Prague, 27/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - John Monks, the future new Secretary General of the European Trade Unions (ETUC) has immediately put his mark on the first day of the ETUC congress. After listening to speeches by Anna Diamantopolou, Zdenkek Skronach, the Czech Minister for Work and Emilio Gabaglio, the outgoing Secretary General of the ETUC (see EUROPE yesterday p 17), those attending congress debated the activities report for 1999-2002, as well as some of the amendments to the status of the ETUC, introduced by John Monks, in order to modernise the internal structures of the ETUC and carry on the work of including different categories of people in the trade union struggle, such s pensioners. The amendments to the statutes essentially focus on the: 1) preamble: the ETUC will also be working on the extension and consolidation of political freedoms policies and democracy, respect for human and trade union rights, the elimination of all forms of discriminations, sustainable development and addresses its action to European employers' organisations in view of establishing a system of social relations at a European level through social dialogue and negotiation; 2) Article 5: union federations have to be open to all national organisations, affiliated to Confederation members. These organisations will have to be part of the corresponding European trade union federation; 3) Article 7: Congress seeks to approve the resolutions and other political proposals put forward by the Executive Committee and the member organisations; 4) Article 10: the Secretary General can put forward proposals on the composition of the secretariat. Gender equality is taken into consideration and the secretariat must include two women. All mandates will be made at the end of Congress. The Secretaries General and the Deputy Secretaries General cannot exercise two consecutive mandates. A third mandate can be decided by congress by a 2/3 majority vote. The President is elected for a single mandate. The activities report was adopted by a very large majority(with 1 vote against and 10 abstentions) by the congress. All the amendments, except for that on the (FERPA 'European Federation of Retired and Elderly People recognised by the ETUC for which John Monks had requested representation and a right to vote at the congress) were adopted. During the debate on the activities report, Manolo Bonmati (UGT-Spain) stressed the that ETUC had succeeded in providing the social dialogue with a content and declared that "We are recognised a world model for regional integration. We have become stronger, more united and we have built strong foundations that will allow us to go forward into the future". Michaël Sommer (GGB-Germany) thought that the ETUC had to concentrate on the eradication of unemployment and the current crisis, as well as giving the youth a perspective for the future. Luc Cortebeeck (CSC/ACV-Belgium appealed for strengthening the ETUC. A representative from the TUC (UK) highlighted the weak profile of the unions at a European level. "We should go more on the offensive vis-à-vis the European institutions. We're much more than a simple pressure group. We should always be ahead when it comes to the institutions, as well as pro-active on a limited number of priorities", he added. Jean-Marc Bilquez (FO-France) explained that the ETUC had to face up to its responsibilities, "We expect that the ETUC shows that the Lisbon strategy is failing, if not, it would meant that we support a neo-liberal process which is itself supported by the Commission!". John Edmunds (TUC-UK) made clear that the ETUC had to, "protect the European social model and begin building a European system of industrial relations". Jean-François Trogrlic (CFDT-France) stressed that the ETUC was facing three challenges: strengthening European trade unionism, that had been severely tested by falling numbers and strong competition by new organisations from civil society and globalisation; the consolidation of the European social model and the objective of full employment; the reinforcing of the ETUC's European identity and the firm commitment of these constituent parts.
Given that the debate focused on the future (commitments and activities) and the issue of whether the ETUC was just a lobby-based organisation, Emilio Gabaglio pointed out that, We need lobbying and trade unionism. We have striving to make trade union action at a European level consistent, with a capacity to negotiate framework agreements with the employers, which is unique in the whole world".
President Prodi asks Convention to recognise key role of unions
Prague, 27/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday morning at the congress of the ETUC, the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi addressed an audio-visual message in which he declared, "We are at the end of an epoch. You have restructured your Confederation for the good of the workers and have built lasting bases for social dialogue. I have total confidence in the European trade unionism of the future.
Welcoming outgoing Secretary-General Emilio Gabaglio as both a speaker and as a participant, and thanking him for hisextremely positive sum actions over his twelve years at the head of ETUC and the enormous momentum he had invested it with, President Prodi noted that "today, the Unionists have three social challenges to face up to: enlargement, current difficulties in social policy, and the Convention". As regards enlargement, Mr Prodi highlighted the fact that the Unionists can help the future Member States to bring themselves into line on social dialogue and put it into place. On the current difficulties in social dialogue, Mr Prodi emphasised the need "not to block the road that will lead us to the Lisbon objectives". "We need to update and to preserve the European social model, an objective close to my heart and to that of the Commission. We must also safeguard flexibility without giving up competitiveness: we have become more competitive, but we must not impoverish the workers. For this we need more jobs of higher quality. The Unions have an essential part to play here, bi-partite, anonymous social dialogue is more important than ever", said Romano Prodi.
Speaking about the work of the Convention, President Prodi stressed the "driving force" of Unions, which are "an unavoidable fact of EU life". "The Constitution should recognise this role in one of its articles", said Mr Prodi.