The EU must agree the rather limited migrant relocation plan proposed today by the European Commission, said the European Trade Union Confederation. Although limited to 20,000 people, and despite possible opt-outs for some EU member states, the scale of situation in the Mediterranean makes a relocation plan absolutely necessary.

Tomorrow – Tuesday 19 May - European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans will launch his controversial ‘better regulation’ proposals. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) sets out the big questions it will be asking about ‘better regulation’: Will EU law apply equally to all? A basic principle of law is that it applies to all. Will the European Commission propose to exclude small businesses from some EU regulation?

EU Finance Ministers must compromise with Greece to avoid renewed financial market speculation against the Euro and against the national debt of other Eurozone countries warned the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). “By playing hardball with Greece, EU Ministers risk triggering renewed financial market turmoil for the Euro and for Eurozone countries national debt” said Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the ETUC “as well as dragging the Greek economy down.”

 

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is extremely worried by the so-called ‘national consultation about immigration and terrorism’ recently launched by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The letter launching the consultation and the attached questionnaire is a perverse attempt to criminalise migrants and fuel populism by making a clear and direct connection between migration and terrorism. Wrong assumptions can only lead to bad policies and are surely not in the interests of Hungarian citizens.

According to the European Commission’s spring forecasts, just released today, the economic recovery is taking hold. After seven years of economic under-performance, and with the European economy still 2% smaller than it was seven years ago, this news is long overdue. 

Dear Readers, We have just published the April 2015 edition of the ETUC Newsletter. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!

The EU emergency summit on the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean Sea failed to agree on the one most essential action:  search and rescue in international waters, said the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

On April 28, European Trade unions will commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day – remembering the 150,000 people who have died in the EU from occupational cancers since the European Commission suspended work on legislation protecting workers from chemicals that cause cancer. Every year 100,000 people in the EU die from occupational cancers. In October 2013 the European Commission stopped developing exposure limits for chemicals that cause cancer because it is reviewing ‘red tape’ – with the result that only 3 cancer-causing chemicals have European exposure limits!

The ETUC is calling on European Council President Donald Tusk to call an emergency Council meeting to agree action to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean Sea.   

This article was first published by the Global Call for Climate Action on their website : http://tcktcktck.org/2015/04/jozef-niemiec-what-is-just-transition-and-why-do-we-all-need-to-get-behind-it/67880 By Józef Niemiec, Deputy Secretary General, European Trade Union Confederation   Climate action is not simply an environmental issue. It requires society to make major changes to the economy. It cannot be imposed from above.  

The European Trade Union Confederation gives its full support to colleagues in Arab countries in their defence of people’s rights, in particular the right to a dignified and safe life.  The ETUC in particular subscribes to the statement of the Arab Trade Union Confederation https://www.ituc-csi.org/declaration-of-the-arab-trade.