Representatives of national trade unions elected Laurent Berger of France as President, on Friday 24 May, at the end of the 14th Congress of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in Vienna.
Laurent Berger, currently Secretary General of the Confédération française démocratique du travail (CFDT), was elected for a four-year term with 95.9% of the votes cast. He succeeds the Belgian Rudy De Leeuw, President of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (FGTB).
Two Frenchmen thus head the main organisations representing employees and employers at the head of the EU, since Pierre Gattaz is the head of Business Europe (see EUROPE 12057/23).
"It is because I am convinced that Europe is an opportunity and that I believe in the ability of trade unionism to create a space of progress for all that I am committed to working with Luca Visentini to defend and extend the rights and protections of all European workers”, Mr Berger said on his Twitter account.
The current Secretary General of the Confederation, Italy’s Luca Visentini, has been reappointed. Also elected were Deputy Secretaries-General, Esther Lynch and Per Hilmersson, three Confederal Secretaries, Liina Carr, Isabelle Schömann and Ludovic Voet, and four Vice-Presidents, José María Álvarez, Miranda Ulens, Bente Sorgenfrey and Josef Středula.
The trade unions also adopted a manifesto for 2019-2023, which sets out 13 main action points. Among other things, they call for a reform of the process of shaping European economic policies, the budget and monetary union, always with a view to strengthening the social dimension.
Above all, they call for the "full" implementation of the 20 principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, but also EU action to support stronger collective bargaining. They also call for European law to strengthen information and consultation of workers, the representation of workers on company boards and European Works Councils - a particularly hot topic (see other news).
To view the manifesto: https://bit.ly/2Qgs81s. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)