Press Releases Energy

Press Communication, 27 February 2008
If you are in a hole stop digging" say energy workers to Council (27 February 2008, Brussels) The European Commission is obsessed with ownership unbundling and criticises Member States for protection of domestic households at a time when electricity and gas prices increase, jobs in the sector are lost, investment in new capacity is lagging behind, mergers and take-overs cost tens of billions of Euros and most States in the USA have halted their (...)

EPSU announces new European Social Dialogue Committee in the Natural Gas Sector
(Press Communication, 14 March, Brussels) The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) welcome the sectoral social dialogue committee in the Natural Gas sector, which will meet in Brussels on 15 March for the first time. The unions will meet the employers represented by Eurogas.
EPSU Deputy General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan comments: "The European Council 8-9 March took several decisions that (...)

Energy Workers 5-point critique of EU energy strategy

Press Communication (10 January 2007, Brussels) The European Federation of Public Service Unions rapid response to the EU Energy Strategy as released by the European Commission today (...):

Press Communication, 2 November 2005
A new energy study, to be launched tomorrow 3 November, from the University of Greenwich’s Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) has definitive evidence that there are no noticeable positive effects for domestic consumers from competition, and the drawbacks are many, that Labour productivity improvements are one-off events, achieved by dismissing workers and with no effect on longer-term dynamic efficiencies. Study author Steve Thomas (...)

Press release - 24 March 2005
A delegation of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) met with the Energy Commissioner, 23 March 2005. The meeting was positive. “The trade unions are a key stakeholder in European Energy Policies. It is important to engage in a dialogue with the trade unions”, Commissioner Piebalgs said.
The trade unions raised critical questions over:
The Services Directive. We welcomed recent proposals to amend the directive on a number of key issues but (...)

31 January 2005
Governments in Romania and Bulgaria have privatised several companies that distribute electricity. These companies have been taken-over by large existing European companies which thus continue to build their energy empires. To consider the consequences for the workers and to discuss future strategies, trade union representatives from the companies concerned meet in Bucharest, 29 January to 1 February 2005. The seminar is organised by EPSU, the powerful European trade union (...)

21 December 2004
The Social Partners in the electricity industry - Union of the Electricity Industry- EURELECTRIC representing employers and EPSU/EMCEF for the trade unions - intend to create a “toolkit” for companies wishing to align their approach to equal opportunities and diversity in the workforce with best practice. This project was conceived during a workshop in Brussels on 14 December, which examined the findings of a recently-completed study on the subject, and confirmed at a (...)

Energy conference Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 10-11 December 2004
The European Union is negotiating a Treaty to establish an internal market for electricity and gas in South East Europe. This Treaty will extend the EU’s laws and regulations for the first time to other countries in a legally binding manner. A ministerial Conference will consider a final draft of the Treaty 13 December 2004.
Trade unions from the countries concerned* discussed the internal market and exchanged experiences (...)

The unions organising electricity workers in CITUB and Podkrepa, the two Bulgarian trade union confederations, will take regional and national action 3 and 12 May. The unions are protesting ill thought out plans of the government to privatise a number of distribution companies. The actions come after the government refused to engage in dialogue with the unions on the plans and their effects for workers and citizens. The bidders for the companies are familiar names in the European (...)

A recent meeting of Europe’s energy unions, organized by EPSU, considered the growing dependence of the EU on oil and gas from countries outside of the EU, especially Russia. Russia exports a major part of its oil and gas to the EU and the EU imports a growing share of its energy sources from Russia. The EU and Russia are also examining whether to interconnect the networks for transmission of electricity. Major European energy companies are investors in Russia while Russian companies such (...)

A new study Blackouts: “Do liberalisation and privatisation increase the risk?” by Dave Hall and Steve Thomas draws attention to the consequences employment cuts can have on the provision of electricity as an essential service. EPSU commissioned the study from Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) on the occasion of the Council of Ministers for Energy, 15 December 2003. The Council will consider the package of measures to promote security of supply proposed by the European (...)

Employers’ and trade union representatives of the energy sector of the Baltic countries are meeting on 21st-22nd November in the Estonian capital Tallinn to discuss the social implications of the European Union internal market in electricity, whose rules the new Member States joining the Community have to apply. The conference, organised by the Union of the Electricity Industry-EURELECTRIC, representing the employers and EPSU/EMCEF for the trade unions, takes place within the official (...)

Employers’ and trade unions representatives of the energy sector of the Balkan countries are meeting, on the 7th and 8th of November 2003 at the Best Western Parc Hotel from Bucharest, to discuss the social implications of the European Union internal market for electricity, whose rules the new member states joining the Community over the next three years have to apply. Representatives of employees and trade unions from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and Greece attend the (...)

The European Commission adopted a package of measures to address the failures of the internal market for electricity and gas on 9 December 2003.
The proposals for Directives are a clear signal that liberalised energy markets do not deliver a reliable and continuous service. Government and regulatory oversight remains essential. Governments will have to ensure reserve capacity and investments in the networks, something the energy companies will not provide out of good will, and for which (...)

The new EU Member States will implement the internal market and open their markets, first for large industrial electricity users and in a second stage for households, "The internal market will have an effect on jobs, pay and working conditions. It is important that unions and employers discuss this", says Jiri Kubicek, President of the Czech energy workers union OSE. "Social dialogue between unions and employers and with the government is essential to address these consequences", he adds. (...)

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