European Trade Union Confederation | |
Founded | 1973 |
---|---|
Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
Location | |
Members | 45 million from 41 countries, 93 national trade union confederations |
Key people | Esther Lynch, General Secretary Wolfgang Katzian, President |
Website | www |
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is the major trade union organisation representing workers at the European level. In its role as a European social partner, the ETUC works both in a consulting role with the European Commission and negotiates agreements and work programmes with European employers. It coordinates the national and sectoral policies of its affiliates on social and economic matters, particularly in the framework of the EU institutional processes, including European economic governance and the EU Semester.
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Transcription
Where, is the European Union? Obviously here somewhere, but much like the the European continent itself, which has an unclear boundary, the European Union also has some fuzzy edges to it. To start, the official members of the European Union are, in decreasing order of population: * Germany * France * The United Kingdom * Italy * Spain * Poland * Romania * The Kingdom of the Netherlands * Greece * Belgium * Portugal * The Czech Republic * Hungary * Sweden * Austria * Bulgaria * Denmark * Slovakia * Finland * Ireland * Croatia * Lithuania * Latvia * Slovenia * Estonia * Cyprus * Luxembourg * Malta The edges of the EU will probably continue to expand further out as there are other countries in various stages of trying to become a member. How exactly the European Union works is hideously complicated and a story for another time, but for this video you need know only three things: 1. Countries pay membership dues and 2. Vote on laws they all must follow and 3. Citizens of member countries are automatically European Union citizens as well This last means that if you're a citizen of any of these countries you are free to live and work or retire in any of the others. Which is nice especially if you think your country is too big or too small or too hot or too cold. The European Union gives you options. By the way, did you notice how all three of these statements have asterisks attached to this unhelpful footnote? Well, get used to it: Europe loves asterisks that add exceptions to complicated agreements. These three, for example, point us toward the first bit of border fuzziness with Norway, Iceland and little Liechtenstein. None of which are in the European Union but if you're a EU citizen you can live in these countries and Norwegians, Icelanders, or Liechtensteiner(in)s can can live in yours. Why? In exchange for the freedom of movement of people they have to pay membership fees to the European Union -- even though they aren't a part of it and thus don't get a say its laws that they still have to follow. This arrangement is the European Economic Area and it sounds like a terrible deal, were it not for that asterisk which grants EEA but not EU members a pass on some areas of law notably farming and fishing -- something a country like Iceland might care quite a lot about running their own way. Between the European Union and the European Economic Area the continent looks mostly covered, with the notable exception of Switzerland who remains neutral and fiercely independent, except for her participation in the Schengen Area. If you're from a country that keeps her borders extremely clean and / or well-patrolled, the Schengen Area is a bit mind-blowing because it's an agreement between countries to take a 'meh' approach to borders. In the Schengen Area international boundaries look like this: no border officers or passport checks of any kind. You can walk from Lisbon to Tallinn without identification or need to answer the question: "business or pleasure?". For Switzerland being part of Schengen but not part of the European Union means that non-swiss can check in any time they like, but they can never stay. This koombaya approach to borders isn't appreciated by everyone in the EU: most loudly, the United Kingdom and Ireland who argue that islands are different. Thus to get onto these fair isles, you'll need a passport and a good reason. Britannia's reluctance to get fully involved with the EU brings us to the next topic: money. The European Union has its own fancy currency, the Euro used by the majority, but not all of the European Union members. This economic union is called the Eurozone and to join a country must first reach certain financial goals -- and lying about reaching those goals is certainly not something anyone would do. Most of the non-Eurozone members when they meet the goals, will ditch their local currency in favor of the Euro but three of them Denmark, Sweden and, of course, the United Kingdom, have asterisks attracted to the Euro sections of the treaty giving them a permanent out-out. And weirdly, four tiny European countries Andorra, San Marino, Monaco & Vatican City have an asterisk giving them the reverse: the right print and use Euros as their money, despite not being in the European Union at all. So that's the big picture: there's the EU, which makes all the rules, the Eurozone inside it with a common currency, the European Economic Area outside of it where people can move freely and the selective Schengen, for countries who think borders just aren't worth the hassle. As you can see, there's some strange overlaps with these borders, but we're not done talking about complications by a long shot one again, because empire. So Portugal and Spain have islands from their colonial days that they've never parted with: these are the Madeira and Canary Islands are off the coast of Africa and the Azores well into the Atlantic. Because these islands are Spanish and Portuguese they're part of the European Union as well. Adding a few islands to the EU's borders isn't a big deal until you consider France: the queen of not-letting go. She still holds onto a bunch of islands in the Caribbean, Reunion off the coast of Madagascar and French Guiana in South America. As far as France is concerned, these are France too, which single handedly extends the edge-to-edge distance of the European Union across a third of Earth's circumference. Collectively, these bits of France, Spain and Portugal are called the Outermost Regions -- and they're the result of the simple answer to empire: just keep it. On the other hand, there's the United Kingdom, the master of maintaining complicated relationships with her quasi-former lands -- and she's by no means alone in this on such an empire-happy continent. The Netherlands and Denmark and France (again) all have what the European Union calls Overseas Territories: they're not part of the European Union, instead they're a bottomless well of asterisks due to their complicated relationships with both with the European Union and their associated countries which makes it hard to say anything meaningful about them as a group but... in general European Union law doesn't apply to these places, though in general the people who live there are European Union citizens because in general they have the citizenship of their associated country, so in general they can live anywhere in the EU they want but in general other European Union citizens can't freely move to these territories. Which makes these places a weird, semipermeable membrane of the European Union proper and the final part we're going to talk about in detail even though there are still many, more one-off asterisks you might stumble upon, such as: the Isle of Man or those Spanish Cities in North Africa or Gibraltar, who pretends to be part of Southwest England sometimes, or that region in Greece where it's totally legal to ban women, or Saba & friends who are part of the Netherlands and so should be part of the EU, but aren't, or the Faeroe Islands upon which while citizens of Denmark live they lose their EU citizenship, and on and on it goes. These asterisks almost never end, but this video must.
History
The ETUC was established in 1973, to coordinate and represent workers and their trade unions at the European level, and has grown as more countries have joined the EU.
Representativeness and constitution
At present, the ETUC represents almost 45 million workers across Europe, affiliated to 93 national trade union confederations from 41 European countries, and 10 European Trade Union Federations (ETUFs). It includes both a Women's Committee and a Youth Committee, which represent the interests of these two groups within its membership respectively.
Currently, the General Secretary of the organisation is Esther Lynch, who was elected in December 2022. The President is Wolfgang Katzian, from OEGB of Austria. The Deputy General Secretaries are Claes-Mikael Stahl and Isabelle Schömann; the Confederal Secretaries are Giulio Romani, Tea Jarc and Ludovic Voet.
The ETUC coordinates the activities of the 45 Interregional Trade Union Councils (IRTUCs), which organise trade union cooperation across national borders in the EU and defend the right to free movement of workers. In cooperation with the European Trade Union Institute, the ETUC has set up UnionMigrantNet, a network of trade union contact points within the member states, with the aim of assisting migrants and their families. Other trade union structures operating under the auspices of the ETUC are Eurocadres (Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff) and the European Federation of Retired and Older People (FERPA).
The ETUC's delegate congress, which takes place every four years, approves and amends the constitution, determines the strategy and general policy of the Confederation and elects its leadership team. All policies and activities are agreed by affiliates' representatives, who maintain their own independence. The 15th congress took place in Berlin in May 2023.
Mission and activities
The ETUC's mission is to encourage European unity, peace and stability, enabling working people and their families to enjoy full human, civil, social and employment rights and high living standards. To achieve this, it promotes the European social model, combining sustainable economic growth with ever-improving living and working conditions, including full employment, well-functioning social dialogue and industrial relations, social protection, equal opportunities, good quality jobs, social inclusion, and open and democratic policy-making process that involves citizens fully in the decisions that affect them. At the 2015 Paris Congress, the ETUC agreed on a Manifesto and an Action Programme for four years until 2019. These documents focus on three objectives:
- A strong economy that serves the people
- Stronger unions for democratic values and democracy at work
- A core of ambitious social standards
A strong economy
The ETUC works with all the EU governing bodies: Presidency, Council, Commission and Parliament. Its right to represent the interests of European workers in the formulation of EU macroeconomic and employment policy is articulated in the EU Treaty. It takes part in bi-annual Tripartite Social Summits; responds to European Commission proposals; liaises with a cross-party Intergroup of MEPs in the European Parliament; and coordinates trade union participation in a number of advisory bodies, including the tripartite EU agencies for vocational training (CEDEFOP), improvement of living and working conditions (Eurofound), and health and safety (EU-OSHA). It works closely with the Workers' Group in the Economic and Social Committee.
At the meetings of the Macroeconomic Dialogue (MED), established in 1998, the social partners discuss economic policy with the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the commission. The ETUC wants greater trade union participation in economic governance at both EU and national levels. The ETUC supports public investment, a green economy, fair taxation and quality jobs for all. It opposes precarious work and austerity policies.
Stronger unions
The ETUC regards collective bargaining and social dialogue, and workplace and industrial democracy as key to innovation, productivity and growth in Europe. It therefore promotes capacity building for trade unions across Europe. The social dialogue between the ETUC and European employers supplements the national social dialogues in the Member States. The ETUC supports European Works Councils, and workers' consultation and participation in decision-making. EU cross-industry social dialogue was formally launched in 1985, with the support of former Commission President Jacques Delors. It has evolved through three stages: I – (1985–1991) Bipartite activities culminated in the adoption of resolutions, declarations and common opinions, which did not have a binding effect. II – (1992–1999) An accord between the social partners, signed on 31 October 1991 and subsequently annexed to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty in the form of a Social Protocol, enabled European social partner agreements to have legal force through a Council decision. In 1997, the agreement was written into the Treaty of Amsterdam (Articles 154 and 155 TFEU). European social dialogue led to the implementation of three framework agreements (parental leave in 1995 – revised in 2009, part-time work in 1997, and fixed-term contracts in 1999) via EU Directives. III – (1999–2005) In December 2001, the European social partners presented a "common contribution" to the Laeken European Council. In accordance with the 1991 agreement (Art. 155 par 2 TFEU), this moved towards greater independence and autonomy of the social dialogue. Since 2002, the social partners have concluded autonomous agreements on:
- Telework (2002)
- Work-related stress (2004)
- Harassment and violence at work (2007)
- Inclusive labour markets (2010)
- A framework of actions for the lifelong development of competencies and qualifications (2002), a framework of actions on gender equality (2005), and a framework of actions on youth employment (2013).
These are implemented by the social partners themselves at national, regional and enterprise levels. The social partners' new Multiannual Work Programme runs until 2017 and foresees an accord on active ageing. In the field of collective bargaining and wage policy, the ETUC has coordinated affiliates' activities since 1999. In 2012, the ETUC also started to coordinate trade union participation in EU economic governance and the Semester process. Every year the ETUC updates its priorities and initiatives on industrial relations and wage developments, with a view to improving working and living conditions across Europe, achieving better wages for all workers, ensuring equal treatment, combating inequalities, supporting capacity building for sound industrial relations and promote collective bargaining in all EU countries. The ETUC favours a holistic approach to workers' involvement, including stronger information and consultation rights, board-level participation in European company forms, and support for European Works Councils. The ETUC presses for information and consultation for workers, in particular, to anticipate change or company restructuring (to cut job losses), and throughout the subcontracting chain.
- Ambitious social standards
The ETUC is committed to pursuing social progress across the EU – an objective enshrined in the EU Treaty. It, therefore, calls for high-quality public services and social protection, gender equality, worker mobility, and high health and safety standards, with an end to social dumping and discrimination. The ETUC defends the European social model as a key factor in promoting not only social justice and cohesion but also economic growth, productivity and competitiveness in the EU. When necessary, the ETUC pursues its vision of Social Europe through direct action, such as Euro-demonstrations and campaigns, and works with civil society partners to achieve social justice and progress for workers and their families across Europe. The ETUC is recognised by the European Union, by the Council of Europe and by the European Free Trade Association as the only representative cross-sectoral trade union organisation at the European level.
- Future challenges
At its Congress in Paris, the ETUC launched a broad discussion on the role and future of trade unionism in Europe, in the face of globalisation and austerity policies affecting society in Europe and the rest of the world. The discussion has been widened to address the future of the EU, facing challenges like the refugee emergency, Brexit, rising populism and xenophobia, and widespread discontent among citizens and workers about their economic and social conditions. The ETUC is launching campaigns and actions, including on a fairer, sustainable economic model, quality job creation, just transition and fair trade, higher pay and wage convergence for European workers, better protection for disadvantaged, precarious and self-employed workers, and more democracy at work, in the economy and in EU institutions.
Affiliates
General Secretaries and Presidents
General Secretaries[2][3] | Period | Union |
---|---|---|
Théo Rasschaert | 1973–1975 | ABVV, Belgium |
Peer Carlsen | 1975–1976 | LO, Denmark |
Mathias Hinterscheid | 1976–1991 | CGT-L, Luxemburg |
Emilio Gabaglio | 1991–2003 | CISL, Italy |
John Monks | 2003–2011 | TUC, United Kingdom |
Bernadette Ségol | 2011–2015 | UNI-Europa, European Trade Union Federation |
Luca Visentini | 2015–2022 | UIL, Italy |
Esther Lynch | 2022–Present | ICTU, Ireland |
President[2][3] | Period | Union |
---|---|---|
Victor Feather | 1973–1974 | TUC, United Kingdom |
Heinz Oskar Vetter | 1974–1979 | DGB, Germany |
Wim Kok | 1979–1982 | FNV, Netherlands |
Georges Debunne | 1982–1985 | ABVV, Belgium |
Ernst Breit | 1985–1991 | DGB, Germany |
Norman Willis | 1991–1993 | TUC, United Kingdom |
Fritz Verzetnitsch | 1993–2003 | OGB, Austria |
Cándido Méndez Rodríguez | 2003–2007 | UGT, Spain |
Wanja Lundby-Wedin | 2007–2011 | LO, Sweden |
Ignacio Fernández Toxo | 2011–2015 | CCOO, Spain |
Rudy De Leeuw | 2015–2019 | ABVV, Belgium |
Laurent Berger | 2019–2023 | CFDT, France |
Wolfgang Katzian | 2023-present | ÖGB, Austria |
See also
- Confederation of European Business
- EU labour law
- French labour law
- German labour law
- UK labour law
- Unió Sindical d'Andorra
References
- ^ "National Trade Union Confederations (list of member organisations)". European Trade Union Confederation. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- ^ a b European Trade Union Confederation Archives; Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
- ^ a b Biographical dictionary of European labor leaders; A. Thomas Lane; British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data; 1995, ISBN 0-313-26456-2
External links
- Archives of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), held in the European University Institute - Historical Archives of the European Union.
- Official website
- European Social Model Archived 2012-09-03 at the Wayback Machine
- European Social Partners Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
- European Petition for high-quality public services, accessible to all
- Solidarity in the Economic Crisis. Challenges and Expectations for European Trade Unions (Publication by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for the ETUC Congress in Athens 2011)
- Christophe Degryse (with Pierre Tilly), 1973–2013 : 40 years of history of the European Trade Union Confederation, European Trade Union Institute, 2013, ISBN 978-2-87452-304-5