Joint action: energy unions mobilise for Energy Council, 1 December, Brussels

(4 November 2005) "We will need coordinated and joint action to draw attention to our demands and underline that Europe's internal market for electricity and gas is not the success story claimed for it", argued EPSU Deputy General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan at the EPSU Energy Conference.

He announced the public action EPSU unions will organise to focus on the draw backs of liberalisation of electricity and gas: for workers and for citizens. The action will coincide with the Council of Ministers for Energy, 1 December in Brussels. EPSU affiliated unions will be called upon to send delegations to Brussels where more then 1000 trade unionists will be expected.

The call for action came at the end of the two day EPSU energy conference 3-4 November. Over 150 trade unionists from 29 countries and 51 unions discussed the internal market for electricity and gas, how it had effected the industry, workers, large industrial users and citizens.

This was the largest European electricity and gas trade union energy conference ever met with high level representatives of Eurelectric, Eurogas, ETSO (European Transmission System Operators), IFIEC (Large industrial users), municipal energy distributors (Cedec, VKU), UCTE (the transmission system operators - operational/technical), academics and researchers, consumers, regulators and politicians.