Solidarity, Early Childhood Education and Care
Supporting campaigns, strikes and protests
Solidarity is a core area of our joint European trade union work There are common elements to many of the actions of public service unions as we fight for better pay and working conditions or when we defend trade union rights or protest against privatisation and attacks on public services. Any expression of solidarity is welcomed by unions and it can be a real boost to their campaign when EPSU, its affiliates and other trade union organisations, not only send messages of support but also messages of protest to companies, employers and governments. This briefing gives examples of our solidarity work in recent years.
EPSU Social Services Working Group meets in Brussels to discuss key issues in the care sector
EPSU Social Services Working Group discussed effective collective bargaining coverage of social care workers in Central and Eastern Europe, the European Commission’s Skills and Talent Package and other topics.
New strike action over pensions in early years education
Following successful strike action in private childcare providers last autumn represented by the PBL employers’ organisation, the Fagforbundet trade union is again calling its members out on strike this time in the companies that are part of the NHO employers’ organisation. The aim is to ensure that workers in NHO companies are entitled to pensions on the same basis as municipal workers and those in the PBL agreement. This means a pension guaranteed for life and on a gender-equal basis and with some protection against the fluctuations of the stock market. Strikes began in a first group of
Action across public services
A one-day strike by ver.di members at airports around the country took place on 17 February partly in support of the negotiations in federal and municipal government and partly in support of separate negotiations in ground handling services and aviation security. On 13 February, ver.di members around the country submitted early years education plans to local archives and museums as a gesture to highlight that they are currently impossible to implement. The union estimates that childcare services currently lack of 170,000 trained staff. Ver.di has also negotiated an agreement on staffing at the