Responding to the new European Commission strategy on strengthening the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, ETUC Confederal Secretary Isabelle Schömann said: “As human rights defenders, trade unions are key parties in the Charter’s enforcement chain.

Trade unions are urging Ursula von der Leyen to name the date for a pay transparency directive as the Commission President marks a year in office without delivering her “100 day” promise to women.  President von der Leyen took office on December 1 last year on a pledge to “table measures to introduce binding pay transparency measures” within “the first 100 days of my mandate” in order to tackle the EU’s 15% gender pay gap.

Speech delivered by Luca Visentini at Osnabrück Declaration event on Vocational Education and Training Ministers, Commissioner, colleagues from the social partners. I am glad that together we came up with the Osnabrück Declaration. I particularly thank the German Presidency for having brokered this agreement.

Dear Readers, We have just published the November 2020 edition of the ETUC newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

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.