(22 April 2010) On 15 April, the EPSU’s Women and Gender Equality Committee (WGEC) elected for the positions of chair, Gloria Mills, UNISON Equalities Secretary, UK, and of vice-chair, Cristina Iftimescu, SANITAS Vice-President and President of the union’s women’s organization, Romania. Gloria Mills is a vice-chair of the ETUC women’s Committee and former chair of the PSI European Women’s Committee. Cristina Iftimescu is a member of the EPSU executive Committee. Both are members of the PSI’s (...)

PSI / EPSU Press Release (19 April 2010) As the third round of Canada-European Union free trade negotiations begins, leaked draft details of the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) were jointly released today by the global union federation Public Services International and it’s European arm, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, together with union affiliates and civil service organizations in the Canadian Trade Justice Network. This new information (...)

(15 April 2010) The European party of socialists and democrats organized a public hearing to discuss with MEPs and civil society the proposal of the European Commission on the European Citizens’ Initiative. The S&D speakers welcomed the initiative of the Commission. Martin Schulz, chair of the S&D group opened the conference and underlined the importance of the European Citizens’ Initiative. The Spanish State Secretary for the European Union, Diego Lopez Garrido stressed that the (...)

(14 April 2010) The ETUC’s Collective Bargaining Committee met yesterday (13 April 2010) to discuss recent developments across Europe with a particular focus on a major agreement on short-time working in the German engineering industry and the continuing conflict in the public sector in Ireland. The committee also discussed how the ETUC should react to an initiative by the Belgian parliament to get minimum wage policy discussed under the forthcoming Belgian presidency. Collective bargaining (...)

(25 March 2010) The Spring Alliance the group of trade unions, environmental organizations, social action groups and development NGOs of which EPSU is a member, sent a letter to the Spring Council asking for different targets in the EU 2020 strategy. The alliance suggest: Improve the current greenhouse gas reduction target within the band agreed at the Climate Conference in Bali in 2007, so within 25% and 40% by industrialised countries, and this on the basis of domestic reductions. Set (...)

Press Communication (24 March 2010) Long and irregular hours, unilaterally imposed on workers, are unhealthy and outmoded forms of work organization. ETUC is expecting proposals from the European Commission that stimulate modern, sustainable and negotiated solutions, taking into account the needs of businesses and workers in a balanced way. This was ETUC’s message in 2004, when it was first consulted on the revision of the Working Time Directive (WTD). This is again ETUC’s message, in a (...)

Press communication (Brussels, 23 March 2010) - High-level representatives of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) discussed today about measures to tackle labour shortages in the hospital sector. Priority will be given to the implementation of the joint EPSU-HOSPEEM Framework Agreement on the prevention of sharp injuries. Many European countries face a human resources crisis in health. The (...)

Press Communication (23 March 2010) A new report by the Public Service International Research Unit cautions the European Commission against enthusiastically endorsing public-private partnerships, contending that PPPs, as they are known, do not supplement public spending – they absorb it. The European Commission outlines high hopes for developing public-private partnerships in its EU 2020 strategy. The study Public rescue for more failed private finance institutions has been released on the (...)