On Wednesday the European Parliament passed with an overwhelming majority a report on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) that called for broad exemptions for public services and respect for labour standards. TiSA is a trade deal on services the EU is negotiating along with 22 other countries….Read more…
Cameron’s renegotiation deal: tinkering, not tackling the real issues
There’s a lot of noise today about the proposals that European Council President Donald Tusk has sent to European leaders to address David Cameron’s call for a reformed European Union ahead of the UK’s referendum on EU membership. Eurosceptics are hostile, supporters of remaining…Read more…
Solidarity on the 1st anniversary of Charlie Hebdo killings
This afternoon, exactly a year after murderous gunmen burst into the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to kill people doing their jobs, French trade unions have organised a…Read more…
International migrants day 2015: European unions call for refugee employment rights
The TUC has joined other unions around Europe to mark International Migrants Day (18 Dec) by calling for measures to get refugees integrated into the workplace, rather than left in limbo in camps or on benefits – or worse. The TUC made this call ahead of an international conference in Zagreb,…Read more…
Gloria Mills elected as ETUC women’s committee president
Union congratulates senior equalities officer on new role in European trade unionism
The article Gloria Mills elected as ETUC women’s committee president first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Involving workers in key business decisions? The European way
At its 13th Congress held in Paris earlier this month, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) launched an initiative for greater workplace democracy. In addition to promoting a better framework for worker information and consultation, the ETUC r…Read more…
European unions back TUC call on EU referendum
Last week in Paris, the four-yearly Comgress of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) adopted unanimously an emergency resolution from the TUC about the British government’s EU…Read more…
ISDS-lite could yet scupper the EU-Canada trade deal
The TUC is no fan of the revised Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process that EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom has persuaded the European Parliament to back in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US…Read more…
TTIP – after US Senate blow, European Parliament is next up
The shock decision by the US Senate on Tuesday not to deliver ‘Trade Promotion Authority’ to the President for negotiating a trans-Pacific trade deal dealt a serious blow to the EU-US Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that is currently being negotiated. It now seems…Read more…
Germans showing solidarity with Greeks
If you get your news from the papers or broadcasters, you’d think that the dispute over Greek austerity and debt is a national struggle between (primarily) Greece and Germany. In reality, of course, this is simplistic and wrong. The German government – and in particular the CDU members…Read more…
Italian unions strike: #stopjobsact
Italian unions, led by the TUC’s sister organisation the CGIL, have been taking to the streets – including a general strike on Friday – to oppose reforms of the labour market being proposed by the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi. They say they are defending workers’…Read more…
EU investment plan – accelerating with the brakes on
One thing the ETUC has been repeating ad nauseam since the crisis is the need for a European investment plan to drive growth and jobs. Almost everyone seems to have come round to agreeing with us recently including the new President of the European Com…Read more…