the Executive Committee Meeting of 3-4 June 2021 Background

The ETUC salutes the enormous efforts that have been made by citizens and organisations to ensure that multi-national companies are required by the European Union to report country by country on their economic activities. This is vital to ensure that multinationals pay their fair share of tax in the countries where their profits are generated, and do not engage in clever accounting to end up declaring only where taxes are very low.   Today the European Union is in final secret negotiations to agree a deal on public country by country reports (pCBCR).

On 21 April 2021, the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal on the regulation of artificial intelligence. The regulation is the follow-up to the 2020 White Paper process, in which the ETUC also participated. The proposed regulation builds on the internal market rules regulating the development and placement of products and services using AI in the EU single market. The regulation does not address liability. In this context, the Commission refers to the revision of the Product Liability Directive which is foreseen in the second half of the year.

The ETUC Collective Bargaining and Wage Coordination Committee strongly supports the call by UNIEuropa for Amazon to recognise the right of their workers to unionise and begin collective bargaining negotiations.

Dear President, The 11 May 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). On 11 May 2011, ten years ago, ten EU Member States signed the Convention, paving the way to ratifying it thereafter. We very much welcome your statement today, committing to present legislation on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence by the end of this year.

Check against delivery  President Costa, von der Leyen, Sassoli, Heads of State and Government, Esteemed authorities, Colleagues from the Social Partners and Social Platform, We meet today, three years and a half after the Social Summit in Goteborg, where you proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights in the presence of the European Social Partners.

The European Commission published today an update of its New Industrial Strategy that was adopted in March 2020. The aim of this update is to better identify the challenges and lessons coming from the COVID19 crisis, to further accelerate the green and digital transition, to strengthen the resilience of EU’s single market and to improve the strategic autonomy of the European Union.

Women are at greater exposure to the consequences of the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic. This Recovery needs to put the achievement of equality at the centre.  We are calling for   1. More support for trade unions so that they can spearhead the fight for gender equality. When women join together in their trade union they can bargain for a better deal, increased pay, more security, training, health and safety, a say over working hours, fairer promotions, more paid leave and a decent pension.

ETUC and WWF statement in response to the European Commission’s ‘Better regulation: Joining forces to make better laws’

Another unusual labour day. This year we might be better equipped to bring online celebrations to workers but too many current challenges haven’t been solved, yet. 

With 1 in 3 people working from home, and those at the workplace taking special precautions, COVID-19 shows the life and death importance of health and safety at work.