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”.
“What the European Commission’s press release about the Competitiveness Authority fails to mention is that the authority in Belgium is run by employers and trade unions – it is not a separate body handing down advice to social partners to follow.”
“Despite the recent much-heralded relaunch of social dialogue by the European Commission, trade unions have not been consulted on this proposal, which I find unacceptable.”
She added “It is very revealing about today’s EU that 8 years after a crisis caused by the financial sector the solution is perceived to be giving guidance on workers’ wages. Corporate bosses pay, zero-hour contracts, tax avoidance by multinationals, social dumping are not mentioned. There are nice words about the social dimension of EMU not a single specific proposal for action, in contrast to the very specific proposal about so-called competitiveness. No wonder citizens are disillusioned, the EU seems to have lost interest in them.”
