Paris, 29/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - Does the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) need a full face lift or just a nip and tuck? On Thursday 28 May, European trade unionists drew up the results of a health check on the ETUC on the occasion of a mid-mandate conference on combating the crisis. Jean-Claude Mailly (Force Ouvrière, France) takes the view that the ETUC “needs vitamins” to give it strength to face up to the forecast doubling of the unemployment rate in October 2009. “If we could organise a general stop in work at the same time throughout Europe then I believe we could influence the European institutions”, he suggested. ETUC leaders have taken stock of the organisation's health to better prepare for the future. ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann noted that membership had gone from 60 million in 1995 to 48 million today, a fall of 20%. However, Italian Guglielmo Epifani (GGIL Secretary General) was suspicious: “Is it certain that this decline is a real fall in membership or are federations indicating that there are fewer members in order to pay lower dues?” To sort out the situation, he proposed putting in place a system of “direct dues” that would strengthen the link between the ETUC and national members and would ensure some “financial security” for the ETUC. The budget was €6.7 million, with 60% going in salaries and almost a quarter financing union activities. While some wanted to limit staff costs to release more money for campaigning, Hoffman, said that, “If we count in the European Commission subsidies, staff costs only come to 40% of the budget”. This inevitably posed the issue of ETUC dependence on the European Commission. In 2007, the ETUC received €3 million from the Commission for concrete projects. None of the trade unionists felt that the ETUC was too institutionalised. Belgian Rudy De Leeuw said that “we mustn't go over the top” and argued that the ETUC was not “a subsidiary of the Commission”, quite the opposite, it was a counterweight able to “impose its own agenda”. The ETUC must also, however, force national employers' organisations to come closer to its positions, something that will come through better trade union coordination: better articulation between European social dialogue and national social dialogue, coordination of national collective bargaining policies, even wage coordination to combat social and wage dumping in Europe. Lastly, the ETUC will have to keep an eye on solidarity between members from the East and the West to prevent downward harmonisation of wage conditions and social rights. The next test of trade union coordination will be the transposition into national laws of the services directive. The ETUC may have succeeded in getting the country of origin principle withdrawn, but Hoffman is concerned that “the principles thrown out of the directive will be re-introduced by the side door” if unions are not very wary during national transposition. (Y.P./transl.jl/rt)