At an event at the European Parliament on Wednesday 15 November, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) presented its Manifesto for the European elections, entitled “Delivering a Fair Deal for Workers”.
The ETUC is asking European decision-makers to make 12 commitments, in particular to: - better jobs and incomes with effective EU-wide measures to protect jobs and incomes, including pensions; - an end to precarious work by, for example, banning unpaid internships; - support for trade unions, collective bargaining and social dialogue and increase collective bargaining coverage; - safe working conditions, improving European legislation on health and safety at work and addressing psychosocial risks; - reject austerity and ensure a review of the rules of economic governance, including an end to the EU Fiscal Compact and reform of the Stability and Growth Pact to align it with the achievement of the rights included in the European Pillar of Social Rights; - strong industrial policy and public services; - putting public money at the service of social progress, with social, fiscal and environmental criteria and revised European public procurement rules to ensure that public money goes to organisations that respect workers’ rights; - ensure just transitions; - fight against social dumping and fraud.
The ETUC also advocates: - “a fair, rights-based approach to migration and asylum” with the strengthening of safe, legal and regular migration channels; - a progressive role for Europe in the world; - a fairer and more democratic Europe, with a Social Progress Protocol to be included in the treaties, to guarantee that workers’ and social rights take precedence over economic freedoms.
Link to manifesto: https://aeur.eu/f/9kn (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)