FRAMEWORK OF ACTION FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

(December 2012) The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) - Employers’

The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) - Trade Unions

Definition - A European Framework of Action consists of the identification of certain policy priorities towards which the national social partners undertake to work. These priorities serve as benchmarks and the social partners report annually on the action taken to follow-up these texts.

IMPLEMENTING A FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
In the context of the challenges posed by the current European social, economic and political crisis for local and regional authorities as employers and trade unions, the social partners EPSU and CEMR respectively renew their joint commitment to strengthen the European sectorial social dialogue in local and regional government.

They underline their commitment through the following recommendations that form a framework for action for local and regional government to contribute to a social and sustainable local and regional Europe that supports the public sector as an employer. The overarching objective is to better prepare Local and Regional governments as employers’ and their employees for future scenarios of its workplace.

The social partners in the joint project 2011 “The future of work in local and regional government” have identified that action is needed in the areas of continuous and fair funding, migration, skills development, sustainable development, gender equality, and recruitment and retention. The European and National social partners commit thereby to implement the objectives jointly concluded by these recommendations, starting in 2013 with a first evaluation at the end of 2013. It is important to note that these recommendations serve the foundations for the upcoming work programme of this European Social Dialogue Committee for 2014-2016.

The European sectorial social dialogue engaged between EPSU and CEMR throughout all their organisational structures will be the platform for implementation of these action points in exclusive cooperation of national social partners. Additional means for strengthened capacity-building in this sector will have to be allocated for implementation, in the form, for example, of a joint European project under Social Dialogue. The Social partners have underlined the importance of organising capacity building exercises for countries within our Social Dialogue committee, could focus on one or more of the actions listed below.

EPSU and CEMR will implement the framework against the background of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the “New Skills for New Jobs” and relevant EU legislative and policy proposals in the area of employment and social affairs throughout 2013.

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