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.

Brussels, 08/07/2009 Yet against this desperate situation, much of the talk of policy makers is to about how to cut back public spending and plan exit strategies from the present growing levels of public debt. To follow these would make a grave situation much worse, and the need is for Governments to hold their nerve and keep priming the economy. Premature exit strategies would kill the prospects of recovery as they did in the USA in 1937 and Japan in 1997.

Brussels, 08/07/2009

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.

Brussels, 03/06/2009 To prevent and control a situation of mass unemployment, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling for a different and broader approach. - To address the lack of demand dynamics and get the economy back moving again, Europe needs an expanded and sustained recovery programme: Europe needs to invest annually 1% of GDP in the coming three years in the ‘greening of the economy’.

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, 28/05/2009 The Paris Declaration’s aim is twofold: fight the crisis and push forward a more equitable society. The declaration is built on five key points, namely:

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.

Berlin, 16/05/2009 European Action Day Greetings from the European Trade Union Confederation. These three Spring Days, the trade unions of Europe are on the march. From the north to the south, from east to west, the unions are demonstrating their will, their determination to fight the crisis. We originally planned four major European demonstrations. Now it is up to seven, as Bucharest, Luxembourg and Birmingham today join the protests:

Brussels, 16/05/2009 Demonstrators are demanding more ambitious and more courageous action by Europe and national governments to help the growing armies of unemployed. They also demand that never again can the excesses of financial capitalism to be allowed to wreck the world economy.

Brussels, 15/05/2009

Brussels, 11/05/2009 In a context of crisis, with unemployment reaching staggering levels, the European trade unions will march to protect employment and to reiterate that every effort must be made to keep workers on the job. We want social and employment policies that emphasise security, not flexibility. Such policies are a prerequisite for a social Europe capable of developing its full potential.

Brussels, 07/05/2009 The ETUC calls for: More and better jobs: Investment in an expanded European recovery plan to mobilise a new drive for growth and jobs. The ETUC demands the European Council and Commission to draw up a European investment plan totalling an annual 1% of GDP to provide more and better jobs, to promote innovation, research and development, to help employment in key industries, to invest in new, green and sustainable technologies, and to maintain vital public services.

Brussels, 01/04/2009 It is unacceptable for workers and citizens to shoulder the burden of a crisis they did not cause. The European trade union movement has been warning European authorities that social unrest would develop and accelerate without Europe-wide coordinated measures to stop and reverse the recession of the European economy. Fundamental European rights – notably, freedoms, including the free movement of workers, equality and solidarity – are deeply challenged by the crisis.

Madrid, 01/04/2009 Employment first Candido, delegates, friends, I bring thanks and greetings from the European Trade Union Confederation to the UGT Spain. I bring you thanks because you are one of the most loyal and constant supporters of the work of the ETUC. You are not a fair weather friend. You are a companion and a comrade for all seasons – and I know that, on behalf of the ITUC, Guy Ryder feels the same way.

Brussels, 31/03/2009 These figures show that fiscal and monetary policy in Europe is not doing enough to support the economy.

Brussels, 27/03/2009 The unemployment figures are very bleak and are predicted to top 10% across the European Union. It is urgent for the decisionmakers to abandon any complacency affirming that the national state welfare systems act as a social buffer instead of tackling the problems head on and showing evidence of a genuine political determination to get out of the rut.

To download the campaign poster ‘Fight the crisis: put the people first’, please click on the icon below.

Brussels, 23/03/2009

Brussels, 23/03/2009 A trade union delegation composed of John Monks and the leaders of the Belgian trade unions will meet, on Monday 23 March, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy and the deputy prime ministers, as well as European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, to assess the European Summit on 19 and 20 March and to prepare the G20 in London.

Brussels, 17/03/2009 Economic forecasts are bad and are even getting worse. Unemployment will rise fast and reach more than 10% by 2010. This situation will further weaken the position of certain population groups. Indeed, the European labour market is flexible but not secure. Workers are suffering mass redundancies, while their rights to robust unemployment benefits have been hollowed out by years of structural reforms and widespread precarious employment practices.

Brussels, 03/03/2009 Social protest movements are taking place in many European countries – such as in France, Iceland, Ireland and Latvia – as Europeans find themselves paying the price of a crisis caused by unbridled speculation. ETUC is calling for a New Social Deal that gives priority to workers and citizens. This social agenda will have to focus on the main concerns of European citizens: employment, purchasing power and their fundamental rights.

Miami, 04/03/2009 President, Secretary-Treasurer, Sisters and Brothers, this is the third time that I have had the very great privilege of addressing this Executive Council. The first two times were when I was General Secretary of the British TUC, an organisation with which the AFL-CIO is very familiar, as we share the oldest international trade union relationship in the world, stretching back to 1894. I guess that the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is not so clear in all your minds.