ETUC set to launch pay rise campaign

(February 2017) The European Trade Union Confederation launched its "Europe needs a pay rise" campaign at a conference in Brussels on 14-15 February. A wide range of speakers underlined the need for workers' pay to catch up with productivity developments, arguing in particular that a sustainable economic recovery across Europe depended on a boost to workers' pay. The other key elements of the campaign highlighted at the conference was the need to close the pay gap between workers in Eastern and Western Europe and the continuing action required to tackle gender pay inequality.

The ETUC has published a newsletter providing an overview of its Pay Rise campaign so far - covering specific initiatives on women and young workers as well as the focus on public sector workers on Public Services Day - 23rd June. The next main event in the campaign will be a conference in Bratislava on 22 September which will focus on corporate greed and the pay gap between workers in Eastern and Western Europe.

Following a decision at its Congress in Sevilla last year, the ETUC is launching campaign on fair pay with a major demonstration in Ljubljana in Slovenia on 5 April to coincide with a meeting of European finance ministers. In recent months the ETUC has responded to continuing comments, particularly from the European Central Bank (ECB), that wage moderation needs to continue and that current pay claims, particularly in the public sector, risk fuelling inflation. The ETUC campaign will highlight the declining share of wages in economic output and the fact that company profits and executive pay