CESI in Belgrade: Strengthening gender equality in Serbia and the healthcare sector

Steered by the President and Vice-President of the Trade Council, Manfred Wiedner (Eurofedop) and Horst Sayffaerth (dbb), the members of the Trade Council were debriefed on CESI’s first activities in the European sectoral social dialogue committee on postal services, which was formally initiated during a plenary committee meeting on December 7. After constructive negotiations, this summer CESI became an officially recognised sectoral social partner in the field of social services next to UNI Europa, previously the only representative on the employees’ side. CESI Trade Council members stressed the importance of being a reliable, constructive and proactive social partner, working in close coordination and cooperation with UNI Europa for a better representation and improved working conditions of postal sector employees in Europe.

Dimitris Theodorakis from UNI Europa presented available insights about the ongoing negotiations on a new EU regulation on cross-border parcel deliveries. He reported about a lacking social dimension in the European Commission’s legislative proposal and the Trade Council members stressed need to have a strong worker-friendly perspective for parcel delivery staff included in the legislative text. Currently, trilogues behind closed doors take place between negotiating teams of the European Parliament and the Council (with the participation of the European Commission) – A political agreement on a final text is expected soon.

At the meeting, the Trade Council also approved a resolution for input to CESI’s policy advocacy on the need for a better reconciliation of work and family life. The resolution calls for action at EU level to ensure, through the adoption, implementation and the proper application of already enshrined fundamental social rights in policies, that the opportunities provided by digitalisation will promote a better work-life balance, and for a better protection of workers’ health and safety by promoting EU-legislation which ensures sustainable and decent working hours, the necessary differentiation between working time and free time, the right to a life after and outside of work and the right to be unavailable. The text is available here.

The next meeting of the Trade Council will take place in Spring 2018 (tbc).

In the European Commission’s new EMU package:

• the European Monetary Fund (EMF) should help safeguard the stability of the euro area by assisting Member States to regain or maintain access to sovereign bond markets. The EMF would build on the existing ESM architecture.
• the integration of the SGP into the EU’s legal framework would, according to the European Commission, “support sound fiscal frameworks at national level.”
• the new budgetary instruments for a stable euro area within the EU framework could support Member States to make structural reforms, provide a dedicated convergence facility for Member States on their way to joining the euro, be a “backstop for the Banking Union”, and act as a stabilisation function in order to protect investments in the event of large asymmetric shocks. This includes the idea of a new European Investment Protection System which Member States could benefit from, with conditions.

The European Minister of Economy and Finance could serve as Vice-President of the European Commission and chair the Eurogroup, thereby bringing together existing responsibilities and available expertise to strengthen the “coherence, efficiency, transparency and democratic accountability of economic policy-making for the EU and the euro area, in full respect of national competences.”

“CESI has been lobbying intensively for securing social investment, whether public or private, and functioning and efficient administrations, both tools for societal cohesion and social and economic resilience in times of crisis. The proposals submitted today are therefore generally to be welcomed as a step in the right direction. This is especially true for a possible new European Investment Protection System, which could provide an important stabilising financing tool for Member States, if the eligibility criteria from the tool are not overly restrictive”, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger stated.

He, however, warned against the unquestioned and undifferentiated continuation of austerity policies. “Particularly in view of the sluggish recovery in some Member States and against the background of the just proclaimed European Pillar of Social Rights, policies which aim at solely achieving budgetary surpluses simply remain questionable. In this sense, the proposal to integrate an unchanged SGP into the EU legal framework is counterproductive. Numerous legal provisions at both European and national levels celebrate budgetary surpluses as the holy grail of any policy orientation. To insert the SGP into the EU’s legal framework would mean nothing else then carving into stone a dogma which should actually be subject to more investment oriented reflections.”

The full EMU package with supporting documents is available on the European Commission’s website.

This was also the first time a CESI Youth Board was set and elected, 7 national representatives are now member of the board. Aurelia Huberty from Luxembourg (CGFP), Murat Uluocak from Turkey (Bem-Bir-Sen), Angéla Lénart from Hungary (MKKSz), Katarzyna Pawlaczyk from Poland (WZZ), Max Pellikaan (ALE), Grégory Corps from France (CSEN) and Sabrina Pellerito (Confedir) from Italy. Beside the new members of the CESI Youth Board, 38 delegates coming from 18 different CESI member organisations all based in 13 different countries took part in the Congress.

The Congress adopted CESI Youth Statutes and its first motions, which touch upon radicalisation, youth unemployment, common EU values, apprenticeships, exchange programs such as Erasmus+ and digitalisation.

The afternoon of the Congress was organised around a panel discussion on radicalisation of young people and the correlation with democracy. This panel was composed of Roberta Bonazzi, President of the European Foundation for Democracy, Christian Moos, head of the External and International Affairs section in the dbb, Alexandra Stein, writer and educator on social psychology of ideological extremism and Zuzanna Vaneckova, member of the European Youth Forum.

This CESI Youth Congress was crucial in the further development of the CESI Youth. It laid the foundation for a successful future of CESI’s youth platform, with stronger and more involved members, ready to make a change at EU level. The first meeting of the Board was set for the first semester of 2018, where a work plan will be established for the four years to come.

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As in previous years, the AGS makes no mention of the Europe 2020 Strategy, once created as the EU’s overarching flagship initiative for sustainable and inclusive jobs and growth. However, it is possible that the new European Pillar of Social Rights, proclaimed at the Gothenburg Social Summit two weeks ago, can in the future serve as a social counterweight in a European Semester which has in the past years been too much dominated by pure economic considerations.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “This year’s Annual Growth Survey explicitly refers to the European Pillar of Social Rights as a compass to identify the economic and social priorities for the EU and its Member States, and it makes explicit reference to many of the objectives put forward in it. However, using the European Semester to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights in the Member States means that the promising messages of the AGS also need to be reflected in the final country-specific recommendations next year.”

According to CESI, implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights will not be for free. CESI has consistently raised the importance of more investments in essential services such as accessible and affordable childcare, healthcare, education and training, and active labour market policies and stressed that in the social remit this is crucial especially for disadvantaged groups and in the economic sphere it is a precondition for continued growth. Klaus Heeger added: “Unequal societies and economies are not sustainable in the long run. I am glad to see that these considerations are given a much more prominent place than in previous Annual Growth Surveys.”

There is still a way to go to firmly root social progress in the EU’s economic governance and fiscal coordination framework, but content-wise there has already been a clear shift in language in the 2018 edition of the AGS. At the same time, the governance of the European Semester has yet to become more inclusive. Klaus Heeger concluded: “According to CESI, all workers count. Opportunities for input especially for sectoral social partners and independent and smaller trade unions should be provided throughout the European Semester cycle.”

Due to a problem related to her vocal chords, Shakira has had to cancel her concert planned at the Rockhal in Luxembourg on 4 December 2017, which was scheduled as part of her El Dorado World Tour. However, according to the Paradise Papers, the Columbian singer Shakira is actually a permanent presence in Luxembourg, by means of the ACE Entertainment SARL Company, which was founded on 18 April 2008 by her sole partner, Tournesol Limited, established under Maltese law. In turn, the latter company’s sole partner is Shakira.

On 19 June 2009, the 125 shares representing ACE Entertainment’s initial capital totalling 12,500 Euros were converted into 12,500 shares worth 1 Euro each. On the same day, the sole partner decided to increase this company’s capital stock of the shares’ nominal value of 1 Euro up to 12,501 Euros by creating a new share of a nominal value of 1 Euro. Following this action, Shakira’s sole partner, Tournesol Limited, decided to subscribe to and release the newly-issued share by contributing “assets and music rights” in kind totalling 44,184,304 USD, i.e. 31,637,050 Euros. This amount was assigned for 1 Euro to the share capital and for 31,637,049 Euros to an issuance premium account to the balance of ACE Entertainment. This is the capital contribution that was reported within the framework of the Paradise Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The creation of ACE Entertainment in Luxembourg took place after the entry into force on 1 January 2008 of the law exempting 80% of tax revenue from copyright income. Revenue from music rights in 2009 were therefore fully eligible for this advantageous tax rate under the so-called “Patent Box Law”. Of course, it is difficult to believe that Shakira did not benefit from this tax niche, as alleged by an “expert” involved in the press file (‘Wort’ of 9.11.2017).

Another article (published on 10.11.2017 in the ‘Land’) reveals the existence of a multitude of companies related to Tournesol Limited in Malta, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. As far as ACE Investment Fund Sicav FIS (an investment fund) and Carpe Diem Corp. SARL in Luxembourg are concerned, the issues involve for instance inter-company convertible loans, credit lines, account rectifications, delays in the publication of balances, and the refusal to compile the auditors’ report.

Whatever the case, it is clear for the auditors of ACE Investment Fund that from this inextricable network of companies, the singer was in full agreement to do all in her power to minimise her taxes on revenue from hits such as ‘La La La’, ‘Waka Waka’ and ‘Loca Loca’.

Move along, there’s nothing out there, everything is legal!?

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He said: “In 2018, a 5% increase increase of the Erasmus+ budget will enable more participants to fully enjoy the opportunities offered by this programme. CESI has also directly benefited from the programme during the last year when a seminar on youth participation in civic processes and trade unions was held at CESI in Brussels. The Erasmus+ programme is a flagship of the EU and I warmly welcome that this is also reflected in more financial resources.”

In 2018, Erasmus+ will also include a new activity labelled ‘ErasmusPro’ to support long-duration mobility of VET learners; an ‘Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Initiative’ to facilitate virtual exchanges between people from EU and non-EU countries; and additional support for traineeships in digital skills and many others initiatives.

More information is available on the European Commission’s website.

Against the background of a rejection by the hosts of CESI’s request for a place at the high-level Gothenburg Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth, the messages also call for a consistent involvement of all trade unions major EU political discussions and argue that there should be no second-class trade unions in Europe. In a consistent way, all workers should be given the opportunity to participate in major political discussions that concern workers of all sectors.

The full messages are available here.

While the discussions among the participants revealed clear differences as of how these issues are addressed in certain Member States, it was unanimously agreed that solid long-term European health policies need to be developed together with practitioners via social dialogue, while addressing ethical concerns and putting forward solutions that address the creation of public good.

In her opening statement, the re-elected President of the trade council, Ms Esther Reyes Diez, emphasised the need to particularly address the consequences of Brexit, the Working Time Directive, privatisation and digitalisation as extremely important issues that affect the quality of healthcare, the quality of work and the rights of healthcare workers throughout Europe. The newly elected Vice-Presidents added: ‘Our challenge is to save people’s lives or to improve the quality of their lives. In order to do that we should take care of the people that take care of us, in this case nurses and doctors.’

Sasa Jenko, Public Health representative from the European Commission (DG Research & Innovation), presented the state of public health research in the European Union and what are the main challenges considering demographic change, the environmental challenge, and healthcare spending. The following discussions centred on the possibilities and pitfalls of digitalisation in the health sector, particularly as regards patient-doctor relationship and whether technological progress will occur at the expense of health care workers. The impacts of digitalisation in the healthcare sector were presented in the context of the European consultation on access to electronic patient records. Mr Donnorso Raffaelle, Vice President of the trade council and a doctor himself, acknowledged the added-value of using technology and robots in the health care “as long as there is an ethical oversight put in place”. Thomas Bignal from the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) addressed the issue of privatisation: “Privatisation is not bad per se. However, it matters how it is done and for which reasons. The creation of public good should remain the priority.” He expressed worries that the Commission is favouring privatisation as it pushes payment-by-results programmes and social impact bonds which may be more advantageous to for-profit companies. However, the newly created Federation of European Social Employers aims to protect and promote quality and affordable services, as well as promoting social dialogue for social service employers and employees.

Last but not least, the meeting concluded with the presentation of Mr. Addarii from the PlusValue consultancy on the use of European Investment Funds for building a new public hospital in Treviso, Italy. The project brought together local community actors in addition to public and private sector actors. The project was deemed a success and shows that with a multi-stakeholder approach to private investment in the health sector it is possible to generate profit in an ethical way while at the same time ensuring a positive social impact.

CESI members active in the health sector also discussed intensively about the impact of technology and digitalisation in their professional life and in the life of their patients. As such, they raised a number of concerns about the need for training in new technologies, data protection, privacy and ethical issues. The trade council adopted a position paper on the topic and expressed their recommendations for policy makers.

In the margins of the event, bilateral discussions took also place with the members of the ‘Sindikata doktora medicine Crne Gore’ trade union of doctors from Montenegro about their concerns on the national application of right to strike and of representation through social dialogue.

Re-elected Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sohst (DBwV) chaired the ‘tour de table’ on the latest developments in working conditions for military personnel across Europe.

As the exchange revealed, the main topics of relevance for CESI’s members representing staff in the defence sector discussion remain ongoing privatisations, the need for life-long formation for military and civilian staff, the understaffing of military and civilian personnel, the lack of sufficient training and problems working hours, among others.

From an Irish perspective, the issues of re-qualifying military staff into new professions at the end of the military career (training), underpayment and the impact of Brexit on borders and security turned out to be the most relevant. On the other side, Austrian members expressed their concerns regarding the deployment of military and police to secure internal borders.

A representative of the European Parliament, Dr. Elena Lazarou, gave a brief overview of European Global Strategy and the Defence Package (implementation Plan on Security and Defence, European Defence Action Plan and the implementation of EU/NATO Joint Declaration).

The meeting continued with an official visit to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) where the CESI members meet with the EESC Rapporteur on the European Defence Action Plan and member of the dbb, Christian Moos, and an adviser of MEP Michael Gahler, Gerrit Schlomach, currently working on a European Parliament report on the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The participants in the delegation emphasised the importance of focusing on the human capital with the framing of a European Defence and Security Union. In this context, Thomas Sohst called for the use of parliamentary oversight of the European armed forces.

Altogether the Trade Council underlined the rights of soldiers as “citizens in uniform” and underlined the fact that the civilian and military personnel of the Armed Forces should not be deprived of any of the fundamental rights of freedom, liberty and equality as enshrined in the EU Charter. As a result of the meeting, the Trade Council adopted a position paper on European defence – a position that will be submitted to the Presidium of CESI for final approval.

The CESI Defence Trade Council gathers organisations from the defence sector, military and civilians, in Europe to discuss the working and living conditions of soldiers and civilians in Europe and in third countries. Global challenges and modern warfare demand concerted action through a European Defence Strategy. The working and living conditions of European soldiers has undergone significant changes. The move towards an army of professionals means special attention needs to be paid to the social problems facing defence staff in all EU countries. Working conditions of the sector have to be improved targeting especially psychological restraints imposed, such as post-traumatic-stress-syndrome. The portfolio can be checked here.

The Communication, published earlier this year in June, proposes to “tackle the limits to growth in European skies” by:

• an obligation by air traffic management trade unions to provide early notification of strikes, i.e. providing notices of at least several weeks in advance of a strike in order “to enable aviation stakeholders to prepare mitigation plans ahead of industrial action”;

• an requirement for air traffic management staff members to provide individual notification of their participation to industrial action, i.e. a requirement for an individual notification of staff members of at least several days “to allow the management to organise the air traffic and manage the staff upfront of the strike”;

• provisions that overflights of Member States affected by strikes are preserved, i.e. a security of 100% continuity of service for flights crossing the airspace of strike-affected Member States to “reduce considerably the impact on the entire European Air Traffic Management network”; and

• a “protection” of air traffic peak periods, i.e. ruling out strikes during “peak periods of the day and peak periods of the year”.

Concerns over the right to strike

At the meeting with the Commissioner Bulc, CESI and ATCEUC brought forward their concerns that these provisions will indirectly water down the effective right to strike of air traffic controllers and thereby touch an area of core national competence. According to CESI and ATCEUC, the Communication will have counterproductive effects as well. For instance:

• More requirements for continuity during industrial action (so-called minimum service levels, MSL) mean that strikes will increase rather than increase: The rationale of strikes is to have an effect, but to be effective, more and longer strikes are necessary. Countries with low MSL (such as the Netherlands) have almost never seen strikes, whereas countries with high MSL (such as France) frequently witness strikes; and

• The requirement to ensure a continuity of service for flights crossing the airspace of strike-affected Member States will de facto take away the right to strike for all those working in area control centres (ACCs) which often supervise almost only those types of flights.

Questions about the proportionality and priorities of the Communication

ATCEUC and CESI also highlighted that the Communication is not proportional and does not target the real problems of most delays. For example:

• Only 1% of flight delays are caused by strikes. More than 50% are caused by airlines themselves. 23% are caused by air traffic management capacity shortages. More investment in human resources, staff and working conditions can make airspace traffic more efficient. There is a need for a shift from flexibility and fatigue of air traffic controllers towards adequate working conditions and safety.

• According to national legislation, strikes must in any case already be proportional and not cause excessive economic damage. In this context the Communication is superfluous.

The World Skills Conference took place in the context of the 44th World Skills Competition, bringing together leading figures from industry, governments, international organizations, trade unions and academia to discuss about the globalisation of skills and careers.

Mr Fandrejewski participated in a panel discussion on the identification of changing skills demands and gave insights about the point of view of young learners across Europe. The new European Apprentice Network, where he is a member, was discussed as well as the importance of skills recognition, language competences and intercultural skills in rapidly evolving and digitalising labour markets. The CESI Youth Representative encouraged policy makers to engage in fruitful discussions with youth organisations, in Europe and beyond.

More information about the World Skills Conference is available here.

The consultation had two main objectives: First to analyse how to improve the protection of employees in all kinds of employment relationships against possible infringements of their rights under the directive, which may be extended in a revision of the directive, and second to establish how to reach a greater transparency on the labour market by ensuring an easy identification of the working conditions applicable to any specific categories of employees.

In its response to the second phase of the consultation, CESI calls:

• to broaden the application of the Directive, which currently provides too many loopholes to exempt groups of economically active people from the scope of it. This refers especially to those with ‘independent’ status in bogus self-employment, trainees, and those active in so far largely unregulated new forms of employment. This broadening should go hand in hand with the development of a shared definition of the term ’employment relationship’ based on the CJEU case C-66/85 which referred to it as “a certain period of time [during which] a person performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for which he receives remuneration”;

• to take this new definition as a basis to provide everyone with essential labour and social protection which is addressed in other EU legislation;

• to forbid exclusivity clauses in all employment other than full-time work contracts; and

• to introduce a general right for workers to have non-permanent work contracts converted to full-time work contracts after prolonged periods of non-standard employment or successive fixed-term contracts.

CESI’s full position is available here.

In its recently published 2017 Gender Equality Index, the European Institute for Gender Equality in Vienna confirms that progress towards gender equality happens -at all levels and including in the field of pay- at snail pace. Since the first EU Equal Pay Day in 2012, the pay gap between men and women in the EU has been staggering between 17.5 and 16.2%. “On average, women continue to work almost 60 days for free year after year. Real progress is missing and this is just insufficient”, said Kirsten Lühmann.

In a joint statement on today’s Equal Pay Day, European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans and the Commissioners for Employment and for Justice, Marianne Thyssen and Věra Jourova, underlined that the European Commission wants to lead the way to fight against pay discrimination and announced an EU action plan to tackle the gender pay gaps in Europe. This action plan should certainly include new measures because current instruments are obviously not enough.

Ms Lühmann added: “It is also high time that the national governments finally take gender equality seriously. The EU alone cannot solve the problem. Under the new European Pillar of Social Rights, women and men have the right to equal pay for work of equal value. All national governments are bound to realise this in their countries when the Estonian Council Presidency will sign on their behalf and with their stated support an according Proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Right at the Gothenburg Social Summit on November 17.”

The CESI@noon touched upon the following questions:

• What are the opportunities and threats regarding the European Defence Union, the European Defence Fund and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme?

• What are the challenges for the establishment of the military planning and conduct capability (MPCC) within the EU military staff (EUMS)?

• What role should military and civilian staff should play in establishing the European Security and Defence Union and what are the lessons learnt so far from past cooperation and joint missions?

Particular attention was given to the role of the military staff, to its rights and duties.

Captain Andreas Steinmetz from CESI’s member organisation DBwV demanded harmonised high standards of military staff at EU levels. “Military personnel is key for the European Defence Union. Why not open discussions on social rights of military staff?” asked Emmanuel Jacob, President of Euromil.

Brigadier Heinz Krieb from the European External Action Service (EEAS) Military Staff noted: “European Defence Union should focus on prevention & foreseeability. Prevention is better than conflict resolution!”

MEP Michael Gahler (EPP) emphasised that “the solution is cooperation. We cannot be efficient alone in the field of defence.” He suggested a more solidary European Defence Union, based on a common project and shared responsibilities.

CESI President Romain Wolff concluded: “It is important to keep track of what’s happening on the ground. EU military staff should enjoy the same rights & standards as civilians in uniform. Protect those who protect us!”

Background of the conference

During the course of 2015 – 2017, Europe has witnessed a rapid change of its security policies due to new external factors, new threats and a steady increase of its security needs. Trend changing measures are now being envisaged. In summer, the Commission has issued a reflection paper on the future of European defence as part of the white paper process. Common military assets and the will of the EU “to engage at an unprecedented level in defence to support Member States” are being discussed. In order to create a defence union, all EU instruments, including EU funding, as well as the full potential of the Treaties shall be exploited.

This CESI@noon gathered over 130 participants, practitioners from national armies, European stakeholders and representatives of the national delegations.

Coverage of the event on Twitter

Coverage of the event in foreign press

• https://www.dbwv.de/aktuelle-themen/politik-verband/beitrag/news/cesi-berufsrat-verteidigung-tagt-in-bruessel/
• https://www.dbwv.de/aktuelle-themen/politik-verband/beitrag/news/europaeische-verteidigungspolitik-die-menschen-in-den-streitkraeften-nicht-vergessen/

„Even if not all the demands raised by trade unions have been fulfilled, we are, by the end of the day, slowly moving towards the realisation of the notion of a ‘same pay for the same work at the same place’ and the reduction of inequalities within the Single Market. We got a little closer to our general aim to set social rights on equal footing with the markets freedoms.”

As the European Parliament agreed previously on a more ambitious negotiations position, it will now be up to the MEPs to hold their position firmly within the upcoming informal trilogues.”

The proposal of the European Commission is generally welcome as a concrete step forward towards more gender equality in the Member States but the provisions it puts forward are considered a bottom line of improvements which should not be watered down during upcoming legislative negotiations.

In particular, the additions to leave rights stipulated in the proposed Directive -10 working days of paternity leave when a child is born, 4 months of non-transferable parental leave per parent with flexible take-up possibilities until the child reaches the age of 12, 5 days of carers’ leave per year per worker, and time off from work on grounds of force majeure- are preconditions to promote much-needed improvements in work-life balance for parents and carers.

Moreover, the proposed individual, non-transferable right to a paid parental leave of (no less than) four months is instrumental, as the proposed Directive should promote an equal sharing of domestic and caring responsibilities between men and women in order to counter long-standing stereotypes about traditional gender roles for women in caring and domestic responsibilities and narrow gender pension gaps.

The European Parliament and the Council should consider the following adjustments to the proposal:

• The scope of the Directive (recital 12) should be extended on the basis of a new, overarching and horizontal definition of the term ‘worker’, as considered by the European Commission in its first phase social partner consultation paper C(2017)2611 final on a possible revision of the Written statement directive 91/533/EEC,* in order to ensure that improved work-life balance also reaches those currently earning their living in (largely unregulated) forms of bogus self-employment and emerging (often equally unregulated) so-called new forms of employment;

• The provisions in the proposed directive on flexible working arrangements (Article 9) on a right to return to full time following a period of part-time in the context of parental leave are instrumental to prevent forced, long-term part-time work with inevitable reductions in pensions. However, the wording to enable part-time work in the first place is too vague (Articles 9 and 5.5). To prevent unjustified denials of requests for flexible/reduced working time by workers, there should be clearer conditions under which when employers can deny requests;

• Article 10 on the maintenance of employment rights is vital to provide security to the workers that no rights will be lost as a result of leave periods under the Directive. However, any negative repercussion of leave under the Directive and pension entitlements should be precluded. Private caring is also a service to the society as a whole since it replaces, to a certain extent, the need for the state to provide care services – In this context, and while it must remain clear that the state remains chiefly in charge to provide care services and facilities, there should be made no difference between work as occupation (with pension entitlements) and work as private carer (with no pension entitlement).

*„Any person who for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for which he receives remuneration.“

The conference was opened by the newly elected Europe Academy President, Jean-Claude Halter from CESI’s French member organisation CSEN. He underlined the importance of the topic of the conference: More awareness and more focus on a better reputation of VET is needed because research carried out by the EU VET agency, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training (Cedefeop) in Thessaloniki, found that the majority of the citizens in many EU countries (still) consider VET as a generally second-best type of professional formation and inferior to a purely university-based academic tertiary education. According to Jean-Claude Halter, this is an unfortunate finding which needs to be addressed. “After all”, he said, “VET can play an important role in keeping youth unemployment at bay and in giving young people the opportunity to access quality jobs.”

Jean-Claude Halter and Klaus Dauderstädt: VET needs more political attention and more public investment

As the representative of the hosting dbb, Klaus Dauderstädt, Chairman of the dbb and Vice-President of CESI, added that the EU must play an important role in facilitating exchanges of best practices on how the reputation of VET can be improved across Europe and how high quality VET schemes can be developed and implemented at the national level. “The high youth unemployment rates in many EU Member States are not acceptable for trade unions. More public investments in the education of people are indispensable to change this. This is especially true for VET”, he stressed.

Expert input on the role and functioning of VET in Germany and across Europe

Expert input was given by Helen Hoffmann from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Emploment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) and Erik Heß from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), who briefed the symposium participants in detail about the role and functioning of VET in Germany and on EU tools to help foster apprenticeships, such as a newly-proposed European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships and the European Alliance for European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA), a stakeholder platform for the promotion of apprenticeships which CESI acceded to in September 2016.

Personal experiences of VET graduates

Two CESI affiliates showcased their past apprenticeship and VAT experiences. Karoline Hermann, President of the dbb Jugend, the dbb’s youth organisation, shared insights about the apprenticeship system in the German civil service. As a former apprentice in the German civil service, she emphasised the vast variety of different schemes that exist for young people with different kinds of academic and non-academic educational backgrounds. Arjen Gerretsen, Board Member of the CNV Jongeren, the youth organisation of CNV (the umbrella organisation of CNV-Connectief, a member or CESI), presented the merits of a management trainee programme for young policy advisers at the Dutch central government. With him, too, being a former graduate of the programme, he introduced the symposium participants to how high-profile management trainee programmes can be implemented in the public sector in a personalised and tailored manner to form future leaders in public authorities.

Challenges in VET from the teachers’ perspective

Stefan Nowatschin, headmaster at a German vocational school and affiliate of the dbb, and Anne-Marie le Gallo-Piteau, teacher at a vocational school in France and affiliate of CESI’s member organisation FGAF, explained in detail key challenges that VET systems can face. Stefan Nowatschin referred in particular about lacking financial support to hire additional teachers in order to cut down on course cancellations as a result of a shortage of teachers. Anne-Mariele Gallo-Piteau highlighted the merits that she found VET has for students, in particular in terms of an early full immersion in the workplace, which facilitates transitions to the labour market. However, she also warned that successful VET for an apprentice is conditioned by several factors, including a professional attitude of the apprentice, the provision of a ‘real job’ for the apprentice by the employer, and a continued presence of a dedicated adult employee or manager to mentor the apprentice.

Salvatore Piroscia from CESI’s Italian member organisation Confsal presented initiatives of his organisation to foster employment opportunities for young people in Italy aiming at an improved mobility of young people’s skills in Europe (New GEMS project), well-managed generational replacements within workforces (ScholarJobs project) and the creation of an integrated European system of competence validation for education, training and work experience.

Take home messages: VET central for quality employment – but more exchange of best practices and more public recognition necessary

In a final roundable discussion with Helen Hoffmann, Stefan Nowatschin, CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski and José M. Bachiller from CESI’s Spanish affiliate FASGA synthesised the findings of the symposium, stressing the importance of VET for quality employment and the role of the EU in facilitating more exchanges of best practices.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger, in his concluding remarks, referred in particular to a better valorisation of VET among young people, the workforce as well as political decision-makers and the general public.

Further details about the symposium as well as presentations and interventions of the speakers are available here.

For further information: Marcella Migliori, Policy Adviser for Education Policy, [email protected].

The report, which was adopted by a large majority of 474 to 109 votes (34 abstentions), underlines that “in many cases prison overcrowding has a serious impact on the safety of staff and prisoners”, which necessitates “a more secure environment for both prisoners and staff.”

The report is not legally binding but it stresses the importance of:

• “adequate remuneration” and “decent working conditions” which correspond to the “highly demanding job on behalf of the community” which prison staff perform (clause 51);

• a better social recognition and “systematic training” of prison staff to ensure secure and appropriate detention conditions in prisons (clause 52); and

• “the fundamental role of social dialogue with prison staff as well as the need to involve staff via information and consultation, especially when developing new detention concepts designed to improve prison systems and conditions” (clause 53). It specifically requests that the Member States “ensure regular dialogue between prisoners and prison staff” since “good working relationships between staff and prisoners are an essential element of dynamic security, in de-escalating potential incidents or in restoring good order through a process of dialogue” (clause 54).

The report has been transmitted for follow-up to the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and the Council of Europe.

Secretary General Klaus Heeger: Report reflects experiences of our prison staff affiliates

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “CESI highly appreciates this report, which reflects well the experiences and point of views of our prison staff affiliates. Ensuring decent employment and working conditions is a subject matter which has been close to the heart of CESI’s internal members’ Trade Council ‘Justice’ for long, especially since overcrowding and radicalisation have become major challenges. We are glad that the report was supported across almost all political the groups. It is now the European Commission and the Member States that need to pick up the messages, and as trade unionists we will make sure to remind them.”

The full text, as adopted, is available in all official languages of the EU on the website of the European Parliament.

In unanimous votes, John Clinton and Gerrit van de Kamp, both from CESI’s member organisation Eurofedop, were elected President of the ‘Justice’ and ‘Security’ Trade Councils respectively.

John Clinton & Gerrit van de Kamp re-elected as Trade Council Presidents

Franz-Joseph Schäfer from the German Civil Service Association (dbb) and Donato Capece from the Italian Workers’ Autonomous Trade Unions Confederation (Confsal) as well as Stéphanie La Rosa from the French Union of Managerial Employees in Public Services (FP-CGC) and Hermann Benker (dbb) were elected vice-presidents of the two committees.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger congratulated all elected presidents and vice-presidents: “The old Boards of CESI’s two Trade Councils ‘Justice’ and ‘Security’ are also the new Boards. Both presidents and all vice-presidents were given a new mandate to continue their engagement for CESI. Stability and dedicated trade unionists are important preconditions for a consistent and strong interest representation. Our trade councils from the justice and security sectors have been vocal during the last years, and I am sure they will continue to do so.”

Exchange of views with Eurojust, Europol and eu-LISA

At the meetings, the trade council members welcomed representatives from the European Parliament, Eurojust, Europol and the European Agency for the operational managment of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA) and challenged related European discourses, both to highlight possible limitations and to bring forward good practices from the workers’ point of view. Discussions covered in particular potentially negative consequences of radicalisation, (deteriorating) conditions in prisons and privatisations in the area of security and law enforcement for employees as well as a case study of the recent Irish Public Service Pay Deal, police and judicial cooperation at EU level, smart borders, and current security challenges.

Resolution on the situation in Catalonia and Spain

In view of the recent efforts by the Catalan separatist movement to achieve independence from Spain, the ‘Security’ Trade Council members adopted a resolution on the important role of law enforcement officers in maintaining security, democracy and respect for the law.
Resolution of CESI’s ‘Security’ Trade Councils on the situation in Catalonia and Spain in October and November 2017

Next meeting in 2018

The next meeting of the two trade councils will take place on March 22 and October 25 2018 in Brussels (Tbc).

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Chaired by Javier Jordán of CESI’s Spanish member CSIF and Kirsten Lühmann, affiliate of CESI’s German member dbb, the meeting brought together representatives from CESI’s various member organisations in charge of horizontal employment and social policies as well as a number of presidents and vice-presidents of CESI’s sectoral members’ trade councils to talk about the European Pullar of Social Rights and the role of Trade Unions during Covid-19.

They all reported: Covid has led to a real crisis for workers and employees, with health and safety having been compromised on in many occasions and numerous jobs being lost or threatened, and with especially women being disproportionally on the losing front and in many ways, be it in terms of exposure to the virus (most health and care workers are women), violence (enduring lockdowns led to increase stress and agressions leves in confined homes and families) or reduced financial independence (women are overepresented in precarious types of jobs without adequate protection and social security, which have been cut first during the crisis).

They however also stressed: Correctly managed, the Covid fallout could provide the opportunity for an unprecenteded sustainable economic bounceback based on social justice, inclusive growth, digitalisation and climate and environmental protection.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The European Commission has a central role to play in steering the resources of the EU’s unprecedented, almost €700 billion heavy Recovery and Resilience Facility in the right direction. The loans and grants that Member States will receive from the EU must not only serve big business but serve to implement the EU’s New Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights on an equal footing. Citizens, workers and climate and the environment must come first.”

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The GEI acknowledges that the biggest boost for gender equality over the last ten years has been in the area of decision-making, especially in the private sector – while full gender equality has not yet become a reality even in this domain. At the same time, progress is much slower in other areas. Progress on gender equality even slipped backwards in 12 European countries in terms of a more equal sharing of domestic responsibilities between men and women in families.

Kirsten Lühmann said: “This edition of the Gender Equality Index is again a very useful and highly relevant contribution for policy debates and awareness about gender equality, even if many results do not come as a surprise. In CESI’s Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, member trade unions from various European countries have continued to report on problems and challenges that the EIGE index mirrors. In all areas of the society, economy, employment and personal life, inequalities that women face persist stubbornly, and improvements take place at snail pace. I strongly urge the European Commission and the governments of the Member States to carefully analyse the findings of the index and take more ambitious steps to move towards real and effective gender equality across the board. We, as trade unions, will make sure to continue to carry our messages to political decision-makers.”

The GEI 2017 notes, for instance, that:

• in the area of ‘work’, participation in employment is still particularly limited for women with low qualifications and women with disabilities, and having children still means a financial penalty for women and an earnings boost for men. Also, women with children would benefit most from improved work-life balance policies and having children still tends to lead to a financial penalty for women and an earnings boost for men.
• in the field of ‘money’, despite an increase in average income, poverty reduction among women and disadvantaged groups remains a challenge.
• in the domain ‘knowledge’, gender segregation continues persists despite improving educational attainment.
• in the area of ‘time’, only every third man engages daily in cooking and housework, and unpaid care burden is especially high among non-EU born women.
• in the field of ‘power’, moves towards gender equality are most pronounced on corporate boards but are lagging behind in other areas of this field.
• in the domain ‘health’, low education still means poorer health especially for women, and medical care needs of lone mothers and people with disabilities are still more often unmet.
• generally, lifetime inequalities lead to acute gender gaps in old age.

The full report, including all statistics and detailed findings, is available on the website of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

ABOUT THE PROJECT

• Berlin seminar: 20 October 2017
• Agenda of the Berlin seminar: EN/DE/FR/ES/IT

The theme of the Europe Academy’s 2017 project was ‘Bridging education and the world of work: Vocational training and apprenticeships’. During a seminar in Berlin, expert speakers from trade unions, politics and EU institutions discussed best practices on how to improve quality VET and apprenticeships schemes across the EU’s Member States and enhance the public recognition of VET as an instrument to secure quality employment for young people. A report about the Berlin seminar can be accessed here.

The project complemented CESI’s activities as a member of the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA).

PRESENTATIONS/SPEECHES :

• HALTER Jean-Claude: FR
• HOFFMANN Helen: EN
• HEß, Erik: EN
• NOWATSCHIN Stefan: DE
• LE GALLO-PITEAU, Anne-Marie: EN/FR
• PIROSCIA Salvatore: IT

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The Representation of the State of Hessen to the EU and the
European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI)
cordially invite you to an CESI@noon event on the topic

‘European Defence Union: What next?’

Wednesday, 18 October 2017, 13:00 – 14:30 hrs
(Light lunch from 12:30, start of the event at 13:00)

Representation of the State of Hessen to the EU
(Rue Montoyer 21, B-1000 Brussels)

Simultaneous interpretation into English/German

Register here

During the course of 2015 – 2017, Europe has witnessed a rapid change of its security environment due to new factors, modern threats and a steady increase of its security needs.
Trend changing measures are being envisaged at EU level. The commission has issued a reflection paper on the future of European defence as part of the white paper process. Common military assets and the will of the EU “to engage at an unprecedented level in defence to support Member States” are being discussed. In order to create a defence union, all EU instruments, including EU funding, as well as the full potential of the Treaties shall be exploited.
What are the next steps? What are the opportunities and the threats regarding the European Defence Fund and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme? What are the views on the establishment of the military planning and conduct capability (MPCC) within the EU military staff (EUMS)?
These and other questions shall be raised and assessed from different perspectives, including from representatives of those mostly concerned: the military staff.

Welcome speech

Friedrich von Heusinger
Director, Representation of the State of Hessen to the European Union

Keynote

Brigadier General Heinz Krieb
EU Military Staff, Director Concepts & Capabilities, European External Action Service

Panel Discussion with the participation of

Captain Andreas Steinmetz
Deputy Chair, Deutscher BundeswehrVerband

Emmanuel Jacob
President, EUROMIL

Michael Gahler
Member, European Parliament

Moderation

Hajo Friedrich
Correspondent

Concluding remarks

Romain Wolff
President, CESI

The EESC event was particularly relevant because it provided, in a nutshell, information but also examples of good practices of what actions civil society organisations could take in order to tackle radicalisation. From the SCOUT Movement in Belgium to the ConnectFutures in the United Kingdom, or the RAN (Radicalisation Awareness Network) European initiatives, it is clear that in preventing radicalisation there are already some good practices.

The most important take-aways from the meeting have already been reflected in the work of CESI: education, transmission of common European values and labour market integration. To begin with, a common point highlighted by all the speakers in the event was the importance of critical thinking and passing on the European values through education, citizenship engagement and community work. As mentioned in the reflection paper on the transmission of values, “both upbringing and education play a key role in the shaping of values, through the teaching of knowledge and know-how to young people, allowing them to actively participate in the construction of their individuality and identity. Today, human beings need an identity, because anyone who opens up to the outside world, must be sure of him/herself.” In addition to that, the CESI statement on the position paper about fighting radicalization highlights that the public servants working with youngsters at risk are key for ensuring the early detection, prevention and assistance in preventing radical acts. That is why more efforts, investments in the human capital and even funding should go into supporting these categories of servants.

“As a trade union confederation, CESI represents many public sector employees that get in touch on a daily basis with persons at a potential risk of radicalisation: Teachers in schools, security forces in prisons, police forces in their local communities. They have stressed understaffing and shortcomings with regards to equipment and training for a long time. Our position paper tries to bring this issue to the political agenda.”

As highlighted in the meeting by Mr Claude Heiser (President of CESI Education Trade Council and vice president of the Athenee de Luxembourg Highschool), teachers play a fundamental role in forming youngsters but their efforts should be more supported by the state through funding and by other social partners though extra-curricular/ after-school activities/ volunteering. Mr Heiser also mentioned that European institutions should put forward more strongly an agenda of promoting European values and democratic citizenship in member states’ schools.

In the same opinion on fighting radicalisation, “CESI is of the opinion that it is fundamental to set up a greater number of informal educational programmes, volunteering opportunities, sports activities and intercultural dialogue fora that actively include young people, enabling them to access a wide range of experiences and exchange with other cultures. It is also important to encourage cooperation with religious centres that can provide a counter-narrative to certain religious beliefs.”

Moreover, the topic of integration as a ‘two-way street’ has been another recurrent theme of the discussions. Panellists identified labour market integration as the most important way to tackle extremism. Lys Cylaerts, expert working in re-integrating former prisoners on the job market, emphasized the importance offering people more opportunities to work and to gain their financial independence in order to avoid the traps of illicit activities. In Belgium there are initiatives which encourage employers to hire people convicted of crimes, but it is not enough. CESI is very much aware of this topic. The CESI Trade Council on ‘Justice’, which is made up of representatives from various European trade unions in the field of justice and prisons, is also very much concerned by this reality and as part of its 2016 work it provided the following recommendations: “to Increase follow-up services and educational alternatives suggested to repeat offenders & to increase investments in rehabilitation programmes.” To follow the same line of arguments, in its position paper on labour market integration of refugees, CESI already acknowledged the fact that “more intensive interaction and cooperation between employers, trade unions and refugees could facilitate the transition into the labour market as trade unions and employers have precious experience and insight.”

The half-day event was a very good opportunity to raise vital question about how member states should deal with the threat of radicalization, it provided some examples of good practices and it enabled the social partners present to reflect on possible synergies for improving the work of prevention and how to cope better with the challenges of both religious and right wing extremism. All in all, as Mr Moos, the EESC rapporteur on the topic and CESI member, puts it into words, “radicalization is a dehumanizing phenomenon and prevention requires a long-term commitment from all societal actors.” CESI, as the confederation representing people working directly with youth at risk of radicalisation, believe it is important to highlight and value these workers and to support them accordingly so that they can achieve the highest degree of efficiency in their job.

The list of guest speakers of the event, who should be acknowledged and thanked for their contribution, included:

• Marguerite Potard,

An obvious recent trend in the labour markets in Europe has been the emergence of new forms of employment and atypical work patterns, above all in the collaborative economy.

To direct these changes towards a sustainable and socially just direction, the following steps appear to be the most central:

Firstly, in order to subject this area as largely as possible to core labour law standards, a general definition of what constitutes ’employment’ is the most pressing. The European Commission´s opening a discussion on this as part of the ongoing social partner consultation on a possible review of the Written Statement Directive seems to point into the right direction.

In a second step, all types of work, particularly non-standard work and self-employment, must be tied to quality social protection. The European Commission’s recent initiative on social protection for all under the European Pillar of Social Rights must be welcomed as a way to launch in-depth reflections in this regard.

Thirdly, in joint efforts, policy makers, trade unions as well as companies should develop more and better further training and lifelong learning schemes for everyone. Workers need to adjust to new developments and technologies faster than ever before. Ensuring the life-long acquisition of digital competences– without neglecting the transmission of general knowledge, values and critical thinking– is key.

Finally, trade unions may have to go beyond their traditional roles in collective bargaining and social dialogue and find new ways to cater for the interests of people employed in the collaborative economy, i.e. gig and cloud workers. Those workers have a special need to be represented, but they may need different services than trade unions have traditionally offered.

During the Tallinn conference it was highlighted that new technologies can contribute to more meaningful and humane jobs and to a better work-life balance – And that jobs will be lost while others will be created.

In order to take fears away, it is especially up to the trade unions to shape these inevitable changes for the better. They must steer developments and keep (social) control of the digital age. Realising the importance of shaping digitalisation – instead of simply being shaped by it- is already a step forward on the way to proactively embracing new technologies.

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“To this end, the proper implementation of the principles of the the European Pillar of Social Rights will be key. For this, it will be up to all actors, governments, authorities, social partners and civil society organisations to seize the Pillar politically, administratively and legally and help put it into practice”, Klaus Heeger said.

He added that in addition to this, the new proposed EU legislation on work-life balance and the consultations on access to social protection for all and a possible revision of the Written statement directive are not only emblematic, but could lead to concretely tangible benefits for Europe’s workers.

According to Klaus Heeger, another vital prerequisite for a successful Pillar of Social Rights is (more) investment in human resources. “Without more investments in the people, the wind in Europe’s sails will certainly wane”, he said.

CESI welcomes the Mr. Juncker’s stated plans to establish a European labour authority which reflects CESI endeavor to guarantee a seamless representation of worker rights. CESI has previously suggested to the Commission to come forward with concrete and effective instruments to help ensuring that labour migrants are not being denied their rights and that equal treatment is ensured. A labour authority could be an instrument to help achieve this.

The announced work on a „European Social Standards Union“ to have a common understanding of what is socially fair should not only to be assessed in the context of fair Single Market, but also against the background of globalisation and a digitalisation of work.

Mr. Juncker’s full State of the Union speech is available on the European Commission’s website.

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Manfred Wiedner (FCG-Post, Eurofedop) from Austria and Horst Sayffaerth (DPVKOM/dbb) from Germany were elected unanimously President and Vice-President of the Trade Council. Both have been steering the Trade Council for many years already. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad there will be again a very competent leadership in our ‘Post and Telecoms’ Trade Council. Manfred Wiedner and Horst Sayffaerth are all experienced and dedicated trade unionists that bring in a wealth of expertise from the postal and telecoms sector.” Swiss Robert Métrailler (Transfair, Eurofedop) and Dutch Johan Traets (BVPP, Eurofedop) were re-elected as chairs of the Trade Council’s two working groups on telecoms and postal services by unanimous show of hands.

Keynote addresses were given by the President of Eurofedop, Fritz Neugebauer, as well as by the CEO of the Austrian Telekom AG, Alejandro Plater, and Walter Hitziger, member of the Board of the Austrian Post AG.

Resolutions were adopted on the need for fair(er) working conditions for older workers, higher salaries for more work and a worker-friendly management of digitalisation processes in the telecoms and postal services sectors. All resolutions are available in the resources section.

At the meeting, Klaus Heeger also presented a Memorandum of Understanding on a participation of CESI in the European sectoral social dialogue committee ‘Postal services’ which was recently concluded with UNI Europa, so far the only recognised social partner in this policy field on the workers’ side. Legitimised by a recent representativeness study of the EU’s agency ‘European Foundation of the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions’ (Eurofound) which had found that CESI is a relevant potential actor in European social dialogue on postal services, Klaus Heeger noted the importance of the Memorandum to make the voice of CESI’s affiliates in the postal services sector via European social dialogue. Oliver Röthig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, who came to Vienna as a guest of the meeting, expressed his appreciation of the agreement as an instrument to join forces to meet various challenges of the postal services personnel across the EU.

The next meeting of the Trade Council will take place in December 2017 in Brussels (Tbc).

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In reaffirming its previous judgment, which CESI has welcomed already, the Court pronounced itself on the three main points: the right to collective bargaining, the freedom of association and the right to participate in social elections.

The court estimated that “taking into account the evolutions of the labour world, in principle and excluding very particular cases, the right to collective bargaining with the employers had become an essential part of the right of association“ and that “the essence of collective bargaining is that it must ensure the possibility for a trade union, not recognized by an employer, to take actions including if necessary to launch strikes actions, so to persuade the employers to engage collective bargaining together on questions the trade union believe to be important for its members interests.”

The court concluded by reaffirming that “although it recognized the right to strike to have limits, the fact that the period of notice for strike and of concertation in social conflicts are reserved only to ‘representative’ and ‘recognized’ trade unions constituted a restriction which is not compatible with the freedom of association and the right of collective bargaining.”

Furthermore, and regarding the right to participate to social elections, the court held that “the attacked provision breaches the right to participate to the democratic process which allows workers to elect their representatives in the respect of trade union pluralism, because it purely and simply excludes the trade unions qualified as ‘approved’ to participate in social elections within the Belgian railway men.”

For CESI and its Belgian affiliates, the judgment is an important reference to underline the rights of independent trade unions in collective bargaining and social elections.

The full judgment is available in French, Dutch and German.

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In his intervention he said: “Many aims put forward as part of the Pillar can only be realised through action by Member State governments. Trade unions and civil society groups need to analyse the objectives of the Pillar, map them against the reality in their Member State and the problems their affiliates face, and then approach their governments and hold them accountable. It is vital that national governments understand that they need to take ownership of the Pillar. In this way, the Pillar can be instrumental in highlighting to governments the need for more social progress and equality.

Klaus Heeger added: “Article 9 of the TFEU clearly names the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health as social objectives in Europe. In the Pillar, the European Commission has laid out also what it expects from Member States in this regard. If Member States fail to deliver, it is now clear that they are acting against the spirit and the objectives of the EU. It is the role of trade unions and the civil society to uncover any shortcomings by national governments.”

He concluded: “Of course, this does not mean that the EU institutions are off the hook: They need to sign a joint proclamation to endorse the Pillar at the highest political level and give weight to it. The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers need to move forward swiftly with Pillar-related legislation proposed by the European Commission, most notably in the area of work-life balance. In turn, the European Commission must follow-up on its agenda on decent work and social protection for all during the next months and use the European Semester to keep pressure high on national governments to pursue the objectives of the Pillar. EU institutions, national governments, and civil society and trade unions – Everyone has a responsible role to play to make Europe more social.”

Next to Klaus Heeger, expert speakers included MEP Maria Joao Rodrigues, Gabriele Bischoff (Chair EESC Workers’ Group), Ragnar Horn (European Commission), Tom Bevers and Alexis Rinckenbach (Chair and Vice-Chair of the Council of Ministers’ advisory Employment Committee/EMCO and Social Protection Committee/SPC). The event was hosted by Eurodiaconia.

The meeting brought together CESI, Social Platform and Eurodiaconia and a number of affiliates with experts and political representatives of the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Policy Centre (EPC) to exchange with decision-makers from several cabinets and Directorate-Generals (DGs) of the European Commission involved in the European Semester and the EU’s macroeconomic governance and fiscal coordination framework.

The specific objective was to establish:
• how more public social investments can be promoted in the European Semesters upcoming 2018 Annual Growth Survey (AGS), Country reports and Country-specific recommendations (CSRs), especially in fields such as early childhood education and care, education and training, health and social housing; and
• how the EU can develop a common framework (methodology) to measure economic returns of social investments – as a precondition to establish which social expenditure is future-oriented investment and could receive special consideration in the frame of the EU’s economic governance and budgetary surveillance rules.

According to CESI, Eurodiaconia and Social Platform, both is essential to counter growing social divergences in Europe.

The meeting followed a previous edition which took place in January and which saw the launch of a joint initiative by CESI, Social Platform and Eurodiaconia to nourish and structure emerging debates about a feasible and effective roadmap towards more public investments to counter social divergences in Europe.

For further information:
Hendrik Meerkamp
Policy Adviser
[email protected]
0032-(0)2 282 1860

The Written statement directive consultation had two main objectives: Firstly to analyse how to improve the protection of employees in all kinds of employment relationships against possible infringements of their rights under the directive, which may be extended in a revision of the directive, and secondly to establish how to reach a greater transparency on the labour market by ensuring an easy identification of the working conditions applicable to any specific categories of employees.

The Written statement directive

Changes to the directive proposed and mentioned by the Commission in the consultation document included:
• first, the broadening of the scope of the directive’s application, a clarification of its application on new and atypical forms of employment, and the removal or simplification of the exclusion provision under which Member States may exclude people from the scope of the directive;
• secondly, the extension of the information package, which would go hand in hand with the broadening of the application of the directive;
• thirdly, the inclusion of the notion of redresses and sanctions in cases of breaches of the proper application of rules; and
• finally, the reduction of the directive’s two-month notification deadline.

In its response, CESI agreed with the proposals of the Commission as a way to ensure a strong legal certainty and better rights and employment conditions for all people in de-facto dependent work relationships. The Written statement directive was also argued by CESI to be a tool to help bring down bogus self-employment. As precondition to achieve this, CESI mentioned and reiterated the need for a common definition of ‘worker’ which should also span to corresponding existing EU legislation or be addressed in a new, legally binding new framework on decent work for all.

Access to social protection for all

The European Commission wished to consult the social partners to request their views on the possible direction of the European Union action to address the challenges of access to social protection and related employment services for workers in non-standard forms of employment. The main challenges pointed out by the Commission were gaps in access to social protection due to the trend that more and more people are on non-standard contracts or enter new forms of (forced) self-employment; a lack of transferability of social protection rights when people leave the employment where they were acquired; and a lack of transparency of such rights, given the insufficient opportunities to access user-friendly information and regulatory complexity.

The Commission proposed to tackle those issues by ensuring similar social protection rights for similar work; tying social protection rights to individuals and making them transferable; and making social protection rights and related information transparent and by simplifying administrative requirements.

Endorsing those propositions, CESI insisted in its consultation contribution on the need to make clear that it can be dangerous to take social protection in standard form of employment as benchmark, as in many Member States there have been attempts to downgrade social protection in regular employment as well. Furthermore, CESI stressed that the need for a common-sense shared definition of the term ‘worker’, especially in the context of new form of employment is more than urgent. CESI argued that this common term is a precondition to regulate new forms of employment, making them subject to adequate minimum labour and social standards and social security entitlements.

Both consultation contributions can be accessed through the resources section.

The meeting started off with the election of the new president and two vice-presidents of the Trade Council. Dr Wilhelm Gloss (Eurofedop) continues in the role as President, Mr Massimo Battaglia (CONFSAL-UNSA, Italy) as well in the role as vice-President, however Mr Francisco Javier Camarillo (CSI-F, Spain) takes up the seat as vice-President for the first time. CESI now has a rejuvenated board of its ACF Trade Council ready to tackle issues of social rights and protection of public services in the field of central administration and finances.

The discussions of the day began with an overview of social dialogue on the national level and the European developments within the sectoral social dialogues committees where CESI is participating. Later on the Trade Council was joined by the Italian vice minister of Justice Mr Gennaro Migliore who spoke in detail of the last financial crisis and the impacts of austerity on public services and administrations. He also highlighted the need to understand the extent of the crisis which is not merely financial, but structural and social. The discussions continued in the same spirit throughout the day when speaking of topics such as austerity policies and the importance of functioning public services, the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion, and in-work poverty.

Florian Hauser from the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL), in charge of coordinating the EU Toolbox for Quality of Public Administration, joined the Trade Council to introduce said Toolbox and related funding made through the European Social Fund. He noted the importance of investing in public administration but also stressed that the issue on EU level was one of subsidiarity and not having authority to create policy in that matter.

The Trade Council meeting also saw the presentation of a new position paper on the protection of whistleblowers following a public consultation on the same topic, which will be made available in the resources section.

“It is not clear to which extent the new European policies and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in the field of defence and security will manage to build the common European Defence Union but it is clear that more Europe is not only needed to ensure peace and security for its citizens, but will come.”

The European Council adopted conclusions on security and defence, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the economy, migration and digital Europe. More concretely, the conclusions on security and defence refer to the need for more Europe in the fields of:

• Internal security and the fight against terrorism
• External security and defence

In a nutshell, the Council agreed that more efforts are needed to strengthen cooperation between law enforcement authorities and industry for an early detection of online content linked to terrorism. The agreements on the Entry/Exit System together with the finalisation of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) are other efforts meant to increase the internal dimension of security. Anti-radicalisation is also high on European Agenda, linked to the works of RAN, the Radicalisation Awareness Network. The nexus between the internal and external dimensions of security is becoming more entangled and the Council Conclusions reinforce the idea of the two dimensions mutually strengthening EU security, through the implementation of the EU Global Strategy in the area of Security and Defence and the Joint EU-NATO Warsaw Declaration. The nature of security threats has changed in the last years and in order to address them better the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats has been created. In addition to that, the forthcoming operationalisation of the European Defence Fund is expected to create positive externalities. Last but not least, the Council agreed to launch the already mentioned Permanent Structured Cooperation, aimed at strengthening Europe’s security and defence.

The conclusions of the meeting can be consulted more in depth here.

For this occasion, CESI would like to highlight these key messages carried forward by the UN and reiterate the immense importance of public services in Europe. CESI has always and will always campaign for the importance of accessible, affordable and qualitative public services. We believe in a social Europe that guarantees the fulfilment of basic human rights and access to said rights.

Europe has seen a financial crisis spread from the private sector and having a massive influence over the public sector, with cuts to resources, staff and incidentally the image of public services. CESI has been following closely the measures taken on EU level to strengthen public services ever since and has highlighted the shortfalls that can and should be addressed.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger pointed out: “Many years of austerity have yet to yield desirable results, and have proven to be largely inefficient when combatting the current crisis. Not only does it plunge the moral amongst public servants to see their resources being cut right at a time when they need them the most to uphold necessary conditions for growth, employment and investment. But it also does not improve social cohesion and pushes European citizens towards populist movements and ideas”. Mr Heeger continued by stating that “The future of Europe lies in going after the real culprits, which are tax fraud and evasion, lack of social investment and unemployment”.

At its Congress in December last year, CESI members all adopted with unanimity a motion on the importance of public services and set out the guidelines for yet another four years of campaigning for the protection and value of public services. The text of the motion is available in the resources section.

At its first meeting since the last Congress of CESI in December 2016, the Board elected a new leadership of the Europe Academy, CESI’s internal training centre, for the legislative term until 2020. Jean-Claude Halter from CESI’s member organisation CSEN (the French Trade Union Confederation of National Education) was elected to succeed Emilio Fatovic, who had announced his retirement from the post before. Mr Halter will be supported by 7 newly elected Europe Academy Vice-Presidents:

• José Miguel Bachiller f. de los Rios (FASGA, Spain)
• Juan Carlos de Castro Pita (CSI-F, Spain)
• Nicolas Fernandez Guisado (ANPE, Spain)
• Dietmar Knecht (dbb, Germany)
• Marcello Pacifico (CISAL, Italy)
• François Portzer (FGAF, France)
• Luc Viehé (SPELC, France)

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The Europe Academy is an important body within CESI. It allows our members to build capacity and receive training in European politics and policies, which is central to their work as trade unionists in their home countries and their involvement in social dialogue and interest representation at the European level at CESI. I am glad there will be again a very competent and dedicated leadership during the legislative term until 2020 to built on the previous successful work of the Europe Academy.”

The Board voted to positively on the accession of the KSSH to CESI, the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania, which is a new full member of the organisation with immediate effect. The Board also voted positively on an application for observer status for the All-Russia State and Public Service Employee’s Trade Union (PRGU). Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad CESI counts another Albanian trade union organisation among its affiliates, and I look forward to collaboration with our new Russian observer. Both organisations are important trade union organisations in their country.”

The Presidium also discussed recent EU political developments such as the European Pillar of Social Rights. It adopted a position paper on the role of trade unions in the collaborative economy. The objective of the paper is to help put into practice the motion ‘Digitalisation: Finding the balance’ that was adopted at CESI’s last Congress. The position paper argues that the collaborative economy offers opportunities as well as threats for workers, which gives rise to challenges for trade unions to exploit the former and mitigate the latter. The full position paper can be accessed in the resources section.

In a keynote presentation on ‘Social justice and needs for reform in the EU Member States’, Thorsten Hellmann, Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, presented the findings of the 2016 edition of the Social Justice Index and Reform Barometer of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. His presentation made clear that there are significant social divergences and inequalities between and within the different Member States of the EU, and that there is an important role to play for the EU to help move towards what is called in EU jargon ‘upward social convergence’.

This set the stage for an expert discussion on the EU’s most recent initiative to achieve this – The European Pillar of Social Rights, delivered by the European Commission in April by means of 20 key principles (plus accompanying legislative and non-legislative measures) to support fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems in Europe.

Ownership of the Pillar by all key to success

The panel -which was moderated by Pierre Baussand (Head of the Brussels office of Eurofound) and brought together Klaus Heeger (Secretary General of CESI) for the trade union side, Claire Dhéret (Senior Policy Analyst for Social Policy at the European Policy Centre/EPC) for the think tanks, Conny Reuter (Secretary General of Solidar) for the organised civil society, and Ragnar Horn from the European Commission’s Taskforce on the Pillar of Social Rights- quickly agreed that a key for a success of the European Pillar of Social Rights will be that European and national-level institutions, policy makers, authorities and social partners all take ownership of the European Commission’s 20 principles under the Pillar and show the political will to achieve their realisation.

The speakers expressed confidence that a joint interinstitutional proclamation by the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers (and thus the Member States) will be a first step in this regard. It was also noted that civil society organisations and social partners should take the European Commission’s background documents with detailed explanations of each of the 20 principles to push governments and authorities at the national level to tailor their policies and measures towards the objectives of the Pillar.

Klaus Heeger added that it would be “psychologically important” for the respect -and hence success- of the Pillar that the European Commission ensures that the objectives of the Pillar will be clearly reflected already in the next European Semester’s Annual Growth Survey (AGS), Country reports, and Country-specific recommendations (CSRs). “If the European Commission finds that a Member State is failing out on many of the Pillar’s principles, it should not shy away from issuing more than two or three CSRs”, he added. Hope was also expressed that, following a joint interinstitutional proclamantion on the Pillar and with new pressure from social partners and the civil society, Member States would find it harder than before to get away with ignoring CSRs.

Pillar is about principles, not rights – and financing remains an open issue

While political will was found to determine the overall success of the Pillar especially at the national level, it was positively noted that the European Commission has been looking into new EU legislation to put some individual principles into practice across the EU, namely in the fields of work-life balance, social protection and minimum labour rights for all. For areas outside the direct scope of competences of the EU, it was stressed that the Pillar is not about rights that are directly enforceable for individuals but rather about overarching principles that should, over time, lead to policies, practices and measures that will be to the benefit of disadvantages citizens and workers: The Pillar is “not a bible but a process”, it was said.

Concerns were raised about the financial resources to finance social progress inspired by the Pillar at the national, regional and local levels. Speakers regretted that the European Commission has found no tool to make additional money available and noted that this would be an issue that political debates might very likely return to.

CESI will join UNI Europa to represent the employee side; the recognised social partner on the employer’s side is, as before, PostEurope.

In the sectoral social dialogue committee, representatives from the social partners work to keep the postal services sector future-proof, addressing horizontal subject areas such as change management as well as specific topics like more comprehensive skills certifications and transferabilities, improved training schemes to improve employability, and adequate health and safety especially for older workers.

Klaus Heeger said: “We are very glad about the constructive talks with UNI Europa and the agreement to include CESI on the employee side in the European postal services social dialogue. CESI has had a very active internal sectoral trade council for a long time, and this week’s agreement with UNI Europa will give CESI’s trade unions in the sector a voice in social dialogue and enrich the social dialogue committee with additional expertise. CESI’s participation will also make the committee more representative and further reinforce its legitimacy.”

Further information about the EU sectoral social dialogue committee ‘Postal services’ can be accessed on the European Commission’s website and on www.postsocialdialog.eu.

For further information:
Hendrik Meerkamp
Policy Adviser
[email protected]
0032-(0)2 282 1860

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The EAN has already met once on April 27-28 2017 in Brussels to exchange experiences between members and to get to know the challenges and success stories of the various national apprenticeship systems in Europe. In Malta it was time to get started with setting the agenda for the rest of the mandate and the future meetings.

The EAN is all made up nine members of different profiles who all have one thing in common – they have all been apprentices or are mandated to represent apprentices. The genesis of the EAN lies originally with the European Youth Forum (EYF) and the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU). It is supported by the European Commission, following several months of discussions regarding the concept and the mandate of such a network. The idea was to provide a European overreaching platform to discuss all matters concerning apprenticeships and represent them in the absence of any other representation at EU level.

In Malta, alongside the EAfA conference, the members of the EAN were able to put their heads together and discuss future priorities for the network, coming up with the following priorities: quality education and quality assurance; rights and protection; legally binding agreements; representation; promotion of apprenticeships; anti-discrimination; and accessible information.

The goal is eventually to assist in developing structures of representation on the national, regional and local level.

Since its inception, the EAfA has been examining challenges and the way forward for positive developments within the sector of apprenticeships, by enhancing the quality, supply and the overall image of apprenticeships. It also does so by creating a platform where governments get together with other key stakeholders such as social partners, businesses, vocational education and training (VET) providers, regions, youth representatives and think tanks. The Alliance was formed in 2013 through a joint declaration by the European Social Partners, the European Commission and the Presidency of the Council of EU (Council of Ministers).

Topics on the agenda included:

• 4 years of EAfA: Highlights from stakeholders of the Alliance
• Welcoming newcomers to the Alliance
• Launching a new European Network of Apprentices
• Boosting mobility for apprentices
• Towards a European Quality Framework for Apprenticeships
• Developing apprenticeship support services
• The way forward for the European Alliance for Apprenticeships

At the conference, 3 new national commitments to the EAfA for quality apprenticeships were made along with 34 new apprenticeship pledges and 218,000 apprenticeship pledges offers. Since 2013 35 national commitments have been made, 208 pledges and 723,000 pledged offers. CESI officially joined the EAfA on September 2 2016 in the hope of better cooperation between the platform and CESI’s national member organisations that are active within the field of apprenticeships, VET and the education sector.

More information about CESI’s involvement in the Alliance can be accessed through CESI’s pledge as published on the European Commission’s EAfA website.

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In a panel together with the S&D MEPs Maria Joao Rodrigues and Maria Arena, Gabriele Bischoff (President of the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee), Istvan Vanyolos from the European Commission’s DG Employment, Claire Courteille (Director of the ILO’s Brussels Office) and Conny Reuter (Secretary General of Solidar), Mr Heeger generally welcomed the European Commission’s efforts to put in place a new European Pillar of Social Rights.

At the hearing, which was hosted by Solidar, he said: “The European Commission has put its cards on the table, and it is cards that can be the foundation of a more social Europe. It is now a task of the political actors in all EU institutions -especially the Parliament and Council- to endorse the new Pillar by means of a formal, joint Proclamation. Also, the governments of the Member States need to identify with the idea and take ownership of the achievement and realisation of the 20 rights and principles of the Pillar as well as its accompanying measures.”

Mr Heeger added: “Achieving the European Pillar of Social Rights also means better enforcing worker rights that already exist under EU law and need to be transposed or respected at the national-level. Shortcomings are abundant across many Member States. A key role will pertain to social partners and trade unions in particular. They need to take the new Pillar as a tool to further push for a better implementation of established rights.”

Mr Heeger concluded: “In certain fields, such as work-life balance, the European Commission has issued hard legislative proposals to accompany the Pillar and give flesh to single rights and principles under it. However, even if the European Commission has issued a Pillar that can bring substantial improvements for workers and citizens, there are still outstanding challenges that need to be addressed at the EU level as quickly as possible. For instance, in the context of a rapidly evolving digitalisation of work, EU legislation on rules for yet unregulated new forms of employment are urgently needed. CESI will highlight this in current consultations of social partners on a better access to social protection and a potential revision of the EU Written Statement Directive, and I am confident that the European Commission have an open ear.”

CESI’s position paper on the European Pillar of Social Rights, adopted in the context of a dedicated public consultation in 2016, can be downloaded here.

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) and

the Bertelsmann Stiftung hereby invite you to the next

CESI@noon

‘European Pillar of Social Rights: Phrase-mongering or real social progress?’

20 June 2017 – 12.00 to 2.00 pm
CESI (European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions)
Avenue de la Joyeuse Entrée 1-5, 1040 Brussels (Metro Schuman)

The event will take place in English / Sandwich lunch will be provided at

1:30 / Register for the event here

In April, the European Commission published a package to deliver the European Pillar of Social Rights, 20 key principles and rights to shape fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems. The objective of the Pillar is to serve as a “compass for a renewed process of convergence towards better working and living conditions” in the Member States.

Is this phrase-mongering or may the Pillar drive actual social change and progress? During our lunchtime debate, we invite you to hear and discuss if, and how, the Pillar can be made a success for citizens and workers: How can the proposed rights, principles and accompanying measures be implemented effectively, what is legally possible for the EU and what is politically feasible in the Member States? Which actors are now in the focus, the European Commission, Member State governments or social partners and civil society? And how could the Pillar complement the EU’s economic governance and fiscal coordination framework with an upgraded social dimension?

Welcome:
Klaus Heeger, Secretary General, CESI

Keynote address ‘Social justice and social policy reforms in the EU – State of play’:
Thorsten Hellmann, Project Manager, Bertelsmann Stiftung

Discussion with the participation of:
Georg Fischer, Director ‘Social Affairs’, DG EMPL, European Commission
Claire Dhéret, Senior Policy Analyst for Social Policy, European Policy Centre (EPC)
Conny Reuter, Secretary General, Solidar

Moderator:
Pierre Baussand, Head of Brussels Office, Eurofound

Conclusions:
Henning vom Stein, Head of Brussels Office, Bertelsmann Stiftung

Today is a cause for celebration, and as we look back it is difficult to imagine that this year added significant challenges to an already difficult terrain. That which had been causing a lot of anxiety in the run up of June 2016, materialised when the British people narrowly voted to exit the European Union.

The refugee crisis continues to cause a rift between member states, and the threat to the rule of law is not subsiding in several parts of the Union. A string of terrorist attacks have rocked member states and citizens feel increasingly on edge. The constantly looming Greek financial crisis also serves as a symbolic reminder of the economically deprived Europeans that are not necessarily feeling the effects of economic recovery on the continent.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger stated: “Solidarity is what Europe needs right now and we will achieve it through putting the development of a real social dimension at the heart of a European future. What citizens want most and first and foremost is social and economic fairness”.

However, Europe remains defiant and the growing menace of populism has been defeated through the democratic exercise of elections. The recent victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential elections will perhaps pave the way for a new Berlin-Paris agreement on further ambitions and needed reforms. Whether or not the president-elect Macron will be able to inject reforms that include a social approach with an adjusted macroeconomics and fiscal governance framework, giving room to investments in human capital, accessible and affordable quality public services and quality employment, remains to be seen.

“CESI has ever since called for an upwards social cohesion, not least through increased social investments. The economic costs of inequalities are too high. In order to create wealth, growth and resilience in times of crisis, we have to invest in people. The benefits of social investment clearly align with the Rome Declaration pledge for a social Europe that fights poverty, social exclusion, unemployment and discrimination”, Romain Wolff, President of CESI, underlined.

More concretely, at a joint press conference in Madrid, they presented a campaign with the objective to reform the Spanish maternity supplement in pensions for mothers with two or more children, a measure introduced on January 1 2016 by the government.

Based on data of the Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE), CSI-F estimates that the law discriminates against around 2 million women that only have one child. Ángeles Mur Nuño, Secretary for Equality and Social Responsibility at CSI-F, said that this perpetuates the traditional role of mothers and women caregivers. She added that the government scheme moreover discriminates against women who retire early and against those who retired before January 1 2016, when the measure entered into force.

According to CSI-F, the Spanish government needs to revise the law so thatCGFP all mothers regardless of the number of their children and their date of retirement benefit from a maternity supplement in pensions. They underlined that it is equally vital to take additional measures to encourage a more equal sharing of domestic and care responsibilities between fathers and mothers (who tend to take on a disproportionate share), which includes, for instance, a progressive matching of paternity and maternity leave provisions. Carmen Jaffke, who is an affiliate of CESI’s member trade union organisation CGFP from Luxembourg and has been a long-standing member of the Board of the EWL, said that this is clearly in line with the EWL’s priorities to end gender pension gaps in Europe. She assured full support for CSI-F’s efforts in Spain.

CSI-F will continue to promote a reform of the maternity supplement in pensions in the Spanish lower house parliament, the Congress of Deputies. More information the campaign can be accessed on the website of CSI-F, along with a promotional video on the fight against gender pension gaps by the EWL. A video with excerpts of the press conference is available here.

CSI-F, a long-standing member of CESI, is the most representative Spanish trade union organisation in public administrations and has a growing presence in the private sector. CESI has been a member of the EWL since 2006.

In an unanimous vote, Claude Heiser of the Luxembourgish General Confederation of Public Services (CGFP) and Salvatore Piroscia of the Italian General Confederation of Independent Trade Union (CONF.S.A.L.) were re-elected as President and Vice-President respectively.

Claude Heiser unanimously re-elected President of the Trade Council

Mario Gutiérrez of the Spanish Central Independent and Public Employees’ Trade Union (CSI-F) will join in as Vice-President and replace Horst-Günther Klitzing (German Civil Service Federation/dbb) who did not run again. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad there will be again a very competent leadership in our Education Trade Council. Claude Heiser, Salvatore Piroscia and Mario Gutiérrez are all long-standing trade unionists that bring in a wealth of expertise from the education sector. They will be able build on CESI’s successful work on European education systems.”

On the agenda: Role of education in the integration of migrants, training support in digital skills and ethics for the teaching profession on the agenda

At the trade council meeting, some of CESI’s most pressing European priorities that concern the teachers and educators that CESI represents were discussed, many of them related to a much-needed further valorisation of the teaching profession.

In the presence of Kristina Cunningham from the European Commission’s DG for Education and Culture, the trade council members discussed the EU’s efforts to support schools, teachers and educators in the integration of migrants and refugees, which have been coming to Europe at elevated levels during the past years.

Education trade council Vice-president Salvatore Piroscia presented the ‘New Generation & Mobility of Skills’ (nGeMS) project carried out by CESI’s Italian member organisation Confsal, an initiative bringing young digital experts in touch with employers with the aim to help young people access the labour market and assist employers in managing and upgrading their digital skills. Together with Ana Maria Noguiera from the secretariat of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, the trade council members debated how the EU can help CESI and its affiliates raise additional awareness about the project, expand it and find new partners.

Finally, Armindo Cancelinha of CESI’s Portuguese member ‘National Teachers Association’ (ANP) spoke on codes of ethics for the teaching profession. Given the importance of such codes, it was agreed to draft a memo to develop similar schemes in different Member States.

The Constitutional Court delivered its judgment following the SIC’s contestation of certain provisions of Belgian legislation (“loi Bellot”) regarding the exclusion from social dialogue and the privation of the right to strike of independent trade unions. The application of the contested provisions had the consequence of depriving these organisations of prerogatives such as the ability to give provisional notices of strike action or the right to participate in social concertation.

CESI is delighted that the constitutional court of Belgium recognised that the application of this law caused severe and irreversible harm to independent trade unions such as the SIC. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The court recognised the importance of the right to strike as being a fundamental raison d’être of all trade unions and as one of their main tool of pressure. The court held that the current procedure of allowing trade unions identified as ‘recognised’ and ‘representative’ while excluding others defined as ‘approved’ from social conflict concertation is not justified and not compatible with the right to association and the right to collective bargaining. As a European umbrella organisation representing numerous independent trade unions, CESI warmly welcomes the judgment of the Belgian Constitutional Court and we congratulate our affiliates UNSP and SIC for their efforts.”

The court also held that the impossibility to put forward candidates to social elections and the exclusion of affiliated members from elections are not justified. These provisions had as a consequence the deprivation of many trade unions to participate in a democratic process which would enable workers to elect their representatives within the respect of trade union pluralism.

The judgment represents an important statement for the right of all trade unions to social bargaining and their right to strike as a whole. The paragraphs at issue within Belgian law were annulled by the court, and with this the right of independent trade unions to participate in social elections and their entitlement to give strike notices have been resorted.

The creation of the new Network of Legal Advisers takes its roots in an initiative proposed by CESI’s Italian member organisation CISAL at CESI’s last Congress in December 2016 to facilitate regular exchanges of information and discussions between member organisations about European jurisprudence in the area of labour law, with the aim to better learn from each other and jointly coordinate relevant action in the interest of affiliate members.

At the network’s first meeting, the participants addressed the application of the EU fixed-term work directive 1999/70/EC and the EU working time directive 2003/88/EC in their respective countries with reference to the existing jurisprudence before the European Court of Justice (CJEU). They also discussed about challenges related to precarious work in the context of the CJEU’s Mascolo judgment from November 26 2014 as well as about the implications of the Dansk Industri judgment of April 19 2016 on equal treatment.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad that our new Network for Legal Advisers has kicked off. Recent trends in the world of work related to, for instance, digitalisation and new forms of employment have led to increasing amounts of case law to interpret existing EU social and employment legislation. More than 50 judgments and orders of the CJEU have dealt with the Working time directive alone! It is an increasing challenge for trade unions to take in all resulting consequences and implications into the services they provide for their affiliates. I hope our new network will be a forum to help our members stay on top of new developments and act effectively in the interest of their affiliates.”

The next meeting of the Network is foreseen for October 2017.

Last week, the European Commission issued its long-awaited set of measures to improve the EU’s social dimension. Under the heading ‘European Pillar of Social Rights and accompanying initiatives’, the Commission presented its proposals to give flesh to 20 principles and rights in the areas of equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions and social protection and inclusion, which should guide the EU’s and the Member States’ future on employment and social affairs policies.

Rightfully, the new Pillar has given rise to criticism also among trade unions at national and EU level especially due to uncertainty about and effective implementation and enforcement mechanisms. However, we should not forget is that it was the European Commission that triggered the Pillar based on President Juncker’s stated objective to achieve a ‘Social Triple A’ rating, a vision which was immediately countered by the many opponents of a more social EU who referred to restricted EU competences in that field and used this to try to put social concerns at second place.

The Pillar is accompanied by legislative proposals in the area of work-life balance. Of course, there could have been more teeth in the European Commission’s proposals, but if concrete EU legislation can have a positive impact on millions of workers in the EU, then this is worth fighting for. Moreover, if the European Commission puts a new focus on a better implementation and enforcement of existing EU social and employment legislation at the national level, and if a careful scrutiny on how the Member States work to fill the 20 principles and rights with life can be realised, then Europe may still become more social than it currently is. By building on the Pillar’s principles and rights, and by calling upon a “joint responsibility of the EU, Member States, social partners and other stakeholders” to deliver them, progress can be achieved.

The most important is that we all realise what is at stake. Social policy means solidarity, and solidarity means, to a certain extent, giving up self-centredness. This is a message which is not easy to convey in times of rising nationalism, but which, hopefully, reaches not least those going to the polls next Sunday in France.

Sometimes, conveying positive messages on the EU may not be the worst thing to do. The media attention given to the EU’s social ambitions especially at the national level last week shows that there is indeed room for positive EU news.

The Commission’s proposals may lack teeth, but for CESI it is now mainly up to the 27 remaining Member States or, as a last resort, a “coalition of the willing” to show that there is a willingness to bite. In the end, it is up to all of us to bite.

The theme set by the ILO for this year’s World Day is ‘Optimise the collection and use of occupational safety and health data’.

According to CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger, there is still lack of data in order to put in place good health and safety measures: “We especially need more information concerning new challenges, such as stress at work, discrimination, harassment, rising work intensities and increased job insecurities. We know that increasing levels of stress at work contribute to elevated levels of absenteeism among the workforce and that this has negative impacts for both the employers and the employees, but concrete data to back this up and to put in place effective preventative mechanisms is often still lacking. According to EU-OSHA, 50% of workers in Europe feel they are considerably stressed at the workplace and 80% of managers say they are aware of the problem, but only 30% of companies take measures about it.“

Mr Heeger added: “Health problems caused by stress at work are also prevalent among white collar workers and public sector employees, but this is an area where detailed research data is still largely missing. This is why CESI made occupational health and safety in public services a work priority. CESI has been a partner in EU-OSHA’s Healthy Workplaces Campaigns since 2012 and just completed a project on better health and safety in public services in Europe.”

Data, findings and existing best practices were compiled and synthesised in a study that was released earlier this year, with the objective to improve health and safety management in public services in Europe.

The European Pillar of Social Rights encompasses 20 principles and rights, structured in three categories: (1) equal opportunities and access to the labour market, (2) fair working conditions and (3) social protection and inclusion.

Pillar of Social Rights principles: Not binding, so close scrutiny will be necessary

The Pillar has been brought forward as a legally non-binding but immediately effective Commission Recommendation and as a proposal for a joint proclamation by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. A new social scoreboard shall in the future regularly track trends and performances and assess progress in relation to the 20 principles and rights under the Pillar. Findings will feed into country-specific recommendations (CSRs) of the European semester of economic policy coordination.

In the context of the Pillar of Social Rights, the European Commission also proposed legislation on an improved work-life balance – most notably regarding:

• the introduction of paternity leave. Fathers/second parents shall be able to take at least 10 working days of paternity leave around the time of birth of the child, compensated at least at the level of sick pay;
• the further strengthening of parental leave. The four 4 months period shall be compensated at least at sick pay level and be non-transferable from a parent to another. Parents will also have the right to request to take leave in a flexible way (part-time or in a piecemeal way) and the age of the child up to which parents can take leave will be increased from 8 to 12 years old;
• the introduction of carers’ leave for workers caring for seriously ill or dependent relatives. Working carers shall be able to take at least 5 days per year, compensated at least at sick pay level;
• the extension of the right to request flexible working arrangements (reduced working hours, flexible working hours and flexibility in place of work) to all working parents of children up to 12 and carers with dependent relatives.

In the frame of the Pillar of Social Rights, the European Commission moreover opened social partner consultations on social protection to define possible new rules in this area and on a possible revision of the Written statement directive 91/533/EEC (which gives employees starting a new job the right to be notified in writing of the essential aspects of their employment relationship). The Commission also issued an interpretative communication to provide guidance on how to interpret various aspects of the Working time directive 2003/88/EC in today’s world of work.

Work-life balance measures accompanying the Pillar: Overdue but a step forward

In a first reaction, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “During the last year, CESI’s Presidium and internal Commission on Employment and Social Affairs have actively positioned CESI on the European Pillar of Social Rights and the initiatives around it. We mainstreamed issues around the future of work, including digitalisation and new forms of employment, at our last Congress in December 2016 and we held numerous exchanges of views with the European Commission and policy makers. It is unfortunate that the Pillar will only apply automatically to all euro countries – after all, social progress and quality employment matter to the people living and working in the entire EU, so I hope non-euro countries will opt-in voluntarily. However, the most important issue remains to create a real social dimension, if need be only among the euro zone members or a ‘coalition of the willing’, as laid out as a possible future scenario in a reflection paper on the social dimension of the EU that was also published today. CESI We would also have welcomed more teeth in the implementation and enforcement mechanism of the 20 principles and rights under the Pillar, but if we achieve a successful, careful scrutiny on how Member States go about in realising targets, then the Pillar may still make the EU more social than it currently is.”

He added: “Our internal Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality worked in detail for a better work-life balance for employees and especially a more equal sharing of domestic responsibilities in working families. Today’s package is overdue but certainly a step forward. I am glad that our messages from a recent social partner consultation seem to have been picked up a considerable extent.”

Legislative proposals must not be watered down during EP-Council negotiations

Before coming to hasty detailed conclusions, CESI, together with its members and affiliates, will take stock of and thoroughly analyse all proposals and measures presented today so as to allow a conclusive assessment and a constructive dialogue with MEPs and the Council of Ministers. Klaus Heeger concluded: “The European Commission has put its cards on the table. It is now up to the co-legislators and social partners to deliver. It is last but not least also CESI’s responsibility to make sure that today’s package will bring real added value to Europe’s citizens and workers.”

CESI’s Congress motions, position paper on the Pillar of Social Rights, and consultation contributions on the various initiatives comprising today’s Social Pillar package can be accessed in the resources section on CESI’s website.

The Convention, which was opened and closed by the European Commissioners Marianne Thyssen and Valdis Dombrovskis, saw panel debates and presentations by a wide array of young people and witnesses of young people that have been meeting obstacles of various kinds in participating in societal life or finding employment.

Issues tackled in special workshops and side-events included ‘The right of young people to adequate income’, ‘Barriers and success factors to facilitate young people’s social and labour market participation’ and ‘Intergenerational fairness and combatting youth poverty: Making the European Social Model work for everyone today and tomorrow’. CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski acted as rapporteur for a workshop on ‘Opening up quality pathways for young people’ and presented conclusions to the conference’s plenary.

Reacting to the conference, he said: “As a young trade unionist, I see on a daily basis that Europe still has a long way to go towards a successful integration of disadvantaged young people. This year’s Annual Convention on Inclusive Growth showcased that the EU and the Member States must invest much more in early childhood education and care, primary and secondary education and training. Investing in young people’s future opportunities is not only a natural duty for governments but also the cheapest way to achieve and maintain thriving economies. Investments in people, especially disadvantaged ones, pay off socially and economically.”

Further information about the 2017 ACIG, including conclusions of workshops, will be made available on the European Commission’s website.