A Partnership Agreement between CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) will serve to strengthen the representation of workers within the European Standardization System. The agreement means that ETUC has the possibility to nominate representatives who will participate in the work of CEN Technical Bodies at European level. In this way, trade unions can directly contribute to the development of European Standards relating to the health and safety of workers, the delivery of services, and other issues of relevance to employees.
Commenting on the ‘better regulation’ proposals published today, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said
“I am in favour of efforts to improve legislation, but these proposals will make the legislative procedure longer, costlier and more bureaucratic.”
“I do not think the European Commission will get away with restricting the right of democratically elected politicians to change legislative proposals in the name of ‘better regulation’.”
The European Commission’s Country Specific Recommendations for 2015, published today, show greater flexibility on budget deficits but is holding back growth by ignoring the need to increase wages, warned the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
The EU must agree the rather limited migrant relocation plan proposed today by the European Commission, said the European Trade Union Confederation.
Although limited to 20,000 people, and despite possible opt-outs for some EU member states, the scale of situation in the Mediterranean makes a relocation plan absolutely necessary.
Tomorrow – Tuesday 19 May - European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans will launch his controversial ‘better regulation’ proposals.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) sets out the big questions it will be asking about ‘better regulation’:
Will EU law apply equally to all?
A basic principle of law is that it applies to all. Will the European Commission propose to exclude small businesses from some EU regulation?
EU Finance Ministers must compromise with Greece to avoid renewed financial market speculation against the Euro and against the national debt of other Eurozone countries warned the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
“By playing hardball with Greece, EU Ministers risk triggering renewed financial market turmoil for the Euro and for Eurozone countries national debt” said Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the ETUC “as well as dragging the Greek economy down.”
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is extremely worried by the so-called ‘national consultation about immigration and terrorism’ recently launched by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The letter launching the consultation and the attached questionnaire is a perverse attempt to criminalise migrants and fuel populism by making a clear and direct connection between migration and terrorism. Wrong assumptions can only lead to bad policies and are surely not in the interests of Hungarian citizens.
According to the European Commission’s spring forecasts, just released today, the economic recovery is taking hold. After seven years of economic under-performance, and with the European economy still 2% smaller than it was seven years ago, this news is long overdue.
The EU emergency summit on the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean Sea failed to agree on the one most essential action: search and rescue in international waters, said the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
On April 28, European Trade unions will commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day – remembering the 150,000 people who have died in the EU from occupational cancers since the European Commission suspended work on legislation protecting workers from chemicals that cause cancer.
Every year 100,000 people in the EU die from occupational cancers.
In October 2013 the European Commission stopped developing exposure limits for chemicals that cause cancer because it is reviewing ‘red tape’ – with the result that only 3 cancer-causing chemicals have European exposure limits!
