Recruitment & organising
Strong public service unions are vital if we are to stand up for our values and our vision in our workplaces, sectors and communities. They are crucial in dealing with national, European and global institutions and in representing public service workers in national trade union centres and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). EPSU affiliates are more effective in negotiating and campaigning where they can count on an active membership, high union density or broad support from workers.
EPSU has been taking a range of initiatives to support affiliates, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, to build union power by developing recruitment and organising strategies and campaigns. This briefing, prepared for the 2019 Congress, covers recent work and current priorities. Our Organising and Campaigns staff, Agnieszka Ghinararu, Miloš Vlaisavljević and Artem Tidva, are working with affiliates to help them with advice, support and training and keeping them informed about new ideas on recruitment and organising methods.
Building union power – first Congress briefing
EPSU Congress Circular N°4 (2018) With less than nine months to go before next year’s Congress, EPSU is publishing the first in a series of briefings that will focus on our priorities and set the scene for some of the key Congress debates.
Disseminating results from joint work on health and safety and continuing professional development
On 3 December 2018 HOSPEEM and EPSU organised the social partners’ dissemination workshop focusing on the outcomes of two projects on health and safety and continuing professional developement.
Young workers building EPSU
Members of EPSU's young workers' network were active at the federation's Quality Employment conference last week, chairing debates and putting together a panel to discuss the key issues they are trying to address. Zahra Yusifli from Azerbaijan and Sven De Guise from Belgium chaired the discussions on digitalisation and low pay, while Zahra was also involved in the young workers' panel with Joe O'Connor from Ireland and Judit Zsigo from Hungary. They underlined the need for trade unions to look at how they communicated with young workers and what they were doing not just recruit them but also
Benchmarking study covers collective bargaining and wage developments
The annual Benchmarking Working Europe study from the European Trade Union Institute includes a section providing the latest data on wage developments, collective bargaining, minimum wage and union density. The study notes that more positive statements about wages are coming from the European institutions with issues of fairness also raised in the European PIllar of Social Rights. However, these were not yet reflected in the Country Specific Recommendations issued last year where the focus was still on decentralisation of collective bargaining and moderation in minimum wage increases. The