Following her unveiling of the Clean Industrial Deal last week, which includes important job-saving measures, Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera met with trade union leaders from across Europe today. The discussions focussed on the urgency of EU action to stem the wave of job cuts faced by working people.
The ETUC estimates that 500 jobs are being wiped out across the EU every day. The Clean Industrial Deal contains important measures that could reverse this trend. However, while the measures supporting companies are set to be implemented with urgency, trade unions warn that those focussed on workers are at risk of being delayed.
The worker-focussed measures included in the Clean Industrial Deal that must urgently be implemented include:
- Intervening to save jobs when there is a threat of restructuring;
- Protecting workers’ incomes and supporting workers during the transition;
- Including social conditionalities in public funding to ensure that workers benefit from all financial support provided to industry, including by promoting collective bargaining to ensure that the transition is fair and equitable for all;
- Supporting the anticipation and management of change and increasing training and skills conditionalities for public funding;
- Using the revision of the public procurement directives to support labour and social standards, and in particular to promote collective bargaining to ensure that the transition is fair and equitable for all.
The ETUC calls for a Just Transition Directive and a SURE 2.0 mechanism to be urgently delivered, alongside with the suspension of the economic governance rules and an EU investment facility to ensure the necessary investments with social conditionalities.
Esther Lynch, ETUC General Secretary, said:
“The leadership shown in identifying effective measures to protect and create quality jobs must now be matched by determined and urgent action.
“We are seeing job losses spread to diverse parts of the economy and it is crucial that solutions deliver for all sectors and all regions.
“Vice-President Ribera has given the initial impetus and, coming out of this meeting, we will push the Commission to step up to the historic task at hand and champion quality jobs.
“The economic governance rules must be fully suspended and urgently reformed in order to allow for the necessary investments in quality jobs, just transitions, industrial policy, strong public services, social protection, security and other EU objectives.”
