Culture, Economic Policy
Macro-economic dialogue discusses economy, growth, recovery and resilience fund
The European economy will shrink. Unemployment is increasing. More public investment is needed to recover and strengthen Europe’s public services and infrastructures, the industries and services to create quality jobs.
Union warns of possible strikes over culture sector pensions
Public services union Fagforbundet has warned that a dispute over pensions could end in strike action unless the Spekter employer organisation delivers a solution in upcoming mediation. The dispute covers workers in the culture sector, including orchestras, theatres and opera. A temporary pension arrangement involving defined contributions was agreed in 2016 in response to the final challenges facing the sector. The union now wants to negotiate a long-term solution that delivers a hybrid and gender-neutral pension scheme but Spekter has not come up with a proposal and has effectively abandoned
Culture workers to take action
The FSC-CCOO public services federation is organising a series of two-hour strikes in state museums and theatres in October and November. The union is protesting against the fact that workers in the sector are not properly covered by the collective agreement for the state sector. In particular, the union wants to ensure professional status for these workers and reduce the extent of temporary contracts. The strikes will begin on 25 October and will take place on 10 different dates up to 24 November with specific dates for different institutions.
Public Service Day – 23 June – Celebration, Action, Resistance
23 June is a day of celebration. Every year the work of public service workers for the community is celebrated on this day. With the ongoing pandemic, we thank public service workers for keeping our societies going during a very difficult period.
EPSU and FERPA demand support for longterm care in the Recovery Plan for Europe
Together with the European Federation for Retired People and the Elderly (FERPA), EPSU expressed disappointment that the European Commission’s Recovery Plan for Europe does not address the havoc the pandemic has caused for the elderly and elderly care workers.