Brussels, 18/01/2011
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) reminds finance ministers that labour market flexibility does not create more jobs. Flexibility simply promotes precarious work, drives out good jobs, and creates high and rising inequalities.
Brussels, 12/01/2011
Yet, as the financial crisis has proved, it is unrealistic to expect countries to be able to keep to the strict rules in exceptional circumstances such as now. The bad debts of the banks and their transfer to the public balance sheet have made it impossible for countries to keep to the current rules, and unless there is an exceptional period of growth, some will still be in breach of the stronger rules by 2013. This is a recipe for a collision with democracy.
Brussels, 11/01/2011
The ETUC has received reports from trade unions in Greece and Ireland about the role of EU Commission officials in implementing the EU/IMF rescue packages. According to these reports, it looks clear that the Commission officials are ignoring social dialogue and collective bargaining processes and directly intervening in the labour markets of these countries. Diktats are being issued which are designed to lower living standards.
Brussels, 16/11/2010
On the eve of an important Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), John Monks commented: "The philosophy of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) appears cutting expenditure, reducing debt, putting pressure on wages and social spending and making labour markets more flexible. Established gains by trade unions are widely under attack. A first step would be to involve the social partners from the countries concerned by austerity measures. We cannot be mere spectators."
Brussels, 16/11/2010
President, colleagues, there is an old Irish joke that when a tourist asked a local the best way to Cork, the reply was “you don’t want to start from here”.
Brussels, 23/09/2010
“The austerity plans of the UK Coalition Government to repay debt are too harsh. They are paying back too much debt, too quickly. They risk killing off jobs and growth in regions of the UK like Northern Ireland which are heavily dependent on the public sector. Other European Governments share the same fetish for austerity and they are on course to plunge Europe back into recession".
Brussels, 15/09/2010
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) rejects such a European ‘sanctions team’ cracking down on wages.
Says John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC: “The policy of repressing wages, making labour markets more flexible and weakening trade unions has gotten us into this mess; returning to a similar policy will make matters even worse”.
Berlin, 30/08/2006
To be checked against delivery
Chancellor,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends and colleagues,
Mitbestimmung: a word that, translated into other languages, is producing misunderstandings and misinterpretations. The most evident example is the long-lasting tradition of the French to translate Mitbestimmung into “co-gestion”. If you transfer that term into English, Mitbestimmung becomes co-management.
