Trade unions are calling on European leaders to follow in the footsteps of US President Joe Biden and stand with working people fighting for a fair deal.
Biden made history overnight as the first sitting US President to join a picket line, telling striking members of the United Auto Workers union in Michigan: “You’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now.”
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) invites EU leaders to join union mobilisations taking place across Europe this autumn.
They include the European day of mobilisation against austerity, for better wages and for equality between men and women in Paris on October 13.
ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
“We have been used to progressives in the US looking to Europe for inspiration but currently, from France to Finland, our governments are attacking trade unions and planning new austerity measures.
“President Biden’s historic picket line visit shows our politicians exactly where they need to be: unequivocally on the side of working people.
“We invite European leaders to follow in President Biden’s footsteps and join trade unions on picket lines and at protests in the fight for a fair deal.
“It’s time European leaders stopped making working people pay the price of inflation driven by excess corporate profits and followed Biden in backing pay rises to restore purchasing power.”
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