Social Partners for government administrations reach EU agreement
EUPAN and TUNED agree a 2 year plan to test formal European social dialogue
Press release, 13 December 2007, Brussels
The Trade Unions’ Delegation for National and European Administration (TUNED), and the EU Directors General for Public Administration (EUPAN) have agreed a two year “test phase” for a formal social dialogue between the organisations. The test phase will commence on 1 January 2008 and conclude on 31 December 2009. The agreement is significant as it sets out a clear agenda based on joint decision-making rules between the social partners in central government administrations employing some 7 million people in the EU. For the full text of the agreement please click here. Please also see supporting documents and click here.
The agreement will allow TUNED and EUPAN to embark on in-depth work in the following areas;
• Violence and Harassment at work
• The effect of demographic change on national administrations
• Trust in government
• the EU “Lisbon Strategy” on growth and employment
The process will be subject to a mid-term and a final evaluation procedure, under the French and Swedish Presidencies, respectively.
UK trade unionist, Charles Cochrane (PCS), chair of TUNED, stated that; “This agreement marks a major step in ensuring that national administration social partners play a concrete role at EU level”. He added that; “our joint work programme reflects the concerns of our members. Through an improved social dialogue we hope that the European Commission will inform and consult us on initiatives affecting central administrations. It will also help us further promote trade union rights and social dialogue for all civil servants and public sector employees”.
The newly formed social dialogue steering group will meet on 11 January 2008. Technical working groups are scheduled for 29 January and 24 April.
A TUNED-STE press conference was held after the DG meeting, pls see picture.
For further information, please contact:
EPSU: Nadja Salson + 32 250 10 80 or Brian Synnott +32 474 98 96 75, epsu@epsu.org
About us