Posts in the "European Union" category
TORY AGENDA ON EUROPE THREATENS RIGHTS OF ALL WORKERS
Posted on October 30, 2015
Head of the TUC’s European Union & International Relations Department
By Owen Tudor*
The TUC has long been committed to the model of Social Europe as outlined by Jacques Delors.
The deal he set out is still the only deal in town: a free trade area, but not unfettered free trade In other words:
- Rights at work to counterbalance the right to trade,
- Free movement of labour, goods and capital,
- Decent work with social dialogue, social protection and public services ,
- And a successful, competitive economy in which wealth is shared fairly.
And what we got in the early years was pretty much what Delors promised.
Permanent link | Categories: ETUC • Brexit • European Union • TUC
Are Young People Hostile to Trade Unions?
Posted on October 19, 2017
Promoting trade unions
Kurt Vandaele, Senior Researcher at the European Trade Union Institute, looks at how young workers can be attracted into trade unions
The percentage of employees paying union dues has almost universally declined across Europe in recent decades. Moreover, much of the unions’ existing membership base is generally ‘greying’, with many members aged in their mid-40s to early 50s, as Figure 1 below shows.
Figure 1. Median age of union members in 2014 and its change compared to 2004 in Europe. Source: European Social Survey. The original survey question refers to membership of a union or similar organisation. *Italy: 2012 data.
In terms of organising, young people are considered to be the most ‘problematic’ of the different categories of under-represented groups in unions.
Permanent link | Categories: Youth • Trade Unions • ETUI
European Pillar of Social Rights Offers New Hope for Social Europe
Posted on December 16, 2016
ETUC Confederal Secretary
The EU is slowly emerging from the worst economic crisis in its history.
One of major casualties of that crisis was the European Social Model, undermined and weakened by the official response to a meltdown in the financial system.
Fundamental social rights and public services have been sacrificed. But an EU focused only in the market will not maintain the support and trust of workers and citizens.
With a third of workers across the EU struggling to make ends meet, Europe urgently needs a new social pact.
We need more Social Europe.
We need a vision that is bold enough to redress the glaring imbalance in the current model, that restores the primacy of livelihoods and living standards in EU policy.
Permanent link | Categories: EU • Social Europe • European Pillar of Social Rights
NEW YEAR, SAME OLD TORIES
Posted on January 07, 2016
Head of the TUC’s European Union & International Relations Department
The TUC's Owen Tudor reports on the UK government's ongoing assault on union rights and why Valentine's Day may be a little different this year
On Monday (11 January), the UK’s House of Lords began detailed consideration of the government’s Trade Union Bill, the latest attempt to relive the Thatcherite dream of 'taking on' the trade unions and restricting our ability to defend workers’ rights and public services.
The Bill emerged largely unscathed from the House of Commons before Christmas, although the government was forced to concede some ground on the more alarming attacks on the right to strike – such as the Orwellian requirement that unions should advise the police and employers of union social media strategies (but not vice versa.)
Permanent link | Categories: union rights • TUC • right to strike • Tory government