A Mandate for Rebuilding European Social Dialogue  Adopted at the Executive Committee meeting of 15 – 16 October 2024

ETUC's next steps towards fair platform work Discussed at the Executive Committee meeting of 24-25 June 2024   The Directive on improving working conditions in platform work is to be finally adopted after a lengthy process and after the fight between progressive governments, MEPs and trade unions representing workers' voices, and liberal governments who sided with platforms enchanted by their promises to offer jobs at the cost of dismantling the European labour and social rights framework.

Message of ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch in view of KESK Demonstration on 25 October 2024   Dear co-Presidents, dear General Secretary,Dear colleagues, dear friends, On behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and its 45 million members, from 94 trade union organisations in 42 European countries, I would like to express our solidarity with KESK – on the occasion of your demonstration “justice for dismissals”.

Joint statement by the ETUC, SGI Europe and SME United, calling for a factual and material involvement of social partners in the economic governance and the EU Semester The REGULATION (EU) 2024/1263 of 29 April 2024 on the effective coordination of economic policies and on multilateral budgetary surveillance states that the involvement of social partners, among other relevant stakeholders, in the European Semester is key to ensuring national ownership of economic and fiscal policies as well as transparent and inclusive policy-making.

  ETUC resolution on specific demands for a European Directive on the prevention of psychosocial risks at work Adopted at the Executive Committee meeting of 15-16 October 2024

Energy Union Regulation - Taking Decisive Action to Protect Industry, Households, and Create Quality Jobs  Adopted at the Executive Committee meeting of 15-16 October 2024  

ETUC priorities on the Post-2027 EU budget and the next EU multiannual financial framework (MFF)  Adopted at the Executive Committee Meeting of 15-16 October 2024 Context

The right to adequate, decent and affordable housing  Adopted at the Executive Committee meeting of 15-16 October 2024

Trade unions call for a European industrial policy for quality jobs. Social conditionalities are a fundamental building block for an effective industrial policy. It must be guaranteed that taxpayers' money is used to pursue the common good, including when supporting companies. One of the tools to achieve this is social conditionalities. The ETUC calls for social conditionalities to be introduced for all forms of public funding and support to companies, as well as environmental and tax conditionalities.

Europe is facing a quality job and social justice emergency. According to Eurobarometer, rising prices and the cost of living (42%) and the economic situation (41%) were the main topics that motivated European citizens to vote in the last European elections in June this year. Given the level of concern, it is essential to restore trust. The European Union must demonstrate that it genuinely intends to deliver a fair deal for working people, their families and communities. This must start with a plan to deliver quality jobs for every sector and every region.

The DGB and its member unions are strongly committed to social justice, better working and living conditions for workers and citizens. Their fight for co-determination and a full democratisation of the economy and society is exemplary and a real source of inspiration for the European trade union movement. The DGB has been successfully fighting for gender equality at work and in society. At the 2022 federal congress, 49,9% of delegates were women and Yasmin Fahimi was the first woman elected as DGB president. 

Dear Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,I am contacting you following the announcement of the list of Commissioners designate and the publication of their proposed portfolios and mission letters. The European Trade Union Confederation is very concerned that – for the first time since the Seventies – there is not a member of the college of Commissioners whose title refers specifically to Labour and Social Affairs (or to “Jobs and Social Rights”).

On the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons on 1st October 2024, the European Federation of Retired and Elderly People (FERPA) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) wish to recall and underline the role and place of retired people in Europe. Pensioners and older people are still excluded from all decision-making processes that affect their living conditions and social rights. Their consultation, recommended by the UN and UNECE, is still far from being applied.

The European trade union movement expresses its deep concerns and opposition to the Italian Government’s plans to restrict the right to peaceful protest, a pillar of any democratic society. Article 12 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights states clearly that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly”. The Italian Government’s plans to criminalise dissent would clearly be a violation of the Charter, as well as Italy’s own Constitution.

Brussels, 11 September 2024

The ETUC congratulates the TUC and their affiliated trade unions on an important union victory for workers in Britain and throughout Europe. We welcome the commitment by the UK government that the anti-worker anti-strike Minimum Service Levels legislation will be repealed through the upcoming Employment Rights Bill. This legislation represented an attack on the ability of workers to win a decent, secure and dignified working life.

Fritz Verzetnitsch passed away on 18 July 2024. He was ETUC President for 10 years between 1993 and 2003 and long-time President of Austria’s ÖGB. “We pay tribute to a trade union leader who was committed to building workers’ power across Europe,” said Esther Lynch, ETUC General Secretary. “Our sympathy goes out to his wife, family and to the ÖGB.”

Traineeship Package Adopted at the Executive Committee Meeting of 25-26 June 2024.

Joint statement by ETUC and Argentinian trade unions

Adopted at the Executive Committee meeting of 24-25 June 2024 Introduction Preventing and combatting gender-based violence in the world of work is a key priority of the ETUC. The recently adopted Directive combatting violence against women and domestic violence fails to deliver meaningful provisions to make the world of work safer for women workers. It also fails to recognise our role as trade unions to end gender-based violence.