(Brussels, 16 September, 2009) EPSU has called on the European Commission to condemn the South Korean Government for its continued harassment of public service workers. EPSU General Secretary Carola Fischbach-Pyttel
Attacks on trade unions and the worsening labour rights situation in the Republic of Korea were one of the main items on the agenda of the Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that met on 5 October.
In a new turn of events, the EU’s Domestic Advisory Groups (DAG) composed of social partners and civil society representatives has recommended that the European Commission initiates a formal consultation process provided for in the EU Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The US government has set out 70 recommendations to encourage collective bargaining and union membership making it easier for many federal employees to join unions and eliminating barriers for union organizers to talk with workers. A report by the administration’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, says, “it is our administration’s belief that unions benefit all of us.” The report notes that union households earn up to 20% more than non-union households, with an even greater union advantage for workers with less formal education and workers of colour. The report calls for
The Economic Policy Institute in the US has just published research that reveals the impact of declining union density and collective bargaining on wages. It finds, for example, that falling union membership translates to a loss of $1.56 (€1.47) per hour worked for the average worker, the equivalent of $3,250 (€3,070) for a full-time, full-year worker. Meanwhile, the erosion of collective bargaining lowered the median hourly wage also by $1.56 (€1.47), a 7.9% decline (0.2% annually), from 1979 to 2017. An analysis of wage distribution found that declining unionisation had widened inequality
