Europe risks starting the new year with an explosion of unemployment as schemes needed to save jobs from the Covid crisis could close in seven member states, new ETUC research shows.
National governments, with the support of the EU’s SURE scheme, saved 42 million jobs at the height of the pandemic through “short-time work” schemes that subsidised a proportion of workers’ wages in order to avoid mass redundancies.
Laws against workplace harassment must be updated to protect women working from home against online abuse made possible by surveillance techniques being used by employers.
Trade unions have made the call in a letter sent to national ministers on the international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls.
Women working on the Covid frontline, particularly carers, transport workers, shop assistants and cleaners, have faced increased face-to-face abuse during the crisis.
Tomorrow (Thursday 26 November) the ETUC and the European Trade Union Federations* present a petition of more than 2,594 worker representatives and trade union leaders to members of the European Parliament”. The petition calls on the Commission to “start infringement proceedings where necessary” and “European governments to put forward concrete actions to ensure that workers’ information and consultation rights at work are respected”.
Commenting on the integration action plan published today by the European Commission, ETUC Confederal Secretary Ludovic Voet said:
“At a time when some politicians choose to fan the flames of cultural division, it is important that the Commission has instead made concrete issues like migrants’ access to the labour market, education and training the priority of their integration and inclusion plan.
The European Commission has today published its annual employment report as part of the Autumn Package which shows that the EU suffered the ‘sharpest decline ever’ in employment over any two quarters.
Ahead of the video conference of the members of the European Council on 19 November 2020, the European social partners urge member states to endorse the agreement found on the European recovery fund and Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027.
The agreement found as a result of the trilogue on the recovery fund and the so-called MFF (the EU's long-term budget) is essential to help the EU economy recover from the damage the COVID crisis continues to inflict.
Dear readers,
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll on people across Europe, trade unions in different countries are acting to preserve jobs and keep workers safe, offer support to people in difficulty, and push forwards towards a better, greener and more equal society. At the same time, they are also fulfilling their traditional task of collective bargaining to improve workers’ pay and conditions. In this issue we highlight some examples from around the EU.
Cleaners going on strike today are among women working on the Covid frontline who have spoken out about the need for an EU pay transparency directive to end the undervaluation of their work.
Some 600,000 cleaners, 70% of which are women, working in Italian hospitals, nursing homes, schools, universities, factories and offices are staging a one day walkout over their employer’s refusal to negotiate a collective agreement on pay and working conditions.
Today, the European Commission has published its first ever LGBTIQ strategy.
ETUC Confederal Secretary Ludovic Voet commented
"ETUC strongly supports the European Commission's commitment to LGBTIQ equality. The equality strategy is a welcome proposal and deserves support. ETUC firmly believes that there is an urgent need for the EU and national governments to step up their efforts to improve and enforce legal protection against LGBTIQ discrimination, to ensure LGBTIQ safety and guarantee LGBTIQ rights.
The European Commission has today announced it will "soon propose binding measures on pay transparency". Commenting on the development, ETUC Deputy General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
"It's good news that the Commission has committed to 'soon' publish binding pay transparency measures. But women workers need to know how soon is soon?
Responding to the Autumn Economic Forecast published by the European Commission today, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said:
“The forecast shows the economic crisis created by Covid-19 will continue for longer than expected, which means the measures introduced to deal with it must also continue, and be extended to cover all workers.
The ETUC has taken the unusual step of publishing its own pay transparency directive in protest over the delay to European Commission legislation originally due to be published today – European equal pay day.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised “binding pay transparency measures” within the first 100 days of her mandate.
