Standards are present everywhere in our daily life. Initially associated with product safety and interoperability, their reach has extended to affect a wide range of issues such as occupational health and safety, competences and training, service provision and privacy at work. Many of these areas are right at the centre of trade union work.
Trade unions from Africa and Europe have followed with grave concern the negotiation and conclusion of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and regional groupings in Africa.
The ITUC-Africa and the ETUC have called for in-depth changes to the content and guiding principles of current EPAs[1] to ensure they promote economic growth and sustainable development, guarantee respect for workers’ rights and universal access to public services and contribute to the full achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
22 million workers in the EU (10% of the total) are self-employed and have no employees. Across Europe, self-employed workers often have fewer rights than employees. For instance, in some countries they have no right to join a trade union and to benefit from union protection and support. This brochure gives an overview about:
Why self-employed workers need better rights?
What unions are doing?
Which priorities for the future?
Link to Report
Organising and protecting atypical workers better – especially self-employed workers – is an ETUC commitment.This research shows that union membership for the self-employed is widely accepted among ETUC affiliated organisations. Contrary to those who claim that trade unions are rigid organisations rooted in the industrial fabric of the last (or even 19th) century, this is a(nother) sign that unions are adapting to the dynamics of the labour market and do seek to better defend the rights of workers.
The LABOUR-INT project aims to promote employment as a key part of the integration process of asylum-seekers and refugees in society. Building on the interest and capacities of businesses, chambers of industry and commerce, trade unions and migrant associations, it promotes multi-layered integration paths, from arrival up to the workplace.
If you would like to know more about the LABOUR-INT project, please click here.
The recent upsurge of migration flows to Europe, consisting particularly of people seeking international protection, has made
the need for effective and targeted integration policies ever more urgent. Regarding migrants’ integration into the labour market, a special emphasis is placed on the importance of early identification and validation of skills and qualifications.
If you would like to know more about the LABOUR-INT project, please click here.
Report for the final conference of the project "Workers' participation - a key to fair digitalisation" by Eckhard Voss of Wilke, Maack & Partners. Available in English, French, Polish, Spanish and Italian.
Report by Professor Jeremias Prassl of Oxford University for the final conference of the project "Worker participation: a key to fair digitalisation". Available in English, French, Italian and German
Joint Recommendations addressing social partnership in employee training were adopted during a conference held on 19 June 2018 in Brussels. A report was also presented during the conference.
This research is an initiative of the ETUC Youth Committee, developed by the German consultancy company FIA with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. It analyses how youth-friendly the different European labour markets are. It is based on a survey to which trade unionists, officers from the public employment services, academic researchers and employers’ representatives all contributed. It comprises eight chapters, each developing findings around a specific theme appertaining to youth employment and transitions.
ETUC Publication in the framework of the project on letterbox companies
A hunters game : how policy can change to spot and sink letterbox-type practices
The Youth Guarantee (YG) is, at the moment of writing this follow-up report, high in the agenda of the European institutions. Indeed, important decisions are being taken regarding the future of the measure, its future funding and further implementation.
The ETUC pushed EU institutions for the launch of the Youth Guarantee and welcomed its implementation. The establishment of such a guarantee in Europe was advocated by the ETUC and the ETUC Youth Committee as early as 2009 in its call “Towards a new social deal in Europe: Fight the crisis, put people first”.
On International Migrants Day, the ETUC wishes to express its solidarity and support for undocumented migrants. Too often, sans papiers suffer the humiliating and degrading experience of being excluded from society, on top of inhumane working conditions.
