Trade unions are calling on politicians to stand up for the high standards that make Europe great after business groups called for Trump-style deregulation to coincide with the US President’s Davos speech.
Following in the footsteps of Trump’s executive orders that weakened protections for workers and the environment, Business Europe has finally come clean about what ‘reducing regulatory burden’ means. Proposed changes include:
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Removing the right to pay transparency for two-thirds of women workers by applying them only to companies with 250 staff or more;
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Lower safety standards in particular for the control of AI management systems putting workers at risk, or for the reporting on production of toys, putting at risk’s Europe’s reputation for producing high quality goods;
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Cutting CBAM carbon rules which would allow even more global competitors to import dirty products into Europe, putting at risk not only the climate but also clean industrial jobs in Europe;
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Scrapping the traineeship directive which would protect millions of young people from exploitative practices at a time when the €1028 per month cost of an unpaid internship excludes working class people from a range a careers.
Esther Lynch, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said:
“Donald Trump is the perma-tanned proof that, contrary to what some politicians at Davos might think, CEOs do not have all the answers to the challenges faced by our economy or our society.
“That’s why EU leaders should ignore the siren calls from corporate lobbyists for Europe to follow Trump into a global race to the bottom that we could never win and instead stand up for what makes Europe great.
“Our competitiveness will be built on high investment, high standards and high quality jobs - not keeping millions of women in poverty, exploiting trainees, poisoning the climate or putting workers at risk of uncontrolled AI management at work."
