Responding to the European Commission’s economic forecast for Spring 2020, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said: “Today’s forecast confirms that Europe is facing the deepest recession in its history, which means the only logical response is to launch the most ambitious economic recovery plan. “Europe must learn the lessons from 2008 by supporting public investment to create economic demand needed for renewed growth rather than pursuing further austerity that would kill the recovery.

Commenting on the outcome of the European Council, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said: “EU leaders have finally backed the urgently required emergency measures, but it’s very worrying that they will not be available before 1st June when workers, companies and public services are struggling now.

STATEMENT SIGNED BY ETUC AND 50+ CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS Democracy – Inclusion – Justice – Solidarity – Sustainability April 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic is demonstrating all too well that unequal societies go hand-in-hand with human suffering, fragile economies and delicate democracies.

Migrant workers in Europe are on the frontline of the response to the COVID-19 crisis. Now more than ever, the crucial contribution of migrant workers to support European economies, public services and fill labour shortages is crystal clear. These workers are to be found in those sectors most hit by the crisis agriculture, domestic and care work, public healthcare at all levels, food industry, construction, tourism, transport) putting their lives at risk for the sake of all of us. Their work is essential; however, they are the forgotten ones.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) appreciates the effort of the European Commission to propose a Roadmap towards lifting Covid19 containment measures, but criticises it for failing on basic principles and neglecting to acknowledge the practicalities of a return to work, insufficiently mentioning either health and safety at work or the need to apply strict ‘precautionary’ measures. The ETUC asks the Commission to start an urgent and proper consultation with trade unions and employers to define a proper implementation of the Communication.

“The Eurogroup has finally taken some important steps to help protect working people, support companies, fund public services and stabilise the economy through this crisis in the short-term.   “The activation of the ESM, the EIB and particularly of SURE goes in the right direction. We now ask all 27 member states’ governments to adopt this and the other measures before Easter. With 15 million jobs already affected by the lockdown, workers and companies cannot wait longer.

Criticising the failure of the Eurogroup to give its support to the EU’s €500bn package of economic aid to deal with the economic impact of corona virus, and continuing divisions over Eurobonds and ‘conditionalities’ for ESM funding,  ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said:

Less than one month after the start of lockdowns in many EU countries due to COVID-19 outbreak, the number of additional unemployed workers has crossed 4 million, with hundreds of thousands of companies closed and many unlikely to survive the emergency. At the same time, measures to support companies facing difficulties and to provide workers suspended from work with short-time work arrangements and income compensation have been put in place in most Member States, making it possible to save millions of jobs.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) urges EU Finance Ministers and the Council meeting next week to approve the European Commission’s proposal for a €100 billion ‘SURE’ scheme to support short-term work and other measures to protect jobs and wages during the coronavirus crisis. The ETUC calls on Member States to swiftly put at the disposal of the European Commission the necessary guarantees to make the scheme operational as soon as possible!

Responding to the European Commission’s announcement of the SURE short-time work scheme, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said: “We are very pleased the European Commission has listened to our request to fast track the launch of the SURE unemployment reinsurance scheme and support short-time work measures. “The situation of working people affected by the COVID-19 breakdown is deteriorating every hour and the last thing Europe needs in the middle of this health emergency is mass unemployment and another economic crisis.

Dear Presidents, The COVID-19 emergency is hitting working people in Europe hard. Those who work in activities of general interest, such as health care, transportation, agriculture, food production, and many other services are exposed to contagion and are poorly protected. In many cases their working conditions have been worsened.

ETUC Declaration on the COVID-19 Outbreak In addition to the text below agreed by the ETUC Executive Committee, the ETUC has  cancelled all its meetings until April 19 that involve its staff or members travelling abroad, and instructed its staff not to travel abroad for other meetings, as part of a package of measures to deal with Covid-19.   Adopted at the Executive Committee of the 9-10 March 2020

Commenting on today's European Commission Autumn Economic Forecast, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said: “The Commission’s economic forecast shows Europe rests on the edge of another recession despite the fact that workers’ living standards still haven’t recovered from the last financial crisis. Even the good overall employment rate is based on a rise in precarious work.

The reduction of the minimum wage for workers under 25 – as part of the austerity programme imposed on Greece by the EU and other creditors – has been condemned as “excessive”, and “discrimination on grounds of age”, and contrary to the Council of Europe European Social Charter (ESC). The judgement was delivered by the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), the main monitoring body to the European Social Charter, following a complaint by Greek trade union GSEE and supported by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

ETUC Mid-term Conference Dear friends, Comrades, Buongiorno a tutte e tutti !

Every spring, Forbes magazine releases a list of the world’s billionaires – a list that has been growing almost every year of this decade. The 2017 list features 445 billionaires from the countries of the EU. Their combined net worth, according to the magazine, is over €1.3 trillion.

The European Trade Union Confederation published today its plan for a European Public Treasury. The ETUC’s proposal would be a way to insure a minimum level of public investment in all Member States. The European Commission has called for a fiscal expansion of up to 0.5% of GDP in 2017 across the euro area on the whole, but this is not compatible with the Stability and Growth pact.

  STATEMENT OF THE ETUC ON THE NOTIFICATION OF THE UK TO WITHDRAW FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION Statement adopted by the Executive Committee, Malta 15 -16 March 2017 Meeting in Malta during the Maltese Presidency of the European Union the European Trade Union Confederation reaffirmed its commitment that workers and citizens – in UK and the rest of the EU - must not pay the price for Brexit. Our key common priority is the defence of workers’ rights, jobs and living standards.

Workers are still not feeling economic recovery: wages are lower now than they were eight years ago in seven EU member states, according to new research published today by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The research also shows that in 18 EU countries wages have grown much slower over the seven years after the crisis than in the eight years before that.

Commenting on the leaked European Commission White Paper on the Future of Europe published in European media this morning, Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said “I hope this is an early draft as it is very timid and rather dispiriting.”     “That the European Commission is unable to present anything other than reflections and scenarios, with a short summary of the pros and cons of each scenario, shows just how uncertain the future is.

The ETUC is calling on Eurogroup Finance Ministers meeting on 5 December not to impose further damaging “reforms” to Greece’s labour market and Greek workers’ rights following an urgent appeal by Greek trade union GSEE. Discussions are ongoing between the Greek Government and Greece’s creditors, with the IMF pushing for further deregulation of the already highly deregulated labour market.  Key issues include creditors demanding

Commenting on today’s ‘Semester Package’ announcement by the European Commission Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said “We were hoping for a much clearer announcement of an end to the EU’s damaging austerity regime. As far as we are concerned austerity will not end until the misnamed Stability and Growth Pact is reformed at least to encourage investment, and collective bargaining is yielding wage rises for workers across Europe.”