Lets get 50,000 trade union voices in Ljubljana on 5 April ! Fair deal for public service workers central plank of demo

(18 February, 2008, Brussels) EPSU calls for big public service presence in April 5 Ljubljana Eurodemo. To coincide with the meeting of EU Finance Ministers in Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, the European Confederation of Trade Unions (www.etuc.org) have called for a show of force of 50,000 trade unionists from the surrounding countries. The action, entitled “mobilisation for fair pay”, will highlight the disparity between calls for pay restraint for ordinary workers, particularly in the public sector, and the excessive rewards of top earners and directors year after year. EPSU General Secretary, Carola Fischbach-Pyttel stated that; “ In light of the unjust restrictions on public service pay deals, we expect EPSU members to be there in force”. EPSU expects a high presence from members in surrounding countries, such as Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary, as well as Slovenia itself. The ETUC will be forwarding demo material including posters, leaflets and other practical info. For more on collective bargaining developments in the public sector please go to epsucob@).

Euro-Demonstration: Mobilisation for fair pay - Ljubljana-Slovenia, 5 April 2008

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The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling for a demonstration on 5 April, at 14.00 in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. The overall mobilisation is for FAIR PAY, an increase of the purchasing power for workers and a fair deal for public sector workers.

I call on you, the EPSU affiliates to support the ETUC demonstration to a maximum of your capacities. We have seen only recently to what extent politicians single out the public sector work force and their trade unions for wage moderation as an example for other sectors. It is in fact easier for governments to put a cap on pay for public sector workers than to regulate the excessive pay and benefit packages of managers of large companies. In several countries public service unions have staged industrial actions, the latest country being Germany, where Ver.di is calling for warning strikes to protest against proposals from the employers to freeze wages with higher weekly working hours.

The Deputy General Secretary, Jan Willem Goudriaan and myself will attend the Ljubljana demonstration. As usual we would like to form an EPSU block of around 50 colleagues and have contacted our Slovenian affiliates for their help. We would be grateful if unions from neighbouring countries in particular could also help to bolster the EPSU block.

If your union sends participants to the ETUC demonstration and is interested to participate in the EPSU block, please let us know and contact jwgoudriaan@epsu.org indicating the number of colleagues you expect (see participation form attached).

We will keep you posted of any further details of the ETUC demonstration in the next coming weeks (please also check our web site www.epsu.org/a/3578)

Yours sincerely

Carola Fischbach-Pyttel EPSU General Secretary

for more information, see the ETUC call and materials

EPSU participation form