The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) – taking place today in Luxembourg – will focus on key issues for the European trade union movement, as Ministers will endorse the establishment of National Productivity Boards (NPB), agree on new legislation on corporate tax avoidance and discuss the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).
A high-level conference took place in Rome today, organised by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) with the support of the three Italian unions CGIL, CISL and UIL, and attended by trade unionists from 22 countries including the General Secretaries of CGT France Philippe Martinez, CCOO Spain Ignazio Toxo and ETUC President Rudy De Leeuw of FGTB Belgium.
They underlined trade union support for a humanitarian and European response to the many men, women and children seeking shelter from conflict in the EU.
ETUC Deputy General Secretary Peter Scherrer will present the prestigious Silver Rose Press Freedom Award to Uğur Güç, President of the Journalist Union of Turkey (TGS), in a ceremony in the European Parliament today.
The award is made annually by SOLIDAR, the European network of 60 Civil Society Organisations working for social justice worldwide. This year’s winner is a distinctively political choice supporting jailed journalists and promoting solidarity between journalists in Turkey and abroad.
Today’s EU employment figures for the first quarter of 2016, issued by Eurostat, show a very slight improvement over the last three months of 2015. The number of people in work increased by 0.3% in the euro area and the EU28.
At a high-level conference on standardisation in Amsterdam today, the European Trade Union Confederation, the European Commission and other stakeholders signed a joint initiative on standardisation. The event took place within the Commission’s Single Market Forum.
The OECD’s latest forecast for 2016, issued today, highlights Europe’s continuing high unemployment, low demand, low inflation and low investment, and acknowledges the need for wage increases and more public investment in surplus countries.
Veronica Nilsson, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, commented “Like the ETUC, the OECD understands that more public spending and higher wages are needed to drive demand and economic growth.”
Commenting on the Skills Agenda launched today by the European Commission, Thiébaut Weber, ETUC Confederal Secretary, said “Europe needs a big push to support workers to increase their skills, and to cope with the transition to a digital, carbon-free and ageing society.”
“The Skills Agenda is a useful step forward and the proposal for a Skills Guarantee, which was an ETUC demand, is very positive.”
Speech by Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary, at 2nd IndustriAll-Europe Congress
Madrid, 7-9 June 2016
Dear comrades and friends of IndustriAll Europe,
I’m very honoured to participate in your congress today, and to bring you greetings and solidarity from the European Trade Union Confederation.
Europe is facing a very challenging time.
The European Union must shape the digitalisation of Europe’s economy and society much more actively, with policy initiatives to avoid massive job losses and ensure the creation of quality jobs and decent working conditions, said the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
A resolution, adopted by national and European trade union leaders gathered in Brussels today, calls for
Tomorrow European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen will unveil proposals for an EU Skills Agenda in the European Parliament, with a press conference later in the week.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) believes that an ambitious agenda with concrete actions is essential: to upgrade skills to enable people seeking work to get jobs, for workers to remain employed and to move to better jobs, and to enable the European economy to meet the many challenges ahead.
Luca Visentini – speech for ILO International Labour Conference 3 June 2016
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We, the European trade union movement, welcome the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ILO’s ‘End to Poverty’ Initiative.
We welcome the ILO initiative on the Future of Work and the ILO action on Supply Chains.
End poverty & hunger, combat inequality, build just and inclusive societies, gender equality, the protection of our planet’s natural resources.
As part of the EU Social Dialogue programme, European social partners have undertaken separate projects on apprenticeships focusing on the cost-effectiveness of apprenticeship schemes (employers) and a European quality framework for apprenticeships (trade unions).
The project outcomes were presented in a joint conference on 26-27 May in Brussels.
