• Directives needed to make work safe for digital age
    stressed out and connected

    Directives needed to make work safe for digital age

    This European week for safety and health at work, trade unions are calling for swift EU action to address the rising tide of burnouts and work related stress.The EU’s health and safety agency, EU OSHA, is using the week to highlight its campaign for ‘safe and healthy work in the digital age’.The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) highlights that this laudable objective won’t be achievable without the following legislative initiatives:
    Press release Published on 23.10.2024
  • Most countries could miss minimum wage directive deadline
    Wages

    Most countries could miss minimum wage directive deadline

    The majority of EU member states have still not started the process of putting the minimum wage directive into national law – just weeks before the deadline for implementation.Around 20 million workers should benefit from the directive which requires member states with statutory minimum wages to ensure they are adequate, and for all member states to promote collective bargaining.
    Press release Published on 23.10.2024
  • Tesla: the fight for collective bargaining continues 
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    Tesla: the fight for collective bargaining continues 

    A year on, the fight for a collective agreement with car manufacturer Tesla continues for Swedish union IF Metall. To demonstrate the ongoing solidarity with the striking workers and their union, industriAll Europe’s General Secretary Judith Kirton-Darling, together with ETUC General secretary Esther Lynch visit a Tesla picket line in Stockholm today.
    Press release Published on 22.10.2024
  • Budget reform cannot be backdoor to social cuts
    Budet

    Budget reform cannot be backdoor to social cuts

    European trade unions are calling on the European Commission to give guarantees that social spending will be safeguarded in any reform of the EU budget.The executive of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) agreed a resolution setting out its red lines over the reform of the Multiannual Financial Framework.“Social, territorial and economic cohesion funding and policies, as well as ESF+ must be safeguarded, and spending for social progress objectives must be increased,” it says. Delors
    Press release Published on 21.10.2024
  • Corporate greed holding back investment, data shows
    Investment versus profits

    Corporate greed holding back investment, data shows

    Corporations are harming Europe’s competitiveness by choosing to hoard a greater share of profits instead of reinvesting them to raise productivity and create quality jobs, an analysis of EU data by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) shows. Gross investment has fallen by 9% across the EU since 2019 and is at its lowest rates since 2014, when the economy was still reeling from the financial crisis. 
    Press release Published on 17.10.2024
  • Social Partners' Dialogue: Esther Lynch speech
    Esther address

    Social Partners' Dialogue: Esther Lynch speech

    On 16 October 2024, a delegation of trade union representatives met with employers and key figures of the European Commission. Esther Lynch, General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation, made the following intervention (to be checked against delivery). Dear President von der Leyen, Dear Vice-President Dombrovskis,Dear Commissioner Schmit, Distinguished colleagues, and friends,   
    Speech Published on 16.10.2024
  • Social Partners' Dialogue: Jarkko Eloranta speech
    Jarkko Eloranta address

    Social Partners' Dialogue: Jarkko Eloranta speech

    On 16 October 2024, a delegation of trade union representatives met with employers and key figures of the European Commission. Jarkko Eloranta, Vice-President, European Trade Union Confederation, made the following intervention (to be checked against delivery). Dear President,Dear Vice-President,Dear Commissioner,Dear social partners, As we approach the new Commission mandate, it is important that we see key elements of the outgoing mandate remain strongly on the agenda.
    Speech Published on 16.10.2024
  • Platform directive: No time to waste for national governments
    Platform worker

    Platform directive: No time to waste for national governments

    Trade unions are calling on EU member states to waste no time in putting the platform work directive into action at national level. Millions of workers have been forced into bogus self-employment by platform companies, meaning they miss out on their most basic rights as workers such as the minimum wage or sick pay.  The directive adopted today by the EU Council will mean: 
    Press release Published on 14.10.2024
  • ETUC tribute on the passing of Emilio Gabaglio
    Emilio Gabaglio

    ETUC tribute on the passing of Emilio Gabaglio

    The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Emilio Gabaglio, one of its founding fathers and longest standing leaders.  Born into a working class family in 1937, Gabaglio studied economics in Milan before returning to his home town of Como to begin his working life as a secondary school teacher. During this time he joined the Italian Confederation of Trades Unions (CISL) and rose to become head of its international department. 
    Press release Published on 07.10.2024
  • Austerity 2.0 would escalate Europe's investment crisis
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    Austerity 2.0 would escalate Europe's investment crisis

    A return to austerity when we desperately need to increase investment would take Europe down a road to ruin, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warned in Rome today. Speaking at a European conference against austerity organised by the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Esther Lynch recalled how the austerity measures put in place after the 2008 financial crisis were a catastrophe for working people.
    Press release Published on 04.10.2024
  • EU must end ‘race to the bottom’ contracts
    Public procurement

    EU must end ‘race to the bottom’ contracts

    The European Union must stop fuelling a race to the bottom in pay and working conditions by making public contracts dependent on respect for workers’ rights.Thousands of essential workers are mobilising in Brussels for a Uni Europa demonstration for a progressive reform of the EU public procurement directives. Public procurement, or the contracting of private firms by public authorities to deliver goods and services, amounts to two trillion Euros - around 14% of the EU’s GDP.Lowest cost
    Press release Published on 01.10.2024
  • Far-right nominate union-busting Musk for human rights prize
    Tesla strike

    Far-right nominate union-busting Musk for human rights prize

    The decision of two far-right groups in the European Parliament, Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations, to nominate notorious union-buster Elon Musk for the Sakharov human rights prize lays bare their anti-worker agenda. 
    Press release Published on 26.09.2024
  • Platform work directive must end ‘algorithmic slavery’
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    Platform work directive must end ‘algorithmic slavery’

    Delivery workers say the platform work directive could stop them being treated as a “slave to an algorithm” if it is properly implemented by national governments. The directive is expected to be given the final green light by the Council shortly, meaning member states need to begin putting its improvements into their national law. 
    Press release Published on 26.09.2024
  • Workplace cancer spike shows need for asbestos screening directive
    Asbestos

    Workplace cancer spike shows need for asbestos screening directive

    The danger of the European Commission’s decision to delay action to protect workers from asbestos is highlighted today by new data showing cases of asbestos-related cancer are rising.
    Press release Published on 26.09.2024
  • Launch of new online tool: the Transnational Restructuring Navigator
    Cover

    Launch of new online tool: the Transnational Restructuring Navigator

    Company restructuring is no longer an exceptional circumstance. It has become a daily reality faced by trade unions and workers and a regular feature across all sectors and activities. It can also be very difficult to navigate. 
    News Published on 26.09.2024
  • Economic slowdown shows need to cut rates and raise investment
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    Economic slowdown shows need to cut rates and raise investment

    The alarming contraction in economic activity in the Eurozone shows why the European Central Bank (ECB) needs to lower interest rates further and faster.  The eurozone is facing its first economic contraction in seven months, with the composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) published this week falling below the critical threshold of 50.The development signals shrinking activity in both manufacturing and services sectors and highlights the fragility of the economic situation, particularly in Germany and France. 
    Press release Published on 25.09.2024
  • Mistake to scrap jobs commissioner amid jobs crisis
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    Mistake to scrap jobs commissioner amid jobs crisis

    The European Commission has announced plans to downgrade the importance of its Jobs and Social Rights portfolio - less than 24 hours after workers marched to the European institutions to demand action to protect jobs.Every European Commission since the 1970s has included a Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs (or Jobs and Social Rights as it has been called since 2019).But the post would be eliminated in the plans for the new Commission published today, instead being made part of a ‘People, Skills and Preparedness’ portfolio.
    Press release Published on 17.09.2024
  • EU must stop industry crisis on its doorstep
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    EU must stop industry crisis on its doorstep

    The threat to tens of thousands of European industrial workers’ livelihoods, including more than 3000 jobs at Audi and its subcontractors on the doorstep of the European institutions, shows the urgent need for the EU to deliver an industrial deal that will protect and create quality jobs. Trade unions will march in Brussels today to demand political action in response to a threat from carmaker Audi to cut jobs at its plant in Brussels which will affect thousands of workers.
    Press release Published on 16.09.2024
  • ECB 'timidity' out of step with Draghi investment push
    ECB Logo

    ECB 'timidity' out of step with Draghi investment push

    The European Central Bank (ECB) today announced a small 0.25 point cut in interest rates.The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warns this move does not match the scale of the action required to boost investment set out this week in the Draghi report on competitiveness.The Draghi report warned high interest rates could contribute to public debt becoming “unsustainable” and “negatively affect investments” in the green and digital transitions.Commenting on the decision, ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
    Press release Published on 12.09.2024
  • Turning the tide for investment for quality jobs in Europe
    Turning the tide

    Turning the tide for investment for quality jobs in Europe

    The ETUC’s call for a major shift towards more EU investment has been backed by Draghi, but trade unions warn that specific measures will be needed to ensure the investment creates quality jobs in all sectors and all regions. Trade union involvement will be key. Social dialogue and collective bargaining must be at the centre of the solution for European competitiveness. We call on the President of the European Commission to convene a social partner working group to discuss the report and the way forward. 
    Press release Published on 09.09.2024
  • Firefighters cut in 12 EU countries despite rising climate risk
    Firefighter

    Firefighters cut in 12 EU countries despite rising climate risk

    The number of firefighters was cut in a dozen EU member states last year despite a rising risk of fires caused by climate change, an analysis of new EU data by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has found. Eurostat figures published today show that there were 362,400 firefighters in the EU in 2023, which is an increase of 3,200 on the previous year. 
    Press release Published on 23.08.2024