Aviation workers and safety experts are calling on airlines, manufacturers and the EU Aviation Safety Agency to immediately implement new cabin air quality standards designed to protect staff and passengers from chemical fumes. After more than seven years of work on the issue, the European Committee on Standardisation (CEN) has published a technical report including recommendations on how to prevent exposure to fumes through improvements in the design, maintenance, and operation of aircraft.

Despite all the attempts to stop the people of Brazil voting freely, democracy and social progress have won over the far-right, neo-fascist, authoritarian and violently populist policies of the previous President. Social justice and protection of human rights, a new and fairer global economic model, climate and digital just transitions, decent work and an end to precariousness, accessible and adequate social protection for all: this is what the election of Lula will bring to Brazil, Latin America and the rest of the world.

Dear Readers, We have just published the October 2022 edition of the ETUC newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

The ETUC calls for the immediate release of Professor Korur-Fincancı Şebnem, President Turkish Medical Association. Professor Korur-Fincancı Şebnem was arrested on 26 October and imprisoned on 27 October under Article 7§2 of the Anti-Terror Law of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "publicly degrading the Turkish Nation, the state of the Republic of Türkiye and its institutions" because of her comments in the media about the allegations that Türkiye used chemical gases during its military operations in Iraq and for which she called for an independent investigation.

Deaths at work will continue to blight Europe for almost a decade longer than previously forecast after a rise in fatal accidents in almost half of member states, new trade union research reveals.

The ETUC is proud to welcome into its family the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU), the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) and the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM). “The future of Ukraine and Moldova is in the European Union” said Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary, “and the trade unions of Ukraine and Moldova need the support and solidarity of the ETUC to defend the rights of workers in these difficult and dangerous times, and to assist in ensuring that the interests of working people are represented she accession process.

A majority of EU member states are failing to support health and safety at work as a fundamental and international right – despite voting for it to become one.    In June, the ILO agreed to make two Health and Safety Conventions (155 and 187) into core conventions – making them a fundamental right. European countries, along with those in Africa, were the driving force behind this change and voted in favour of it.  

Commenting on the conclusions of the European Council, ETUC General Secretary Visentini said:

Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary, today told Ursula Von der Leyen and Charles Michel that the EU must:

Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and Employment - 19 October 2022 Tackling the energy crisis and the cost of living crisis: How to protect the economy, businesses and workers Opening speech of Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary [Check against delivery] Esteemed authorities, Colleagues of the Social Partners, It’s a great pleasure to meet all of you in person, after more than two years of meetings online.

A ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ensures that workers’ participation continues to apply without restriction at the software company SAP SE. Beyond the individual case, the Luxembourg judges have sent a signal for the representation of workers' interests on the supervisory boards of European public limited companies. The German co-determination law foresees seats for trade union representatives on the supervisory board. SAP SE wanted to exclude these secured seats for trade union representatives while converting into the European company form SE.

Real wages are falling while real profits continue to grow in half of EU member states, new ETUC research on the cost-of-living crisis shows.   Real wages, which indicates pay after inflation is taken into account, have fallen in every EU member state this year by as much as 9%.  At the same time, corporate profits are rising in real terms in 13 member states, with increases of up to 6.5% compared to last year.

Workers from across Europe have laid bare their daily struggle to make ends meet during the cost-of-living crisis, telling of their difficulties in affording food, clothing and heating. Nancy, a cleaner from Belgium, explained how many basic food items have become unaffordable, while Javier, an agricultural worker from Spain, said he no longer has enough money to buy clothes and Victor, a policeman from Romania, said his energy bill could soon be worth around half of his salary.

The European Trade Union Confederation, the French trade unions and several trade union federations and confederations will join forces in Strasbourg today to protest about the cost-of-living crisis and call for decisive action from the EU and national governments. A demonstration will take place outside the Parliament at 13.00 and will be followed by a meeting with MEPs inside the European Parliament at 17.15 in which trade union leaders and workers will set out:

The directive on minimum wages and collective bargaining has today received its final approval after a two-year legislative process and a long campaign by trade unions. Member states must now take action to ensure that they have laws and practices in place in time to meet the two-year deadline for transposition of the Directive following its formal adoption by the Council of the EU’s meeting of finance ministers this morning. The ETUC is calling on Members States to immediately follow the example in Germany by raising wages. 

Millions of older people are being plunged deeper into fuel poverty by a collapse in the real value of state pensions, an analysis for the ETUC has found on the UN’s international day for older persons. 

Commenting on the decisions taken today by the Energy Council, Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary said:

Dear Readers, We have just published the September 2022 edition of the ETUC newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

Restrictions on the right of self-employed people, including those working through digital labour platforms, to bargain collectively for fair pay and working conditions are to be lifted across Europe following victory in a long-running trade union campaign. 

With more than one in five persons in the EU, 94.5 million, already ‘at risk of poverty or social exclusion’ last year – and with inflation now running at 9.1% - the ETUC is calling on Ministers to adopt the European Commission’s Recommendation on minimum incomes as a matter of urgency – and not wait for another 8 years before implementing it!    “Rising prices hit people in poverty the hardest” said Liina Carr, ETUC Confederal Secretary “and the poor cannot wait until 2030 for the recommendations to be implemented.

EU action on asbestos exposure could save up to 90,000 lives a year across Europe – but the European Commission has sided with business lobbyists who want to limit measures in order to save money. The European Commission has today proposed a review of the 2009 Asbestos at Work Directive, which set a dangerously high maximum exposure level of 0,1 fibres of asbestos per cm3.

The right to strike is still not protected in the European Commission’s proposal for a Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI). The ETUC wrote to the Commission earlier this month to raise concerns about their plans to repeal a regulation* which protects the right to strike as part of their new plan to crisis-proof the single market.

Europe took an important step towards ending poverty pay today as the Directive on adequate minimum wages cleared its final vote in the European Parliament with a convincing majority of 505 MEPs in favour, 92 against and 44 abstentions.

Reacting to the State of the Union Speech, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said: “The real state of the union is that working people across Europe are worried sick about how they are going to afford to heat their homes this winter with falling wages while CEOs and shareholders are enjoying rising profits and dividends.

A new EU ban on good produced through forced labour is crucial to tackling the rise in the number of victims of modern slavery. The European Commission has proposed a prohibition on products found to have been made using forced labour from sale in the EU, whether they are made in the EU or in third countries. It comes after the International Labour Organisation (ILO) this week published new research showing there are 28 million people in forced labour around the world, including 3.3 million children.