The EU-Member States governments carved up the top jobs in the European Union. A narrow majority in the European Parliament agreed with their pick for EU Commission President, the German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen. She becomes the first woman to lead the Commission. Without the votes of
The European Council met on Thursday 20 June bringing together the government leaders. Most attention was focused on the game of musical chairs to decide who got the top jobs. However, they also discussed the strategic agenda 2019-2024. This sets out that the EU should be “building a climate-neutral
Thousands of health and care workers marched through Brussels on 7 May to demand more resources and more staff for the sector. They want more public money to improve services and not to end up in the coffers of shareholders. The Belgian affiliates in this sector mobilized over the kinds of demands
Inspiring actionsPublic service workers have been very active over the last two weeks:- Swiss union VPOD and its allies won a referendum to oppose water privatisation in Zurich. This just shows that if you ask the people then they will tell you that they don’t want their public services run by for
We have recently been working closely with ETUC to influence the negotiations over the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive. The European Council and European Parliament discussing a compromise over the Commission’s proposal. Business interests are lobbying national governments
A healthy and happy New Year to all of you. We hope that the year brings many successes in organising new workers and in improving the pay and conditions of our members and Europe’s workers. This year will be special with several key events. There is the EPSU Congress in June – please make sure you
Protests against the Hungarian Government’s decision to make workers do more overtime continued in Budapest last week. People were angry with the adoption of rules that allow employers to demand workers to do more overtime (up to 10 extra weeks of work!) without adequate compensation. Orban’s party
Trade unions are taking part in the COP24 conference in Katowice that runs from 3-14 December. COP24 is the informal name for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We will discuss with governments and many others the transition and
It was good news that the Turkish trade unionists, including leaders of EPSU and PSI affiliates SES and TÜM BEL-SEN, who were arrested on Monday were released two days later on Wednesday 28 November. They faced up to the aggression of the Turkish state who raided houses in an attempt to intimidate
It is now one year since the EU Pillar of Social Rights was declared in Gothenburg. We take stock in this newsletter. Progress to realise the Pillar has been slow. The European People’s Party (EPP), the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament, is trying to delay adoption of the few
Readers will recall that back in March we pointed out anomalies in the nomination of Martin Selmayr as Secretary-General of the European Commission. We made the connection with his more than likely involvement in the non-transparent manner in which the Commission acted on our social partner
EU Member States and the European Parliament are currently working on their positions regarding the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive proposed by the European Commission in December last year. The proposals should improve the employment situation for workers with a precarious
On 8 May, the EPSU Executive Committee agreed to launch a legal challenge to the European Commission’s decision to reject the social partner agreement on information and consultation rights for workers in central government administrations (A press conference will be held on 15 May). This agreement
Previous EPSU newsletters have shown that public service workers are taking the lead for better pay. Actions are continuing with many unions currently involved in pay disputes in:Romania: health and social service workers are demanding a pay rise and the right to negotiate collective agreements