Tomorrow European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen will unveil proposals for an EU Skills Agenda in the European Parliament, with a press conference later in the week. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) believes that an ambitious agenda with concrete actions is essential: to upgrade skills to enable people seeking work to get jobs, for workers to remain employed and to move to better jobs, and to enable the European economy to meet the many challenges ahead.

The European quality framework for apprenticeships was launched during a conference held on 14 April 2016 in Brussels. This framework consists of 20 quality criteria, which have been developed in a bottom-up approach through engaging with experts at national and European levels over the course of 4 joint sectoral seminars and 20 national country visits. Other language versions of the publication will follow shortly.

With youth unemployment over 22% across the EU*, and a shocking 53% in Spain*, European trade unions are demanding that funding for the EU’s Youth Guarantee is extended.  Youth representatives of the European Trade Union Confederation and European sectoral trade union Federations will meet European Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen on Thursday 21 January at 17:00h to press the Commission to continue funding the Youth Guarantee beyond 2016.

ETUC assessment of the European Commission Work Programme 2016   ETUC position adopted at the ETUC Executive Commitee on the 16-17 December 2015 Introduction   This paper provides an ETUC assessment of the European Commission’s (EC) Work Programme 2016 (WP) No Time for Business as Usual.  

The 2015-2017 work programme of the european partners 'partnership for inclusive growth and employment'

Today, the European Youth Forum and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), during their joint conference on youth employment at the European Economic and Social Committee, called for good quality jobs for young people.

Adopted by the ETUC Executive Committee at its meeting on 10-11 March 2015 The political change in Greece is an opportunity, not only for that crisis-ridden country but also for a fundamental reassessment and revision of EU economic and social policies focusing on failed austerity and structural reforms of the labour market.

Brussels, January the 6th 2015   Dear colleagues, We hope these lines find you well. Hereby we share with you the ETUC/ETUI report "The Youth Guarantee in Europe", the research developed by Margherita Bussi. This report has been undertaken within the framework of the project "For Quality Measures in Youth Employment!".

This report is composed of four parts: the first part deals with the labour market situation of young people with a special focus on NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training). The second part presents the main features of the Youth Guarantee project as it has been developed at the European level. The third part presents the results of the survey conducted among ETUC affiliates in order to understand whether and how trade unions were involved in the development of the YG schemes at the national level.

Adopted at the meeting of the Executive Committee on 2-3 December 2014     Investment for sustainable growth and decent jobs is a long-standing ETUC demand.  The ETUC therefore welcomes the EU focus on investment and concrete initiatives contributing to this end and, in particular, the recent initiative towards an EU-level investment plan.

  Commenting on the Employment Summit in Milan on 8th October 2014, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation said “This summit will go down as a ceremonial non-event. Nothing has changed. Calls for an investment plan leading to sustainable growth and quality employment received no positive echoes from country leaders. Labour reforms and internal devaluation continue to be the agreed mantra.”

Commenting on the latest unemployment figures, which show a 0.7% reduction cross the EU over the last 12 months, Claudia Menne, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said “Unemployment is still over 25 million, which is totally unacceptable. A 0.7% reduction, when unemployment is so high, is completely inadequate.” “Youth unemployment is also still far too high.”

The cancellation of the youth employment Summit scheduled for this week sends out a very bad signal to Europe’s younger generations, showing that the Member States have failed to take the youth guarantee seriously. Young people are bearing the full brunt of austerity policies, unemployment and labour market insecurity. They do not want this guarantee to be yet another missed opportunity. It has the potential to enable better integration into employment, but it has to be used. Where are the funds intended for this guarantee?

Adopted at the ETUC Executive Committee on 11-12 March 2014       Background   Work-based learning, which is generally associated with apprenticeships for young people and dual systems of vocational training, is part of the policies supporting the transition from school to the labour market. It is integrated into broader education and training policies linked to labour market issues. [1]  

On April 4 some 40,000 trade unionists from all over Europe will march through the centre of Brussels to the EU quarter. For some Belgians this might seem yet another inconvenience caused by Brussels being home to the EU institutions – like the traffic chaos caused by the arrival of Prime Ministers for European Summits, or the security surrounding the recent visit of President Obama.

Tomorrow a delegation [1]of young European trade unionists will meet the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso to ask for a change in current austerity policies. In 11 EU member states youth unemployment is over than 25% and it is 50% or higher in Greece (57%), Spain (56%) and Croatia (52%).   Young people are struggling to find jobs, to further their education and have to migrate.

Traineeships can admittedly be a springboard towards employment for young people.  Unfortunately, they can also constitute a trap, and that is why the European Parliament and the Council have launched a call for a “Quality Framework for Traineeships” (QFT). 

          La CES, BUSINESSEUROPE, CEEP et UEAMPE ont signé trois cadres d'actions à ce jour, définissant des objectifs et des orientations communs. Ils doivent être promus et mis en œuvre par les organisations membres des signataires à tous les niveaux concernés. Chaque année, les partenaires sociaux européens font un suivi  des actions nationales réalisées sur la base des différentes  priorités et évaluent leur impact. - Accord cadre sur l'emploi des jeunes (2013) (Uniquement en anglais) - Cadre d’actions sur l’égalité hommes-femmes

Brussels, 07/11/2013
 
 Annexes available in the PDF version
 
 Introduction 
 
 

Brussels, 14/11/2013 About 120 young trade unionists and youth NGO representatives from all over Europe gathered in Paris for the Youth Summit for Quality Jobs on the occasion of the summit of European head of states and ministers of labour. The summit was complemented by many side events organised jointly by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the French trade unions (CFDT, CGT, FO and UNSA) and the European Youth Forum, with the support of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE).

Brussels, 22-23/10/2013 For quality jobs, equality and democracy in Europe! From 22 to 25 May 2014, elections will be organised in each Member State of the European Union (EU) to elect the MEPs who will sit in the next European Parliament (EP). In particular, the European Parliament has the power to approve or reject European laws, decide on the European budget and choose the President of the European Commission.

Brussels, 2013
 
 Sector analysis

 

 - Automotive

 - Chemicals

 - Construction

 - Distribution and Trade


Brussels, 25/06/2013
 
 AGENDA

 

 09:00 – 09:15 Registration and coffee

 

 09.15 – 09.30 Introduction and Objectives of the Project

 Benjamin Denis, ETUC

 

 09:30 – 11:00 Presentation of the Survey Results (1)

 Visionary Analytics 

 Q&A

 

 11.00 – 11.30 Coffee break


Brussels, 2013

Brussels, 24/04/2013