EPSU-ETUCO Toolkit for the Eurotrainers’s

The sheets were tested on an ETUCO course, held in March 2004, with 3 working languages: English, French and German. 24 participants from 13 different countries attended the course. They commented on the different sheets and took part in a series of activities aimed at trying out the draft texts. The sheets were subsequently amended based on these discussions in order to meet the needs of the target group better. This publication is the result of that process. The toolkit was developed in order to help organisations affiliated to the ETUC, in particular from the accession countries, to understand European integration, develop social dialogue and gain more awareness of the role of trade union organizations in defending high-quality public services in Europe.

The toolkit consists of 2 separate parts:

Part one: Facts about Europe

20 information sheets on various aspects of European policies and the EU decision making process. They can be used to provide people with basic information about aspects of high-quality public services, though also as support documents for training on other issues.

Part two: Training activity sheets

These training activity sheets cover the key issues addressed in the information sheets and are aimed at helping trade union organisations, particularly from the countries joining the European Union to understand European integration and establish trade union strategies to promote high-quality public services in Europe.

The training modules were developed thanks to cooperation between EPSU and ETUCO, including a training course for trainers and officers from affiliated organisations. They were written by Jane Pillinger and are the product of cooperation between the EPSU representatives (Carola Fischbach-Pyttel and her secretariat) and ETUCO (Georges Schnell, education officer). We are also grateful to the participants on the course who helped with the development of the modules.

Carola Fischbach-Pyttel General Secretary EPSU