Brussels, 07/03/2008

Brussels, 06/03/2008 The aim of this survey is to assess progress in reducing the gender representation gap in trade unions and to highlight successful gender-mainstreaming activities within ETUC-affiliated organisations.

Brussels, 06/03/2008 The euro exchange rate has recently breached the 1.50$ barrier. The euro’s continuing appreciation is becoming alarming. An excessively expensive euro will cost European jobs, coming as it does on top of other setbacks to growth (the sub-prime financial crisis and credit squeeze, the US recession, and the end of the construction boom in several EU countries).

Brussels, 05/03/2008 The Executive Committee condemned the disproportionate use of force by the Israeli military in Gaza in recent days that has caused the deaths of over one hundred Palestinians – many of them civilians, women and children among them. It is a collective punishment of the population of Gaza which violates international law.

Brussels, 04/03/2008 European workers are facing common problems: a drop in purchasing power, coupled with wage moderation and inequality. In response, European trade unions are mobilising on 5 April, the date of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting in Slovenia, to demand better wages, greater purchasing power and equal pay. All the ETUC's affiliated trade union organisations will be sending delegations to Ljubljana. Practical information on the route, the timing and the activities will be sent to you in the coming weeks.

Brussels, 04/03/2008 A top priority for debate is the trade union reaction to the recent Viking and Laval rulings in the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The meeting will also firm up arrangements for the European demonstration for better pay in Ljubljana on 5 April.

Brussels, 03/03/2008 Fighting climate change and energy security are political priorities for Europe. The ETUC, EEB and Social Platform call on the European Council to respect the key principles of the EU 2006 strategy for sustainable development and in particular social equity and social cohesion, the precautionary principle and involvement of citizens, businesses and workers' organisations (see editor’s note).

Glasgow, 29/02/2008 To be checked against delivery President, delegates, this is an important conference on an important topic. I don’t just mean the Lisbon Treaty. I mean the place of Britain and Scotland in the European Union because that is the context that must shape the debate on the Treaty.

Brussels, 29/02/2008 The ETUC calls on European employment ministers and leaders at the forthcoming Spring Council meeting to move from lip service to action on job quality by:

Brussels, 26/02/2008

Brussels, 26/02/2008 To be checked against delivery 1. Chairman, thank you for this invitation to present the views of the ETUC on these two cases. We are grateful that you have moved swiftly to deal with them. They are of massive importance to the European trade union world, and not just to our colleagues directly affected in Sweden/Latvia and Finland/Estonia. It is deeply ironic that the Swedish and Danish models – the widely respected home of flexicurity - are under particular pressure from these cases.

Brussels, 20/02/2008 “We strongly support the opinion of the Commission that EWCs must be in a position to play their full part with regard to development in undertakings, anticipating and accompanying change, and fostering genuine transnational social dialogue in a rapidly changing economic and social context,” says Reiner Hoffmann, Deputy General Secretary of the ETUC.

Brussels, 20/02/2008 Real salaries in Europe are on a downward spiral. The share of wages as a proportion of national income (Gross Domestic Product – GDP), continues to fall. By contrast, companies' profits have been rising. Wealth exists, but it is more and more unequally shared. The European Trade Union Confederation says “stop” to the repeated calls for wage moderation aimed at ordinary workers alone but not at board rooms, and “stop” to governments and employers who too freely resort to lower wages as the only means of adjustment.