Newsletters

The outbreak of the Corona virus pandemic is hitting workers and our communities hard. For now EPSU has cancelled its meetings until mid-April. This is necessary for many reasons, not least the protection of the health of staff and participants.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is dominating the news. Behind the headlines are the patients and their families, the thousands in quarantine, and the many more in villages and towns who see their lives uprooted.

A combination of public opinion, trade unions, water activists and others has blocked the privatisation of a water company in Jyväskylä in Finland.

29 January was an emotional one in the European Parliament with the vote to approve the UK withdrawal agreement. Despite of what the likes of Boris Johnson and others say, the story is not over and will never be over.

The Commission launched a series of new policy consultations this week.  These cover fair minimum wages, the Just transition mechanism and funding for the Green Deal, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the road map on closing the gender pay gap thro

The year ends with the news that Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have won a large majority in the UK parliament. Leaving the EU was his central pledge and this will now happen by 31 January next year.

And then it was there – the Green New Deal as proposed by the European Commission.

On 27 November, the new European Commission was approved with a comfortable majority and now that President Ursula von der Leyen is up and running we can expect an avalanche of proposals in the next six months.

Ten thousands of health and care workers are taking part in actions and strikes across Europe. And the demands, despite the diversity of countries, are similar. More public funding is needed to provide quality services delivered by workers on decent pay.

On 24 October, the General Court in Luxembourg ruled against EPSU in its case against the European Commission (T-310/18).

In recent weeks public services workers have mobilised to demand respect for their work and their rights. We have seen several actions and protests of firefighters in France, Lithuania and Spain.

While the news media are full of reports on the hearings of potential European Commissioners, workers across Europe are engaged in actions to demand change, higher pay, better conditions and more staff.

Friday starts a week of actions, strikes and other mobilizations to demand from our governments ambitious targets and concrete measures to address climate change.

Yes, that is what has happened. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wants to prevent the UK Parliament from having the fullest possible discussion on the no-deal Brexit he pursues.