Major court rulings against the exploitative employment practices of platform companies this week show the urgency over EU action over this broken business model. 

More than 24 million workers on low wages in the EU would receive a much-needed pay rise if trade union proposals for the EU’s draft Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages are accepted. The European Trade Union Confederation is pushing for a ‘threshold of decency’ to be included in the legislation that would ensure statutory minimum wages could never be paid at less than 60% of the median wage and 50% of the average wage in the Member State.

In light of recent complications with the Covid-19 vaccines roll out, the ETUC believes that a higher degree of democratic control is needed over the process and that people must come before profit. While unions fully support the principle of European coordination on vaccines as a means of avoiding vaccine nationalism, the process so far has been blighted by a lack of transparency in procurement and unexplained delays in production which have cost lives and livelihoods. 

European trade unions, together with a large coalition of NGOs and academics, are leading a campaign for the European Commission to permanently scrap austerity policies which have been paused during the pandemic. A ‘General Escape Clause’ relaxing the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact was introduced last year as part of the European Commission’s response to the Covid-19 crisis, which also included the creation of the SURE emergency job support scheme and the unprecedented recovery fund.

11 months after the start of the pandemic, young trade union leaders say that young unemployed, those neither in employment or education or training, and workers in platform companies are not being helped enough by job and wage protection schemes and related emergency measures. These findings will be presented today to Commissioner Nicolas Schmit and the Portuguese President of EU Council of Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Ministers, Ana Mendes Godinho at an online conference ‘(How) Will Europe prevent a Lost Generation?’ attended by over 200 young people.

The European Commission has today joined trade unions in warning member states against prematurely withdrawing financial support for workers and businesses. But the Commission must now put its money where its mouth is and refinancing the successful SURE job support for 2021 to ensure that all member states can maintain support measures as requested. 

Responding to the publication of the European Commission’s Beating Cancer Plan, ETUC Deputy General Secretary Per Hilmersson said: “While we welcome the fact that health and safety at work is included in the plan, the level of ambition is disappointing. More than 100,000 people die every year from occupational cancer – around 10% of all cancer deaths in Europe. Work-related cancer should be a specific ‘flagship initiative’ in the plan.

Eurostat EU unemployment figures published todaey show job losses increased again

Dear Readers, We have just published the January 2021 edition of the ETUC newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

Responding to the expert panel report on breaches of labour commitments under the EU-Korea trade agreement, ETUC Deputy General Se

The European Parliament has now recognised the need for a ‘right to disconnect’ and called for EU action to make that right a reality for working people in the EU. ETUC Deputy General Secretary Esther Lynch said “We now expect the European Commission to come forward with legislation so that working people can enforce their right to disconnect from work outside working hours.

Women doing jobs requiring the same levels of skills, education and physical effort as jobs done by men are still being paid less despite over 45 years of EU equal pay legislation. A comparison of wages in the manufacturing sector found that women producing white goods are paid significantly less than men making cars even though both jobs require the same competencies. In Germany, women in the white goods sector doing manufacturing jobs of equal value to men in the car industry are paid on average €865 per month less (gross).

Three rulings in three countries on the rights of delivery riders shows why EU action is needed to end the scandal of platforms not accepting their responsibilities as employers. A court in Spain found over 700 Deliveroo workers were falsely self-employed, an Italian court found the platform discriminated against riders who take sick leave and the Belgian government found Uber’s working conditions were incompatible with self-employment.