Speech by Esther Lynch, ETUC General Secretary at the congress of the European Federation of Journalists, held in Budapest on 2 May 2025.
Dear colleagues, dear friends,
I bring solidarity greetings from 45 million workers and their trade unions across Europe.
It’s a privilege to be with you today. Thank you to the European Federation of Journalists for your relentless commitment to press freedom, media pluralism, and the protection of those who speak truth to power.
We meet at a time of deep uncertainty - but also of powerful solidarity. Across Europe, workers are uniting their struggles fighting for dignity, for decent pay, for safe conditions - and for the democratic freedoms that underpin all of our rights.
Journalists are on the frontlines of that fight.
Because democracy cannot exist without a free press. Social justice cannot be defended without fearless reporting. And authoritarianism cannot be challenged if those who uncover the truth are silenced, harassed, or criminalised.
Let me be clear: attacks on journalists are attacks on all of us.
When a journalist is surveilled, threatened, or imprisoned, it’s not just a violation of individual rights - it’s an attack on democracy itself. That’s why the ETUC stands shoulder to shoulder with you in defending press freedom and media workers’ rights across the continent.
In Hungary and beyond, we’ve seen how the right and far right exploits fear, spreads hate, and concentrates media power to serve its own agenda.
They scapegoat migrants, weaponise disinformation, and dismantle public interest journalism. And too often, media workers face low pay, insecure contracts, or no protection at all when they stand up.
We must say this clearly: the far right does not protect free speech—they threaten and bully journalists, attack freedoms and rights.
Resisting them means more than defending the status quo. It means building something better. It means a Europe where journalists can work freely, safely, and fairly—without fear of censorship, intimidation, or poverty. It means an Europe of quality jobs underpinned by collective agreements, in every sector and in every region. And quality jobs underpinned by collective agreements for journalists too.
Because, colleagues, we are witnessing a deterioration in the quality of jobs across Europe – and as the EFJ have highlighted, in your sector too:
- attacks against trade unions and collective bargaining
- worsening of working conditions;
- wages that have increased less than inflation – leading to a cost-of-living crisis;
- decreasing collective bargaining coverage in key sectors;
- precarious jobs;
- an epidemic of stress at work and burnout – linked with excessive workload, intensification of work, violation of the right to disconnect.
This is why the ETUC is calling for the European Commission to put forward without delay an ambitious package with legislation and investments to ensure quality jobs in every sector and in every region:
- To promote collective bargaining, including through the transposition of the Minimum Wage Directive and with revised public procurement rules.
- To tackle stress at work through a Directive to prevent psychosocial risks, including ethical stress.
- To ensure the respect of the right to disconnect with a European Directive on telework and the right to disconnect.
- To regulate the use of AI in the world of work ensuring the EU legislation.
And we need the Commission and Governments to step up their efforts to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining in all sectors.
And we join in your call on institutions to improve the working conditions and ensure quality jobs for journalists and media workers all across Europe, and to promote collective bargaining and social dialogue in this key sector for our democracies.
And in this framework, it is also essential to ensure better working conditions for self-employed workers and freelancers.
For years, national competition authorities wrongly claimed that trade unions were not allowed to negotiate working conditions and fees for freelance workers.
With the new European Guidelines, it is now clear that unions can organise and collectively bargain for fair pay and working conditions of freelancers. But now employers are still blocking the way.
We call on the institutions to step up and to put pressure on employers to sit at the table and to ensure that the right to collective bargaining is fully respected for self-employed workers and freelancers too.
Colleagues,
For this better Europe we need and we call for:
- Stronger protections for media workers, media freedom and independence.
- Binding rules to tackle strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
- Quality jobs, decent pay and fair contracts for all media workers.
- Collective bargaining rights in every newsroom.
- Public funding models that serve the public interest - not political control.
- Investments in public media and democratic governance of the digital age.
- Digital rights and protections in the age of AI and algorithmic influence.
We also need solidarity across borders. Because just as the far right is organised internationally, so too must we build a European and global movement of hope.
A movement that connects trade unionists, journalists, and citizens in the shared struggle for truth, rights, and democracy.
Together, we say:
No to disinformation. No to media monopolies. No to fear and hate. No to precarious work.
Yes to solidarity. Yes to truth. Yes to justice. Yes to quality jobs and collective agreements.
This is not just about the media - it’s about the kind of Europe we want to build. A Social Europe grounded in quality jobs, in democracy and respect. A bold Europe with strong public institutions. A hopeful Europe where workers’ voices - and journalists’ voices - are heard and protected.
This is our mission. This is our movement. This is our future.
Thank you for everything you do to uphold truth and justice.
We stand with you - in hope, in action, and in solidarity. Always.