Ljubljana, 5/04/2008 To be checked against delivery President, Dusan, friends. Europe’s workers need a pay rise. Europe’s workers deserve a pay rise. And Europe’s workers are going to fight for a rise. That is our message to Europe’s leaders today. We cannot any longer tolerate declining purchasing power and real wages that do not match productivity growth. We cannot any longer stand by and watch the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.

Brussels, 04/04/2008 This Euro-demonstration is part of the ETUC's ongoing campaign for more equal pay, agreed last year at its Seville Congress, and coincides with the informal ECOFIN Council meeting of finance ministers in Slovenia. The ETUC demands equality of treatment for all workers, including migrants, young people, women and men.

Brussels, 04/04/2008 At the UN talks on climate change in Bangkok, the world is currently setting a concrete timetable to work towards a new climate deal to be reached by December 2009. It is therefore high time for the EU to establish the pace to be followed, in close partnership with the European cross-sectoral social partners (employers and trade unions).

Brussels, 03/04/2008

Brussels, 03/04/2008 “Our main objective is to see action to revise the directive during the lifetime of this European Commission and this Parliament,” said ETUC General Secretary John Monks. “We are ready to negotiate but only on a basis which includes a tight timetable and a quick conclusion to the negotiations. We will be following this up next week with the employers and the Commission.”

Brussels, 25/03/2008 Europe's workers face common problems: shrinking purchasing power, wage moderation and inequalities. That is why the European trade unions will mobilise on 5 April - the day the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meets in Slovenia - to call for higher pay, more purchasing power and fairer wages.

Brussels, 18/03/2008

Rome, 08/03/2008 To be checked against delivery Care amiche, cari amici, é per me oggi un gran privilegio poter festeggiare insieme a voi, in questa splendida cornice, il centenario dell'8 (otto) marzo. Giornata internazionale della donna. Mi felicito per l'iniziativa. La vostra presenza, il vostro coinvolgimento, é già un successo.

Brussels, 13/03/2008 The climate change and energy package put forward by the European Commission is a major step towards an international solution to address the threat of climate change.

Brussels, 13/03/2008 To be checked against delivery Presidents, ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to be at this tripartite social summit this morning. These events are an important reminder of the need for Europe to have an effective social dimension. It is vitally important that Europe is successfully economically and environmentally but it must also be successful socially.

Brussels, 13/03/2008 The social dimension has been becalmed in the past decade. The broad picture is of limited activity, with the growing impression that social Europe has somehow come to a standstill. John Monks, ETUC General Secretary declared: “In our view, social Europe is in retreat and it will be no surprise when the voices calling for protectionism become more strident. Support for the single market is dependent on support for Social Europe. That is the deal – and it is not working for us at the moment.”

Brussels, 12/03/2008 The European Commission claims that 6.5 million new jobs have been created in the last two years. However, trade unions in the Member States testify that they leave much to be desired in terms of quality. - The number of workers on fixed-term contracts has increased by 10 million since 1997. - Many of the new jobs are part-time, with almost one-fifth of EU workers now employed on this basis – at least 20% of them because they cannot get a full time job.

Brussels, 07/03/2008