Brussels, 07/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Putting full employment and job quality at the top of the European policy agenda, introducing a “two-handed” economic policy to push down unemployment and boost the productive potential of the labour force, reforming the new Lisbon process to enhance social dialogue and social partnership, adopting policies to protect employment and guarantee universal access to energy supply through public initiative in the sector, these are the calls from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) a few hours before the opening of the European Spring summit. They will be presented in the morning of Thursday 8 March by ETUC Secretary General John Monks and set out in a letter to Commission President José Manuel Barroso and heads of state and government. The ETUC calls on heads of state and government to help restore the confidence of workers in the European project by sending out a clear message.
European unions call on EU leaders to: (1) put job quality at the top of the European policy agenda. Jobs with no security of employment and segmented labour markets, the ETUC says, are undermining social cohesion, innovation and productivity, and it calls on the summit to allow the social troika (German, Portuguese and Slovenian labour ministers) to undertake a review of the quality of work in Europe, with a view to preparing new policy initiatives to promote good, secure jobs. This would, the ETUC says, allow the economic and social pillars of the Lisbon process to be rebalanced. (2) introduce a “two-handed” economic policy to reduce unemployment and boost the productive potential of the labour force, through, for example, training for job seekers and affordable care facilities to make it easier to combine work and family. (3) reform the new Lisbon process to enhance social dialogue and social partnership, by giving the social partners a greater role in the formulation of national action plans. (4) initiate a new European energy strategy, giving priority to secure and sustainable energy sources. (gb)