Commenting on EU leaders finally adopting a plan to deal with the humanitarian emergency in the Mediterranean Sea, Luca Visentini, ETUC Confederal Secretary said “It’s disappointing to see how difficult it was to taken even this small step forward.” “Progress is painfully slow and there is still a need for investment in reception infrastructures, and in schemes to integrate refugees into the labour market.”

ETUC General Secretary Bernadette Ségol made an impassioned plea for fair freedom of movement for workers at the Round Table on Social Mobility convened by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. She made the case for equal pay and conditions for equal work, and urged the PMs to stop the downward pressure on wages caused by employers exploiting workers who have taken up freedom of movement.

Today, the European Youth Forum and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), during their joint conference on youth employment at the European Economic and Social Committee, called for good quality jobs for young people.

Commenting on the 5 Presidents’ report on “Completing Europe’s Monetary and Economic Union”, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation said “There is no way trade unions would accept a body separate from the social partners giving advice on wage negotiations. This would be a recipe for major conflict. Wage setting is the role of autonomous social partners”.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomes today’s adoption by EU leaders of the Riga conclusions, a new set of priorities to improve Vocational Education and Training (VET) for the period 2015-2020. Luca Visentini, ETUC Confederal Secretary, speaking at the meeting of ministers in charge of Vocational Education and Training in Riga, said:

Dear Readers, We have just published the June 2015 edition of the ETUC Newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

“The European Trade Union movement is shocked by the proposal to put up a wall between Hungary and  Serbia” said Bernadette Ségol, Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation. “After playing such a prominent role in the fall of the iron curtain it is hard to believe that just over 25 years later Hungary would want to build a new iron curtain.”

European trade unions today launched strong criticisms of the European Commission’s ‘better regulation’ plans – accusing the EU executive of putting “the supposed needs of business above all others”. A declaration adopted today by national trade union leaders at a meeting of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), says “legislation should have a societal benefit” and “the needs of businesses do not come above those of workers or, for example, the environment.”

Commenting on employment figures from Eurostat showing an increase of 0.1% in the Euro area in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter (and 0.8% compared to the same quarter of 2014) and 0.3% in the EU as a whole (1.1% compared to the 1st quarter of 2014), Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said “Jobs are increasing in Europe very slowly and modestly. Employment remains well below 2007 levels. What concerns me is that jobs are picking up faster outside the EU, and that up to half the new jobs are precarious.

The ETUC is dismayed that today’s Justice and Home Affairs Council will not approve the measures proposed by the European Commission to address the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean. In view of the concern expressed by national governments at the emergency Council meeting only a few weeks ago, when the crisis was prominent in the media, it is worrying that the proposals put forward by the European Commission in the EU Agenda on Migration are now being pushed back.

On 10th and 11th June will take place the EU-CELAC Summit, bringing together European, Latin American and Caribbean leaders to strengthen relations between both regions.

With the European Parliament set to vote tomorrow on the controversial ‘Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) – which calls for a ‘an EU-US trade deal that works for the people’ – sets out four big questions on what the MEPs will decide. ISDS – Will the Parliament demand no ISDS, or a reformed ISDS? The Parliament’s draft report supports Commissioner Malmström attempts to ‘reform’ ISDS, but amendments to scrap ISDS will be tabled in the Plenary vote.