European trade union leaders meeting today in Rome, ahead of Wednesday’s EU Employment Summit in Milan, are calling on the European Union to
- Adopt “an extraordinary European investment plan for sustainable growth and employment”
- Renew and strengthen dialogue between trade unions, employers and Government at European and national level “to create the best conditions for overcoming the crisis and promoting economic recovery”
- Put an end to ‘reforms’ that generate poverty pay, precarious employment, and more inequality
Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation said in Rome “Europe is not recovering. The economic policies of the European Commission and European Council are not working. Europe’s disastrous response to the crisis – austerity - has led Europe to a social crisis and within sight of a political crisis. Europe does not need more austerity, it needs new policies. We want a plan of investment in quality jobs and sustainable growth at European and national level, mobilizing public and private funds.”
Those taking part in the summit included trade union confederation leaders Ignacio Fernandez Toxo (ETUC President and Secretary General of CCOO, Spain), Candido Mendez (UGT, Spain), Thierry Lepaon (France, CGT), Rudy De Leew (Belgium, FGTB/ABVV), Billy Hayes (UK, TUC), Yannis Panagoupoulos (Greece, GSEE); Jozef Stremula (Czech Republic, CMKOS), Plamen Dimitrov (Bulgaria, CITUB), Tony Zarb (Malta, GWU) as well as from Italy Susanna Camusso (CGIL), Raffaele Bonanni and Annamaria Furlan (CSIL) and Anna Rea and Carmelo Barbagallo (UIL).
