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, 16/03/2009 On the agenda is a resolution calling for strong European leadership to guide the markets out of the recession. The trade union leaders will discuss a framework of actions required to prevent the current recession turning into a new depression. In addition, they will launch a European-wide campaign to ‘Fight the crisis: put the people first’, culminating in three action days in Berlin, Brussels, Madrid and Prague on 14–16 May.

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.

Brussels, 10/03/2009 The biggest fear was that the establishment of an SPE could give companies incentives to circumvent employees’ rights to participation. ‘The proposal of the Parliament aims to ensure that workers’ rights are not undermined. It is a step forward and an important improvement to the draft statute presented by the Commission’, says ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann. This solution respects workers’ rights that already exist both under Community law, notably the SE Directive, and in national legal traditions.

Brussels, 06/03/2009 As the recession spreads and deepens in the global economy, both women and men will suffer the labour market consequences, and gender inequality risks being exacerbated by the crisis. In times of an economic downturn, women often experience the negative consequences in different ways then men, related to their double role as workers and carers. As they are also more likely than men to be in low-paid, precarious employment they face a greater risk of immediate poverty when becoming unemployed.

Brussels, 05/03/2009 ETUC notes that none of the over-arching objectives of the Lisbon Strategy has been met to date. Indeed, the Commission's joint report on social protection and social inclusion, presented yesterday, shows that 16% of Europeans live below the poverty threshold. Similarly, the rate of poor workers (8%) proves that not all jobs offer protection against poverty, a risk that is even greater for certain less favoured groups like children (19% exposed to the risk of poverty) or older people (notably women) (19% compared with 16% in 2006).

Brussels, 04/03/2009 At the first meeting of the governing body of the United States (US) national trade union confederation since the election of President Obama, John Monks called for Europe to act in a united way and at least match US actions to revive the global economy, starting at the G20 meeting to be held in London at the beginning of April. He pointed to the resurgent role of trade unions whose ideas, starting with the dangers of financialisation, had led the way.

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.

Miami, 04/03/2009

Brussels, 04/03/2009 Reiner Hoffmann, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) says: ‘It is frightening to see how the president of the European Central Bank has forgotten the lessons of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Not wages but interest rates should be cut’.

Brussels, 02/03/2009 To deal with a possible wave of financial market contagion spreading the crisis from one country to the next, ETUC calls for a major increase of the Commission’s balance of payment facility from its present level of 25 billion euro. The ETUC also calls on the European Commission not to allow the International Monetary Fund to abuse currency crises by imposing lending conditionalities undermining the European Social Model.

Brussels, 27/02/2009

Brussels, 25/02/2009