Madrid, 04-05/05/2010 Dear Colleagues, This is the fifth time we meet for a European and Latin American and Caribbean trade union Summit. The ETUC places great store in this relationship, which we want to deepen further. Over the next 2 days we will take stock of the outcomes since the Lima meeting two years ago, and prepare for the next phase. We will condense our thoughts in a declaration for presentation to the current rotating President of the EU, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, at the Summit meeting in a couple of weeks.

Manchester, 05/03/2010 Secretary of State, Welcome to this official opening of the People’s History Museum. The people’s story is not an easy one. Sometimes as an old friend used to say to me – “the working class goes from defeat to defeat, to defeat to final victory” – I was never quite sure if he believed it. You will certainly see in this museum, misery, lost strikes and repression.

Rome, 04/03/2010 Luigi, delegates and fellow guests. It is a great pleasure to return to the UIL Congress and to have this opportunity for a short address. It is my normal wish when returning to address a Congress to paint a picture of our achievements and successes since we last met, while of course tackling the challenges that are new or are still outstanding.

Athens, 24/02/2010 “Panta rhei” – everything flows – said Heraclitus. Abraham Lincoln once sent a message to the cotton workers of Manchester, who were unemployed because of their support for the blockade of Southern American posts in the war against slavery. Lincoln memorably said “The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues.”

Brussels, 27/01/2010 When it comes to trust, some business leaders are in the same position as Tiger Woods is with his wife. And although the bankers are probably near the top of the most mistrusted league table, others have problems too. Mr Schwab has made this point very well in the build up to this year’s Davos. So how does the escalator reverse and reputations begin to rise?

Madrid, 21/01/2010 President, the Spanish Presidency comes at a very difficult time – for Spain of course and for the EU and the world. The economic crisis is severe, unemployment continues to rise, the financial service world is trying to get back to business – and bonuses – as usual, and young people are especially hard hit. And we have the environmental crisis and an inadequate outcome to the Copenhagen summit. The need for sustainable economies, a sustainable environment, and sustainable European population is very clear.

Madrid, 21/01/2010 I congratulate the Spanish Presidency on this initiative. In all our societies the gaps between rich and poor have been widening. Income inequalities are back to late 19th century levels in some countries. Other participants have rightly focused on the need for positive action to help the excluded – training, social security, minimum wages, etc to help them progress. I agree with the importance of those at European and national level.

Brussels, 12/01/2010 As an American President once said – forecasting is difficult, especially about the future. I am asked tonight to reflect on the ETUC in the next decade – in effect, an ETUC version of the 2020 exercise launched by the President of the European Commission recently. My first reflection is related to that 2020 exercise. It is an unavoidable fact that the EU’s future will have a big impact on the future of the ETUC and trade unionism at European level.

Paris, 07/01/2010 Have we managed the crisis well? The best that can be said is that we have managed the crisis better than they did in the 1930s. This time governments did not cut spending as tax revenues plummeted. This time, at least in the EU, we have had welfare states to provide social security and some active labour market policies instead of the mass poverty and unemployment of the 1930s.

London, 24/11/2009 Thanks to the European Business School for this invitation, and not least for the chance to renew my duels with John Cridland, sometime partner, sometime adversary, but always well respected in whatever guise he appears, however dastardly.

Brussels, 10/11/2009 Thank you, Chairman for this invitation and opportunity to comment on the causes of this crisis and the challenges for the EU. The ETUC’s position can be summarised as follows:

Brussels, 09/11/2009 At the recent Tripartite Social Summit, I quoted the ancient Roman playwright, Platus. I make no apology for repeating his apt remark to our present circumstances. Platus said “I am a rich man as long as I do not repay my creditors”. Or as many bankers might express it, “we are rich men as long as we get almost free money and guarantees from Governments, and give priority to repairing our own balance sheets.”

Brussels, 04/11/2009 Joël Decaillon, ETUC Confederal Secretary, talks us through the issues for the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit on climate change and the {{demands of the European trade union movement. }} {{What are the issues for the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit on climate change? }}

Brussels, 29/10/2009 I read the other day an apt quotation by the ancient Roman playwright, Platus, who remarked “I am a rich man as long as I do not repay my creditors”. Or as many bankers might express it – “we are rich men as long as we get almost free money and guarantees from Governments.”

Washington, 27/10/2009 The European Trade Union Confederation welcomes this invitation to submit our views to the Transatlantic Economic Council. This is the first occasion on which we, together with the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations, de facto the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue, have been invited to participate in this process.

Brussels, 14/10/2009 Thank you for the privilege of inviting me to give the John Fitzmaurice lecture this year. I honour his memory and I follow in distinguished footsteps including those of Neil Kinnock, Margot Wallström and Geoff Hoon to address an old question about where Europe might be heading in the months and years ahead, an old question but one set against a rapidly changing landscape.

London, 05/10/2009 Commissioner Spidla, colleagues, we meet today to discuss climate change, the implications for existing jobs, the potential for new jobs, and the contribution this can make to helping resolve the economic crisis that we are currently in.

Pittsburgh, 14/09/2009 Sisters and brothers, retirement dinners can be strange affairs. When I left the British TUC to go to the European TUC, we had a splendid dinner, like this, in London. By the way, a guest of honour was Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United. That won’t mean much to you Americans, but to anyone who follows the real football – just the rest of the world – it means a lot. That night, I listened to many kind words, exaggerated tributes, recitations of claimed victories, gentle irony on things which went less well.

Chianciano, 15-17/07/2009 It is always a pleasure to visit the CGIL and the beautiful region of Tuscany – the CGIL’s equivalent of the Costa Smeralda. Only a bit more dignified, I hope.

Tralee, 8-9/07/2009 President, delegates, fellow guests, thank you for the invitation to address your biennial congress once again. Two years ago, in Bundoran, I remember praising David Begg’s thoughtful introduction to the report of your Executive Council and in particular his warnings about casino capitalism. Well, a lot has happened over the last two years, and no one can say that the unions at least didn’t ring the alarm bells.

Vienna, 01/07/2009 President, delegates, fellow guests. It is always a pleasure to visit the ÖGB and Vienna and I bring the greetings of the ETUC to the trade unionists of Austria. The ÖGB had an early taste of the damage that can be done by speculation in the world of financial services. Indeed it can be said that you were in the avant-garde of what, later, became a mass movement. We now know that it was not just one bank that was in trouble but that the problems were systemic.

London, 29/05/2009 Cathy, Keith and Jeff have remembered our remarkable friend, Brian Bercusson in the most appropriate of ways. To Cathy, let me say simply, ‘Thank you for letting us have Brian for all those years, during which the ETUC was going through a crucial formative period.’ We all know that he was a man who loved his work and that in this sense he was probably impossible to ‘manage’. He worked too hard, but he would have never done it any other way.

Brussels, 26/05/2009 I am glad this meeting is being held in the International Trade Union House (ITUH), home of ETUC and ITUC. I’m glad also that the Commission is seeking to involve civil society in dialogue over trade. This isn’t a subject that can or should be ghettoised to trade experts. International trade is high on the trade union agenda. And the EU’s exclusive competence on trade issues makes this a European subject par excellence. Hence the key interest of the European Trade Union Confederation.

Paris, 27/05/2009 President Delors, Frère Jacques, Candido, fellow delegates and guests, make no mistake; we are at a crossroad for trade unionism and for Europe. we are at a crossroads for trade unionism and for Europe. It is now time for the trade unions to be debating the future of our societies and to be asking ourselves fundamental questions about our values, about our objectives and about the means we use to attain them. And asking ourselves too about the role of Europe and its future.

Rome, 20/05/2009 Chair, General Secretary, delegates, fellow guests. Thank you for this invitation to address the Congress of CISL, sadly at a time of great crisis for Italy and Europe.