At its meeting on 8-9 November 2011 the Executive Committee agreed a number of proposals on its trade union rights work:
• Initially focus our trade union rights work on Belarus, Georgia and Turkey, assessed as “countries at risk” by the ITUC.
• Encourage affiliates to support action on trade union rights in these countries with the possibility that this could be coordinated by the constituencies.
• Work more closely with the ETUC, PSI and ITUC on trade union rights and support their work in the Council of Europe and ILO, particularly when it relates to trade union rights in the public sector and assess the prospects of working with affiliates to get more countries to endorse ILO 151.
• Urge affiliates to keep the Secretariat informed of trade union rights campaigns they are involved in and plans to take action through the national courts or international institutions.
• Update the Executive Committee with information on trade union rights abuses with an impact on EPSU affiliates, using in particular reports from the ETUC, PSI, ITUC (annual report on trade union rights) and ILO.
• Work with the ETUC to make trade union rights more of a priority for the Agency and use information provided to the Executive Committee as the basis for a submission to the Fundamental Rights Agency.
• Provide an evaluation of the other recommendations in the ETUI report for a future Executive Committee meeting with proposals on whether and how these can be taken up in our trade union rights work.
Background
In November 2007 the Executive Committee discussed a detailed report, Better defending and promoting trade union rights in the public sector, commissioned by EPSU from the ETUI. Not all of the recommendations in that report were discussed formally and in detail at that meeting, however, the proposals for action in this note take up a number the recommendations and the Secretariat will review the remainder to see what further action might be possible.
The Executive Committee made a number of specific points, including:
• The need to identify and deal with the very worst situations;
• The value of information from affiliates on developments in each
country; and
• Interest in exploring the role of the Fundamental Rights Agency.
There are two important reasons for proposing action on this subject now. Firstly, since the discussion in 2007, the EPSU-PSI Europe merger has meant that EPSU now includes countries where the state of trade union rights generally as well as in the public sector is of major concern.
Secondly, the imposition of austerity measures has often involved serious attacks on trade union rights both in relation to the undermining of social dialogue and collective bargaining in the public sector and to the weakening of trade union and employment rights as set out in national labour codes.
These negative trends both inside and outside the EU require a better co-ordination of responses from EPSU and its affiliates, along with continuing and improved co-operation with the ETUC, PSI and the ITUC and their work in international bodies like the Council of Europe and International Labour Organisation (ILO)..
Solidarity in trade union rights campaigning
EPSU is aware that some individual affiliates already undertake solidarity work with affiliates in other countries and it would be useful to be better informed about these initiatives. If affiliates have already established good links with specific unions, then the next step may be to encourage other affiliates to provide further support and this could be coordinated at constituency level. Where no such regular work is undertaken then on the recommendation of the Executive Committee EPSU could agree on a number of priorities for our trade union rights work which could again be coordinated by the constituencies.
Examples of trade union rights work
• Letters of protest direct to governments and public sector employers.
• Public events at home (eg letters of protest delivered to local embassies).
• Visits of support to target countries – delegations to find out more about attacks on trade union rights, to attend the trials of trade unionists etc.
• Lobbying of national and European institutions around trade and other links with countries that are infringing trade union rights.
Main countries to be targeted
Currently the ITUC has a list of “countries at risk” that it believes should be the main focus of its trade union rights campaigning. In Europe, it has identified three countries: Belarus, Georgia and Turkey, where there continue to be serious infringements of trade union rights including intimidation and arrest of trade union activists, denial of or restrictions on the rights to organise, to strike and to be recognised for collective bargaining. The links below provide background information on these three countries and the main challenges faced by trade unions there.
One proposal is that, where possible, affiliates focus part of their trade union solidarity work on these three countries. This could be done through direct links and twinning of trade unions or through coordination through the constituencies, where a constituency could agree to focus on a particular country and coordinate their solidarity work.
It is possible that some affiliates already have well-established links with specific affiliates in other countries and it is not the intention that this should be stopped in favour of these target countries. Nor is it the intention that this solidarity work will be controlled by EPSU. The aim is better coordination and better and more widespread action when we need to respond to a specific event or issue. So if affiliates have already undertaken support work and/or have links with organisations in the three target countries then we hope that this will continue and the contribution of other EPSU affiliates can complement it. It would also be helpful if information on these actions were sent to EPSU so that we could report on them to all affiliates.
ILO Conventions and the Council of Europe social charter
The experience of public sector unions in at least 14 EU Member States is to have pay cuts or pay freezes imposed on them by governments. This obviously raises serious questions about the commitment of those governments to maintaining social dialogue and collective bargaining and about the possibility that they are infringing ILO Conventions on collective bargaining (98 and/or 151) or Article 6 of the Council of Europe’s social charter. Ratification of Convention 151 on collective bargaining in the public services is much less common than the main collective bargaining convention 98. Further work may be useful to see whether promoting ratification of 151 in particular countries might be worthwhile and a recent report published by UNISON would be a starting point.
It is possible for national trade unions to pursue cases through the Council of Europe and EPSU can look at the practicalities of doing this in consultation with the ETUC and PSI. Similarly there is the option of registering complaints with the ILO and this is something that trade union organisations in Greece and Romania have done. Again there is the potential for EPSU to support these cases where relevant and in collaboration with PSI.
Fundamental Rights Agency
The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) is an advisory and research organisation that aims to promote the rights established in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Chapter Four of the Charter covers solidarity and includes the right to collective bargaining. Since its creation in 2007 the FRA’s work programme has yet to focus on trade union rights. However, both EPSU and the ETUC recently took part in a consultation arguing that trade union rights should be a part of the new work plan and we will work with the ETUC to try to ensure that this is taken up by the Agency (ETUI report recommendation, page 15).
Labour code reforms
The ETUC has been supporting Hungarian trade unions with their campaign against the government’s planned labour code reforms. It has also set up an internal taskforce with the ETUI to look at the content of the reforms, not just in Hungary but also in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. In all these countries governments have implemented or are planning to implement measures that will reduce trade union and employment rights. The ETUC/ETUI taskforce will no doubt investigate the possibility of challenging the developments through the Council of Europe and/or ILO.
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