Trade unions are calling for an urgent rethink of plans to reintroduce austerity as new EU figures show the number of children living in poverty has risen for the third consecutive year.
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.
ETUC position on the response to the Social Partner Consultation on CMRD6
Adopted at the Executive Committee of 27-28 September 2023
Introduction
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomes the European Commission’s intention to revise the Directive on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substances at work (CMRD or Directive 2004/37/EC).
Yolanda Diaz, Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister of Labour and the Social Economy, addressed the ETUC Executive Committee on 28 September in Madrid.
Please find the text of the address (in Spanish) in the link.
Solidarity letter sent by the ETUC to trade unions in Northern Ireland
I am writing to express the ETUC’s solidarity with the workers taking a courageous stand in Northern Ireland. The wave of coordinated collective action by ICTU unions, initiated on 21 September 2023 and culminating in a strike rally in front of Belfast City Hall on 22 September, underscores the collective determination of working people to secure fair wages, improved working conditions, and a brighter future for themselves and their communities.
Following the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the island of Lampedusa on 17 September, the ETUC reiterates the urgent need for a fair and humane European asylum and migration policy, in line with international and EU legal obligations and in full respect of fundamental rights.
The European Commission recently published its long-awaited BEFIT (Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation) proposal for the taxation of large multinational companies.
It follows a long-term effort to introduce group taxation with a formula for allocating taxable profits where value is created (in terms of payroll, number of employees, assets). This was the intended objective of the CCTB and CCCTB proposals, which have now been withdrawn from the European agenda.
ETUC and its federations: European Transport Workers’ Federation, Uni Europa, IndustriAll and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions call on policymakers to adopt a strong Directive on platform work that would end the exploitation of vulnerable workers and re-establish fair competition in a quickly developing platform economy.
