ACTIVER conference: 'Youth unemployment and active labour market policies'

“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.

Emmanuel Macron is the winner of the first round of the French Presidential elections and is expected to become France’s next President. However, assuming (and, needless to say, hoping) that Mr Macron will beat Marine Le Pen in the second round on May 7, it still needs to be established what this means for worker rights, a more social Europe and, to this end, much needed additional investment in social infrastructure and public services – something CESI has been advocating for long.

As Mr Macron is a committed European, the French (and German) elections may open momentum for a new Berlin-Paris agreement for ambitious reforms in Europe.

At their Rome Summit in March, EU leaders already committed to a more social and inclusive Europe, something that CESI welcomed warmly. It will remain to be seen to what extent and in which way Mr Macron’s understanding of reforms in Europe spans to a more social Europe and an adjusted macroeconomic and fiscal governance framework which allows Member States to make much-needed investments in human capital, accessible and affordable quality public services and the workers providing them.

As CESI’s Presidium declared in a resolution in response to the European Commission’s recent White Paper on the Future of the EU, heads of state and government and national politicians in the Member States should close ranks with trade unions all over Europe in their call to put the development of a real social dimension at the heart of a successful future EU: Social and economic fairness and equality has become the most important concern of the EU’s citizens. They will only accept a European integration project which responds to their needs. If Emmanuel Macron internalises this paradigm, he could help make Europe a better place for citizens and workers – In any case, though, this is course requires in the first place a (hopefully clear) victory against Le Pen in the election’s second round two weeks’ time.

On March 29 2017, Brexit became a reality. Britain’s ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, handed the UK’s official letter of withdrawal from the EU over to European Council President Tusk.

On 24^th of June 2016, the Brexit vote let the EU into a deep shock, and it seems, so did the official letter launching the exit procedure.

Personally, I welcome the decision to opt for a clear (and hard) Brexit.

Of course, the UK and the EU will face troubled times, of course the challenges of how to manage Britain’s exit from the EU will be enormous, of course the legal and administrative defiance of its completion within two years will be almost incommensurable, and of course the economic and political shockwaves of unknown magnitude are still to come.

But lavishing in uncertainty would have helped no one.

The leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, tweeted: “From now on, only the interests of the remaining 440 million Europeans count for us!”

While the wording might appear slightly sulky, he is right: If the 27-member union does not want gamble away all its chances at a convincing new beginning with greater acceptance and support for European integration, it will have to clearly define its relations with and own interests towards Britain. And with such letter, the lines are clear.

Yes, the Brexit is certainly more than unfortunate. What is true also is that the Brexit negotiations will absorb a lot of resources of the EU during the next two years.

At the same time, in fields in which UK governments have often been difficult partners – such as in employment and social affairs- prospects for real progress may be improving. For the remaining EU-27 this requires a clear will to strive for further unity, and the will to clearly display that unity. CESI’s Presidium underlined in its latest statement that, while being aware that democratic legitimacy and mandating mainly occurs through traditional democratic channels at national levels, “it is also time for all political actors to be ready to put Europe first – not as a goal in itself but in the very interest of the citizens.”

For CESI, it most and foremost adds up to the completion of the EMU in terms of a real social dimension. If necessary, by the means of the European Commission’s recent White Paper’s scenario 3: ‘Those who want more do more’.

As Fabian Zuleeg and Janis Emmanouilidis from the European Policy Centre (EPC) state in a recent commentary, “a new reform momentum will require, first and foremost, an agreement between Berlin and Paris.”

Picture: CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger © CESI 2017

The recent financial and economic crisis has resulted in a social crisis, with sharply rising socioeconomic inequalities in Member States across the European Union. The Rome Declaration commits Member States and institutions to a social Europe where addressing unemployment, poverty and social exclusion are priorities and where sustainable growth reduces inequalities. Social Platform, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) and Eurodiaconia welcome this commitment to social Europe but warn Member States and the European institutions that this ambition can only be achieved if there is greater momentum and mechanisms for social investment in European Economic Governance.

There are inherent economic returns and advantages in social investment. Economies with more social investment have shown to be more resilient to shocks and perform better in crises. Adequately resourced social protection systems can work as automatic stabilisers and maintain positive effects on demand. Furthermore improved social cohesion prevents tremendous economic costs of inequalities in the long-run. It also generates social and economic returns as it enables people to be more socially and economically productive. The benefits of social investment clearly align with the Rome Declaration pledge for a social Europe that fights poverty, social exclusion, unemployment and discrimination.

However, there are limitations in the EU economic governance framework that will prevent such pledges being fulfilled. Levels of social investment have been persistently low across Member States; to date the EU has failed to facilitate substantive increases. EU-level initiatives such as the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) do not deliver sufficiently on social investment projects, and the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) restricts, in many instances, Member States’ means of engaging in social investment themselves because necessary investment in human capital and essential services including housing, social, health, and education can quickly result in a breach of the SGP’s deficit rules. Accordingly, the so-called investment clause in the SGP has had limited use so far.

Heather Roy, Secretary General, Eurodiaconia stated: “The European Commission should encourage more social investments by a more systematic application of the investment clause 2.2 of the Stability and Growth Pact in relation to social investment. The Rome Declaration commits Members States and the European Institutions to upward social convergence. This cannot be realised if economic policies restrict social investment and where economic governance overlooks the long term social and economic returns of social investment. Otherwise leaders’ commitments in Rome stay in Rome and do not reach the people of the European Union.”

Klaus Heeger, Secretary General, CESI added that a “‘Silver Rule’ for public social investment could be introduced to European Economic Governance in order to effectively incentivise Member States to upscale social investment. The rule would allow for specific areas of social investment, which yield demonstrable economic and social returns, to be excluded from the SGP’s current deficit provisions. Public spending in fields such as health care, childcare, housing and education must be seen as an investment in both social and economic convergence and not merely treated as a burden or cost in national budgets.

Jana Hainsworth, President, Social Platform, commented: “The European Commission is increasingly supportive of social investment, stating that it is ‘a prerequisite for a successful and lasting recovery’. At a time of intensive scrutiny of the European project, it’s important that EU Member States follow the advice of the IMF and OECD, both of which have called for an end to austerity, favouring instead investment to promote growth and reduce inequalities.”

Press release as PDF

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European integration stands, again, at a crossroads. All actors must make a particular effort to make sure that the EU does not disintegrate. CESI has been voicing strong calls for a more social Europe for over 25 years.

Likely, time is now or never again for a constructive discussion on the future of European integration, based on the recent White Paper on the future of the EU, the European Commission’s contribution to the Rome Summit of March 25 2017, where the EU will discuss its future orientation.

Without explicitly opting for one of the 5 scenarios laid out in the White Paper[1], scenario 2 (the de-regulation agenda) may trigger a race to the bottom for social rights and employment conditions. Moreover, scenario 4 (the neo-liberal programme), may do away with an EU social agenda altogether, despite the fact that growing interconnections of economic, financial and social affairs require a certain cooperation and integration. Recent popular disappointment with the EU and stagnation in social and employment policies may justify scepticism that scenario 1 (carrying on) can be a long-term solution.

Bearing this is mind, EU leaders, heads of state and government and national politicians in the Member States should close ranks with trade unions all over Europe in their call to put the development of a real social dimension at the heart of a successful future EU: Social and economic fairness and equality has become the most important concern of the EU’s citizens. They will only accept a European integration project which responds to their needs.

Being aware that democratic legitimacy and mandating mainly occurs through traditional democratic channels at national levels, it is also time for all political actors to be ready to put Europe first – not as a goal in itself but in the very interest of the citizens.

Core components of a better social EU for European workers

• The EU shall become a stronghold against job precariousness and negative impacts of digitalisation. Making use of its legislative competences, the EU shall define ambitious labour rights and standards for new, flexible and mobile forms of employment as well as for the digitalising world of work.
• A more transparent and easy-to-use coordination of social security systems shall ensure that mobile workers do not lose out on social and employment-related benefits which they have accumulated during their work life.
• European labour law shall guarantee adequate protection levels for all workers, especially in occupational health and safety and when it comes to new and emerging psychosocial risks at work.
• The EU shall help guaranteeing minimum wages at national level, defined according to a minimum percentage of national median wages.
• The EU shall credibly explain why there will be no lower social, labour, consumer and environmental protection standards via new free trade and investment agreements.
• EU policies shall prioritise work-life balance, based on an equal sharing of domestic responsibilities and high-quality, affordable and accessible care facilities and responding to ageing societies and work-related gender inequalities.
• The EU shall adjust its economic policy mindset and allows significantly more national investments especially in education and training, health and youth employment, all vital human capital investments that make societies more just and prosperous in the long-term. Likewise, the EU shall encourage Member States to step up investments to make public administrations and public services more accessible, better and affordable, which benefit vulnerable persons, especially women, the young, elderly and migrants. This shall also be financed by means of a serious and successful common fight against tax avoidance and evasion.
• The right to information and consultation shall apply for all workers, including central administration employees. Effective social dialogue in all sectors shall help driving towards a fair and social Europe. All workers must count, and trade union pluralism must be a living principle of freedom and democracy.
• The full implementation and enforcement of social and employment legislation must be a reality. Trade unions’ efforts to facilitate shall be fully support by authorities and institutions at all levels.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/white_paper_on_the_future_of_europe_en.pdf

CESI Presidium resolution on the future of the EU (PDF)

“Today, we think of the victims and their families – and we think of their lives which have brutally changed, if not ended”, CESI President Romain Wolff stated. “A year ago, innocent civilians were hit as random targets. And in the end we can only pay tribute to them by fiercely defending our fundamental and democratic values of our free society and by standing firmly and united against terrorism and radicalization!”

As a European trade union confederation representing public sector workers across Europe, CESI has for a long time worked on sustainable, holistic approaches solutions to address radicalist threats. CESI’s affiliates, among them teachers, police officers, prison guards and administration officials, were among the first to face new radicalist tendencies within society, and to bring this to the attention of politicians and the public.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger declared: “Anti-radicalisation cannot be reached by reinforced security measures alone. Multi-disciplinary and complementary, soft and hard, preventative and repressive policies are needed to integrate social, educational and security-related components, which can together yield an effective anti-radicalisation recipe.”

Heeger also underlined that the fight against terrorism requires a stronger policy coordination at the European level, as well as more support for all public sector workers in this field.

“Today it is the victims that we commemorate, and this should inspire our continued efforts in anti-radicalisation and counter-terrorism”, CESI President Romain Wolff concluded.

For further information about CESI’s work in this field, see a detailed position paper here.

Picture: © EurActiv 2017

Opening the conference were Mr Hans-George Engelke, the Secretray of State at the Ministry of Interior and Mr Hans-Ulrich Benra vice-president of the dbb. A clear message was sent out take on the challenges of psychosocial risks by emphasising the rise of stress levels due to a number of factors and the increase in external violence against central administration employees, both in Germany and in other member states.

Mr Lionel Fulton, the project researcher from the Labour Research Department in the UK, attend the conference to present the guide on psychosocial risks, which he has authored, that will serve as the first European guide especially produced for all the stakeholders within central government.

The guide provides brief reminder of European legislation, overview of the social dialogue agreements that have been concluded on stress and third party violence as well as examples of real collective agreements or individual case studies that have already been implemented in different member states.

The seminar also held three theme-based workshops that focused on better risk assessment and deployment of responsibilities; better use of new technologies, and; better prevent and act against external violence at the work place. On the agenda were also conclusions and potential follow-up actions to the project. The conference was then closed by Mr Christian Moos of the dbb Europe-International Secretary and Mr Christian Maiwald of BMI Germany.

The conclusions of the Berlin conference go hand in hand with the conclusions made at Europe Academy’s Madrid symposium in October 2016 within the “Health and safety at work in the public sector: new challenges” project. In Madrid it quickly became clear that restructuring hit the public sector quite significantly and that public employees suffered higher levels of stress due to it and digitalisation significantly the work organisation. The common conclusions could not be any clearer.

The guide will be translated into 7 languages and will be accompanied by a short video. The project material will be adopted at the Social Dialogue Committee for Central Government Administrations plenary on 15 May in Brussels.

Picture: Hans Ulrich Benra © dbb 2017

The Presidium decided that the following Trade Councils and Commissions, made up of representatives from interested member organisations, will be CESI’s internal sectoral fora for policy deliberations and exchange of views during the next four years:

• Commission ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ (SOC)
• Commission ‘Women’s Rights and Gender Equality’ (FEMM)
• Trade Council ‘Central Administration and Finances’ (ACF)
• Trade Council ‘Local and Regional Administration’ (LRA)
• Trade Council ‘Security’ (SEC)
• Trade Council ‘Justice’ (JUS)
• Trade Council ‘Education, Training and Research’ (EDUC)
• Trade Council ‘Health Services’ (SAN)
• Trade Council ‘Post and Telecoms’ (P&T)
• Trade Council ‘Defence’ (DEF)

Internal sectoral Trade Councils and Commissions set up

The Commissions and Trade Councils, which usually meet one to two times per year, will elect their respective President and up to two Vice-Presidents during their constitutive meetings in the course of this year. Meeting dates will be published in CESI’s calendar.

The Presidium also addressed CESI’s take on important current political affairs.

Positioning on current political affairs, including the White Paper on the future of the EU

With regards to the recent White Paper on the future of the EU by the European Commission, the Presidium instructed the General Secretariat to draft a position statement on CESI’s expectations towards the further construction of a social dimension in the EU as a formal input in view of the Rome Summit on March 25 which is expected to see the adoption of a declaration on the future of the EU by the heads of state or government of the Member States.

The Presidium also held exchanges of views as regards the expected package on a European Pillar of Social Rights, the ongoing social and labour market integration of refugees, and the prospects for higher levels of public social investments in Europe to strengthen public administrations and the public services, all among CESI’s long-standing priorities.

The next meeting of the Presidium will take place on June 21 in Brussels.

Picture: CESI Presidium in session © CESI 2017

This CESI@noon/EPC policy dialogue was the final event presenting the findings of a cycle of three previous joint expert workshops of an EPC-CESI cooperation on social investments:

• A workshop on measuring the efficiency of social investments in October 2015
• A seminar in February 2016 on the integration of a concept of social investment in the macro-economic and fiscal governance instruments of the EU

• An expert meeting on indicators for a better integration of the social investment concept and a move towards upwards social convergence in June 2016

Reflections on ‘Social investment: Time for a new narrative for Europe’ were given by Allan Larsson (Special Adviser on the European Pillar of Social Rights, European Commission), Lukas Vesely (Economic adviser to MEP Maria João Rodrigues), Conny Reuter (Secretary General, Solidar) and Gunnar Muent (Director for Innovation and Competitiveness, European Investment Bank). The session was chaired by Lieve Fransen, Senior Adviser at the European Policy Centre and former Director for Social Policy at the European Commission. There was a shared agreement on the continued need of additional public social investments alongside measures to make existing social expenditure more effective and forward-looking.

EPC in-depth study on ways towards more social investments in Europe

A study by the EPC summing up, evaluating and assessing the findings of the workshops was presented by Claire Dhéret, Senior Policy Analyst in charge of social investment at the EPC. The study also follows up on a recently launched advocacy campaign by CESI, Social Platform and Eurodiaconia on the feasibility of additional budgetary flexibility for certain public social investments by Member States without violating the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP).

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger, who also delivered the opening address at the CESI@noon/EPC policy dialogue, said: “Our advocacy campaign is a practical result of our cooperation with the EPC, with the aim to bring discussions from a technical and mostly academic to a political level with clear, broken-down messages. Our cooperation with the EPC is also an outcome of member organisations approaching us and reporting about continued cuts in public services and public administrations, which compromises on their capacity to deliver sufficient and high-quality services to the citizens.”

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger: Enable additional public social investments under the SGP

The CESI@noon/EPC policy dialogue formally closed the cooperation project between the EPC and CESI on social investment; nevertheless CESI and the EPC will continue to drive together the case for more public social investment in Europe. Klaus Heeger added: “Together with our partners we have already had several discussion sessions with experts and decision-makers, including with MEP Maria João Rodrigues and the cabinets of the Commissioners Dombrovskis and Thyssen. We are encouraged to see that the topic is gaining momentum on the political agenda. We hope the European Commission will soon work on a methodology to identify public social expenditure as investments with returns that should be exempted from the SGP’s budgetary deficit calculations.”

For further information: Hendrik Meerkamp, Policy adviser CESI, [email protected].

Picture: Claire Dhéret, Lieve Fransen and Klaus Heeger © European Policy Centre (EPC) 2017

On the 12^th of February 2017 the third reform of business taxation (RIE III) aimed at a tax relief of about 50% for companies was opposed by referendum by trade unions under the leadership of the organisation ZV Öffentliches Personal (Employees of the Public Sector Of Switzerland), a member of the CESI.

60% of eligible voters voted in favour of the referendum and thus against the third company tax reform (RIE III), which would have resulted in tax losses of CHF 4 billion in Switzerland and, consequently, enormous cuts in the public service and tax increases for the population.

CESI would like to highlight this result is a great success for our member union ZV Öffentliches Personal. It is a clear sign for the Swiss political circles that the electorate does not accept any reductions of the Public Service and that its financing must be guaranteed!

“On March 25, EU leaders will gather in Rome to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the Rome Treaties. On this occasion they are expected to adopt a declaration on how they see the future of the EU and the European integration project as a whole. This is a much-needed opportunity to finally commit to a Europe which puts an end to gender-based discrimination. Last year, during extensive consultations on how to build such a Europe, CESI and its Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality positioned themselves clearly vis-à-vis the European institutions and decision-makers.

We expect the European Commission to publish as soon as possible an ambitious European Pillar of Social Rights, which should incorporate an equally ambitious gender equality dimension. Above all, it should put into practice last year’s roadmap of the European Commission on work-life balance.

Encouraging a further equal sharing of domestic responsibilities between men and women and giving new opportunities for single parents to reconcile employment and running a household must be an absolute priority for policy makers. This ranges, for instance, from enhanced maternity leave rules, a better take-up of parental leave by fathers and the introduction of new carers’ leave schemes to more affordable and accessible child and elderly care services, a more equal access for women to managerial positions, less discriminatory promotion practices and further steps to reduce gender pay and pensions gaps.

National and EU leaders have a full agenda to deliver and I count on the Rome summit to deliver a strong pledge.”

Picture: Kirsten Lühmann © dbb 2017

The study assesses the EU’s legislative and policy framework on occupational health and safety, reviews fundamental work-related stress and psychosocial risks, analyses new working patters which contribute to these, and describes good practices on how to tackle new and emerging risks for safety and health at work in four public administrations in Europe:

• Spain: ‘Procedure n. 601’ for the determination of a risk assessment methodology, a check-list model for the early recognition of stressors in single work units, covering 250,000 public employees

• Belgium: A decision-tree of the Federal Public Service (FPS) in the container fumigation procedure for first line verification officers to perform an administratively correct and safe physical checks of containers for toxic gases and vapours

• Germany: A new Mental Stress Checklist of the Federal Agency for Family and Civil Society Tasks (BAFzA) to assess mental stress at the workplace

• Italy: A national-level survey by the Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority (INAIL) to investigate the employer’s perception of working conditions, occupational risk exposure and their impact on health for workers

The full study can be accessed here. English, German, French, Spanish and Italian language versions are available.

The study was co-funded by the European Commission under budget heading 04 03 01 05 “Information and training measures for workers’ organisations”, Call VP/2016/002, and produced on behalf of CESI by Lorenzo Maria Pelusi and Michele Tiraboschi, ADAPT, Italy.

Picture: © CESI 2017

The European Sunday Alliance is a large network of national and European-level trade unions, civil society organizations and religious communities committed to raise awareness of the unique value of decent working hours in European societies. It joins forces with committed MEPs and offers a platform for exchange and discussion.

In particular, the Alliance:
• supports the protection of health and safety of workers and their right to a limit on maximum working hours and of a weekly rest period, including, in principle Sunday;

• advocates the respect for collective agreements covering work organisation, which are essential to the social contract of a modern European society;
• speaks up against the growing economic pressure undermining national regulations regarding working conditions
• fosters commitment to safeguard and promote work-free Sunday and decent working hours;
• pushes the EU institutions to safeguard Sunday, in principle, as the common weekly rest day in the EU;
• works to ensure that EU legislation and internal market rules guarantee the central place of health and safety, work- and life-balance and social cohesion by launching relevant initiatives to ensure work-free Sundays and decent working hours; and
• pushes governments of Member States to take their responsibility for improving, implementing and enforcing existing legislation and practices and respecting collective agreements.

More information can be accessed on the website of the European Sunday Alliance and in its Founding Statement.

Klaus Heeger: “Decent working hours a key challenge for workers today”

CESI joined the Alliance as a supporting member and encourages its member organisations to accede to the Alliance as full members.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “As highlighted in a main motion adopted at CESI’s last Congress, the EU Working Time Directive should apply as broadly as possible. CESI has for long recognised that decent working hours and adequate work-life balance are a key challenge for workers already today. Digitalisation and home-based work models are spreading along with emerging and unregulated so-called new forms of employment.”

He added: “It is vital that trade unions, social NGOs and churches join in a forceful coalition with decision-makers and politicians to make sure that employment remains regulated and fair for all. I am convinced that the European Sunday Alliance is a network that can make a difference.”

Logo: CESI / European Sunday Alliance Logo © CESI 2017 / © European Sunday Alliance 2017

The White Paper was presented as the European Commission’s contribution to the Rome Summit on March 25, when EU leaders will discuss about the future direction of the EU on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome. It presents five scenarios on how the EU could evolve by 2015, “depending on how it chooses to respond”:

• Scenario 1: Carrying On. The EU27 focuses on delivering its positive reform agenda in the spirit of the Commission’s New Start for Europe from 2014 and of the Bratislava Declaration agreed by all 27 Member States in 2016

• Scenario 2: Nothing but the Single Market. The EU27 is gradually re-centred on the single market as the 27 Member States are not able to find common ground on an increasing number of policy areas.
• Scenario 3: Those Who Want More Do More. The EU27 proceeds as today but allows willing Member States to do more together in specific areas such as defence, internal security or social matters.
• Scenario 4: Doing Less More Efficiently. The EU27 focuses on delivering more and faster in selected policy areas, while doing less where it is perceived not to have an added value. Attention and limited resources are focused on selected policy areas.
• Scenario 5: Doing Much More Together. Member States decide to share more power, resources and decision-making across the board. Decisions are agreed faster at European level and rapidly enforced.

The European Commission has announced an accompanying special reflection paper on the development of the EU’s social dimension for the next months. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The White Paper and the forthcoming reflection paper on the EU’s social dimension certainly come at a crucial moment, as we await an ambitious European Pillar of Social Rights.”

He added: “Leaders in the EU institutions and the Member States must now reflect on what future they see for the EU, and then act with a clear vision. For Europe’s workers, it is critical that the EU will not be stripped of achievements in employment and social affairs. As stated in one of the main motions adopted at CESI’s last Congress, the growing interconnections of national economic, financial and social policies require a strong signal towards greater integration. Thanks to the EU, workers across Europe enjoy rights and working conditions they would not if it wasn’t for the EU.”

The full text of the White Paper can be accessed on the European Commission’s webpage.

Picutre: Logo ‘Future of Europe’ © European Commission 2017

Generally, CESI welcomes the conclusion of comprehensive trade agreements as a tool to promote growth and wealth, but only if they do not undermine European minimum standards in terms of labour and core social rights, and only if they protect public services in the spirit of the (TTIP-related) EU-US joint statement on public services of March 2015.

Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “It is now more likely than ever before that there will be a fully-fledged CETA soon. This is a fact we should all acknowledge. In the future, together with our member organisation, it will be key for us to keep a close eye on impacts of CETA on labour and social rights.

All social partners should be involved in an ongoing, formalised monitoring process.”

Klaus Heeger added: “A CETA monitoring process should also include consequences of the agreement on public services. CESI has highlighted for long that public services should enjoy special protection under free trade and investment agreements, as the European Parliament also requested in its previous own-initiative report on TTIP.”

For CESI, it also remains of fundamental importance that the proposed investment court system (ICS) (that ‘would replace the investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism and which is not yet subject to provisional application) will neither undermine democratic principles and the provision of public services, nor lead to a lowering of consumer, environment and workers´ protection standards.

“This will have to be closely monitored by CESI and its member organisations in the coming months”, the CESI Secretary General concluded.

More information about CESI’s position on CETA and free trade and investment agreements more generally can be accessed in a position paper on CESI’s website.

Picture: Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, in the European Parliament in Brussels © European Union 2016/EC Audiovisual Service/Melanie Wenger

The discussion touched upon many points relevant to the fight against radicalisation, but also to the social policies needed to prevent social exclusion in Europe. The general sentiment is that the EU is at a turning point, facing unprecedented challenges with regards to radicalisation, terrorism and the rise of populism.

Furthermore, social media have become tools to prevent but also to spread radical and populist propaganda. The digital revolution is challenging the requirements of the workforce of the future.

“In these times, we are more than ever faced with intellectual and moral uncertainty and it is of utmost importance for us to be able to defend those value we consider being fundamental: human dignity, freedom and tolerance”, Secretary General Klaus Heeger underlined. “CESI focuses on the importance and the valorisation of teachers, and the transmission of these values through education.”

The discussion with Commissioner Navracsics also included the importance of investment in education. “Today´s high unemployment especially amongst the young is also rooted in yesterday’s education policies and the lack in investments thereof”, Commissioner Navracsics highlighted. “The electorate demands tangible results now, but investments in education will show on a long-term basis.”

CESI will continue highlighting the many challenges facing the educational sector as much as we tackle the security situation, making sure that no one is excluded or left behind.

Picture: CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger with Commissioner Tibor Navracsics © European Union, 2017/EC Audiovisual Service/ Francois Walschaerts

n line with the motions adopted by the last CESI Congress in December 2016, the overarching topics to guide the work of the General Secretariat will be:

• The future of Europe – Investing in people;
• Public services – Delivering results; and
• Digitalisation – Finding the balance.

Action points of the individual Trade Councils and Commissions, CESI’s specialised internal forums of debate for member organisations, include:

• Employment and Social Affairs (SOC) Commission
Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights (esp. regarding access to social protection, the implementation and application of the EU working time directive, and the role of public social investment for economic growth nd social cohesion)
Working for higher youth employment rates (esp. in the context of necessary skills and a facilitated voluntary mobility of apprentices) – jointly with the Education Trade Council

• Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) Commission
Reducing gender pay and pensions gaps
Combating violence against women, including moral abuse (esp. at work)
Working towards better work-life balance for employees, especially in the field of caring responsibilities

• Central Administration and Finances (ACF) Trade Council
Highlighting the dangers of austerity politics for the functioning of public services
Reducing in-work poverty
Digitalisation (esp. its contribution to quality public services)
Progressing on social dialogue (esp. concerning a follow-up to the agreement on the rights to information and consultation of workers of central administrations signed on 21 December 2015)
Raising awareness about the role of tax administrations in fighting tax fraud and tax evasion
Implementing worker-friendly telework schemes
Working towards fair advancement and promotion schemes in the civil service
Achieving an effective protection of public services in free trade and investment agreements
Highlighting the role of public services in the intetration of migrants of refugees
Combating violence against public service employees

• Local and Regional Administration (LRA) Trade Council
Integrating migrants (esp. with regards costs and consequences for administrations and challenges faced by employees)
Impacts of digitalisation on local and regional administrations
Equipping local and regional administration workers in terms of impacts of digitalisation on working conditions and employment relationships
Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights for staff in local and regional administrations
Addressing the phenomenon of freeman (i.e. criminal law responses to people refusing to recognise the state monopoly and structure while benefitting from it)

• Health (SAN) Trade Council
Following-up on the EU Green Paper on Health
Dealing with shortages of human resources in the health sector
Implications of Brexit on health personnel
Collaborating for the benefit of mobile workers in the health care sector
Achieving a sustainable recruitment of carers

• Education, Training, Research (EDUC) Trade Council
Addressing migration-related challenges for public schools
Achieving better professional training and dual education systems
Improving the image of teachers
Achieving more moral and material support for the education system and education staff
Working for higher youth employment rates (esp. in the context of necessary skills and a facilitated voluntary mobility of apprentices) – jointly with the Employment and Social Affairs (SOC) Commission

• Post and Telecoms (P&T) Trade Council
Working towards an operational ‘Committee to assess economic regulation in the telecommunications sector’ (CEREST)
Addressing impacts of digitalisation in the post and telecom sectors
Achieving better flexible working time organisation schemes for workers in the post and telecoms sectors
Creating more age-appropriate working places
Fighting social dumping in the post and telecoms sectors
Raising awareness about problems related to liberalisations in the post and telecoms sectors

• Security (SEC) Trade Council
Improving counter-terrorism systems and external border controls/related data exchanges
Raising awareness about the role and work of employees in the security sector
Coming forward with a proposal on a fund to security sector employees going through a trauma

• Justice Trade Council
Addressing challenges linked to privatisations in the justice sector and especially of prisons
Highlighting the right of association and industrial action for justice sector employees
Working towards a better training and equipment and a better prevention of violence against employees in the justice sector
Assessing the impacts of the migration on the penitentiary system
Preventing violence against justice employees and achieving better work-life balance for them
Addressing challenges linked to data exchange and data surveillance

• Defence (DEF) Trade Council
Pooling and legitimising security measures in Europe (esp. in the context of the European defence union and the EU Defence action plan)
Raising awareness about implications of cuts in the defence budgets
Improving working conditions and rights of civil and military employees of the defence sector

More information about the individual Trade Councils and Commissions can be accessed here. The meeting dates of the individual trade councils and commissions for the year 2017 will be set shortly.

The document can be accessed in the policy positions section of CESI’s website in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian language.

It pins down CESI’s interests with regards to all EU free trade and investment agreements, ranging from TTIP to TiSA and CETA, and stipulates the following:
• The EU must make sure that trade agreements will in no way negatively affect, erode or even dismantle social and labour standards and rights established by international, EU and EU Member States’ legal orders;
• Services of general interest (SGIs) must be fully exempted from trade agreements;
• National rules and award criteria in public procurement mechanisms should be excluded from trade agreements as their definition must remain unchanged in relation to the currently existing EU public procurement rules;
• Special investor protection instruments for cases of investor-state disputes should not run against the governments’ right to meet core public policy objectives; and
• Secrecy in trade negotiations must end.

Contact [email protected] for further information about the position paper.

The next CESI Congress, upcoming on December 2, will be under the following three themes:
• Digitalisation: Finding the balance
• Public services: Delivering results
• The future of Europe: Investing in people

The Europe Academy, CESI’s internal training centre, will conduct a year-long project on occupational health and safety. Landmark events will be seminars on ‘New working rhythms and their impact on health’ in Copenhagen on June 3 and on ‘Responsible players in the implementation of the occupational safety and health policy in the public sector in Europe: managers, trade unions, safety reps’ in Madrid on October 14.

The Trade Councils and Commissions, the specialised internal forums of debate for CESI’s member organisations, adopted the following action programmes:

• Employment and Social Affairs (SOC) Commission
Quality employment: Fight against precariousness on the labour market
Adaptation to change: Preparation of employees to technological (and other) changes
Full employment: Youth unemployment and work-life balance

• Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) Commission
Situation of women refugees
Strategy for gender equality
Equal treatment
Domestic violence

• Central Administration and Finances (ACF) Trade Council
Social dialogue: Follow-up of the agreement on the rights to information and consultation of workers of central administrations signed on 21 December 2015
Digitalisation: Risks for the financing capacity of the social protection systems
Fight against tax fraud and tax evasion
The central importance (revalorisation) of central administrations in Europe
Dangers of austerity politics

• Local and Regional Administration (LRA) Trade Council
Integration of refugees: Costs and consequences for the administrations, challenges for employees
Digitalisation: Processes and consequences for workplaces
Extension of the working life: Challenges and opportunities for workers above age 50

• Security (SEC) Trade Council
30 years of Schengen: Members States and accession states, refugees and migration issues, illegal trafficking, Schengen Information System (SIS), external borders control
Terrorism and new forms of criminality linked to refugee and migration issues
Labour protection in the police sector

• Education, Training, Research (EDUC) Trade Council
The challenges linked to the migration crisis
Teaching values in the fight against radicalisation
The inclusion of disabled students

• Health (SAN) Trade Council
Impacts of digitalisation: Bureaucracy?
Access to and quality of health services for migrant and ethnic minorities
Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health (EXPH)
Working time directive: Follow-up of recent EU Court of Justice jurisdiction
Position of less educated workers

• Justice Trade Council
Impacts of the refugees crisis on the penitentiary system
Violence against justice employees
Right to strike of justice public employees and the establishment of an effective industrial relations dispute resolution machinery
Privatisations in the justice sector
Training and revised security arrangements for employees in the justice sector to properly deal with new challenges such as radicalisation

• Post and Telecoms (P&T) Trade Council
Digital Agenda
CEREST
Flexible work-planification
Extension of the Trade council to other member organisations

• Defence (DEF) Trade Council
Deployment of armed forces to solve the refugee crisis
Cuts in the defence budgets: Impacts on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
Political chances of intensified military cooperation efforts
Sovereignty options for European defence
Labour rights of civil and military employees of the defence sector
Gender equality in military forces

More information about the individual Trade Councils and Commissions can be accessed here. For the full calendar of CESI events, please consult the website’s calendar section.

The interpretative communication is expected in March, as a measure to complement the forthcoming European Pillar of Social Rights.

According the European Commission, the aim of the interpretative communication is to bring legal clarity and certainty to the Member States and social partners when applying the working time directive, including clarifying the scope for flexibility and derogations in its application, and to assist Member States in implementing the directive in a way that minimises burdens and avoids infringements. To that end, the document is expected to compile the provisions arising from both the text of the directive and its interpretation through relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in a single document in order to make them clearer, more readable and accessible to all.

CESI is not satisfied with the current working time rules as set by the Working Time Directive but fears that a legislative revision might bring even lower levels of protection for workers against overtime and excessive working hours. CESI still welcomes the forthcoming interpretative communication.

In its recent position paper on the European Pillar of Social Rights, one of CESI’s main priorities was the proper implementation and application of existing EU rules.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “CESI is closely following this dossier, which is a priority for many of our member organisations. Many workers across Europe continue to be affected by ill-applied flexibility and derogation clauses of the Working Time Directive. During the last years, more than 50 judgments of the Court of Justice have interpreted the provisions of the directive. This has made it hard to keep an overview in terms of the applicable personal scope, definition of working time or on-call time, the timing of compensatory rest or paid annual leave. I hope the forthcoming communication will make it easier for trade unions and authorities to address improper applications of the Directive.”

Picture: CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger © CESI 2017

The meeting launched 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.

Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of CESI, said: “Against the backdrop of sluggish public social investments and resulting increased social divergences across Europe, calls to allow Member States more budgetary flexibility under the EU’s macroeconomic governance framework are becoming increasing vocal. So far, however, a clear and politically feasible plan for this is missing.”

Jana Hainsworth, President of Social Platform, noted: “The need to promote investment is very high on the European agenda, but it mainly focuses on infrastructure, energy and transport. So far there has been little scope for the promotion of social investment. The cost of non-investment in people will be significant in the long-term not only from the social perspective, but in economic terms too.”

Opinions were given by Andriana Sukova-Toshevas, Director for investment at the European Commission as well as by the MEP Maria João Rodrigues (S&D, PT) and the CEO of the European Policy Centre (EPC), Fabian Zuleeg.

Andriana Sukova-Toshevas, Director for investment at the European Commission, stated that the Commission will continue making use of budgetary flexibility to promote investment in Member States with limited fiscal space. She added that there is scope for better targeting of social investment in the frame of the European Semester and the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Maria João Rodrigues, Member of the European Parliament, emphasised that it is possible to promote fiscal discipline and investment at the same time. The country-specific recommendations of the European Semester should be used to better translate this policy mix, she said.

Fabian Zuleeg, CEO of the European Policy Centre, argued that social investment needs to be clearly defined. It is also important to show that social investment can also be a productive factor, he stressed.

Heather Roy, Secretary General of Eurodiaconia, said: “Following our launching discussion today, our objective is to continue driving and helping structure the debate on more public social investments in Europe, a topic of clearly vital importance for Europe’s societies. What we need is politically feasible approaches and solutions.”

Picture: © CESI 2017

Romain Wolff and Klaus Heeger were re-elected President and Secretary General respectively. Urs Stauffer will succeed Frank Stöhr as Treasurer.

All three were elected with large majorities.

Romain Wolff, Klaus Heeger and Urs Stauffer to lead CESI

Romain Wolff will enter his second term of office, having been President of CESI since 2012. As a long-standing trade unionist, he has been Secretary General of CESI’s Luxembourgish member organisation CGFP (General Confederation of Public Services) since 2005. In his speech, Romain Wolff underlined the long way that CESI has come as a constructive interest group and recognised social partner at the EU level, and stressed his determination to help shape CESI’s further evolution during the next years.

Klaus Heeger, German, has been Secretary General of CESI since 2012. His noted expertise in EU affairs and experience in lobbying and social dialogue are to root CESI’s interest representation further in the Brussels arena. During his address to the Congress, Mr Heeger underscored the importance of CESI as an actor in Brussels, stressing the need of a strong voice of workers at the EU level in the management of the post-crisis employment and social affairs policies.

Urs Stauffer has been President of the Swiss trade union ZV (Central Association of Public Personnel) since 2002. He has held several positions within CESI in the past; during the last legislative period he was a Vice-President of CESI. Addressing the Congress, Urs Stauffer pledged to continue to manage CESI’s finances in a successful and sustainable manner.

The CESI Presidium will be completed by:

• Péterné Erzsébet Boros (MKKSZ, Hungary)
• Klaus Dauderstädt (dbb, Germany)
• Jean-Claude Delage (FP CFE-CGC, France)
• José Fernández Vidál (CSI-F, Spain)
• Patrick Fey (CNV Connectief, the Netherlands)
• Fritz Neugebauer (Eurofedop, European Federation)
• Marco Paolo Nigi (CONF.S.A.L., Italy)

Keynote address by European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis

The keynote address at the Congress was delivered by Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the European Commission, in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue. In his speech, Mr Dombrovskis highlighted CESI’s important role in EU social dialogue and its constructive contribution to European policy debates as a voice of workers and public sector employees.

Motions adopted on the future of work, public services and digitalisation

Three overarching main motions, accompanied by side motions, were adopted, which provide guidelines for the strategic work, social dialogue activities and interest representation work of the CESI General Secretariat and mandate holders until the next Congress in 2020. They focus on what the workers which CESI represents consider priority fields for action during the next years:

The first adopted motion, with side motions, reviews the EU’s challenges more generally and specifically in the field of employment and social affairs, touching on issues such as occupational health and safety, gender equality at work, social dialogue, in-work poverty and labour law standards.

The second adopted motion and its accompanying side motions focus on the need to invest in public services and public administrations as a tool for adequate working conditions for public sector workers and, importantly, social cohesion through the provision of accessible and affordable services of general interests for citizens.

The third motion and its side motions, address the impacts of digitalisation on employment, worker rights and trade unionism in detail. It stipulates that digitalisation can be an opportunity for workers – if it is properly regulated.

In addition, a number of motions were adopted to change the statutes of CESI so as to improve the organisation’s functioning and governance structure. This includes the formal recognition of CESI’s youth representation, the CESI Youth.

For the adopted motions:

• Adopted main motion 1 – Investing in people
• Adopted motions accompanying main motion 1
• Adopted main motion 2 – Public services
• Adopted motions accompanying main motion 2
• Adopted main motion 3 – Digitalisation
• Adopted motions accompanying main motion 3
• Adopted motion to adjust CESI’s statutes
• Adopted urgency motion on democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights and freedoms

The position paper, which complements CESI’s formal contribution to the ongoing public consultation, focuses on five key action points that should, according to CESI, be an integral part of the Pillar:

• Gaps in fields in which the EU has legislative competences must be closed via binding standards based on the highest level of job quality and protection for workers and citizens. This relates especially to directives and regulations concerning: new, flexible forms of employment; consequences of mobile and digital work models on employment relationships and worker rights; and adequate work-life balance based on a notion of gender equality according to which responsibilities in households should be equally shared.

• It is crucial that EU law and rules in employment and social affairs are implemented and enforced more rigorously and without exception.

• In areas in which the EU has no clear legislative competences (large parts of social affairs), a step towards more social cohesion in Europe could be the development of a set of commonly accepted and meaningful indicators which can measure social change timely, effectively and to the most objective extent possible. Once established, such social indicators should be monitored regularly by means of analogous benchmarks in the Member States which measures relative improvements.

• Implementing the Pillar will require more public investments in Member States in areas such as early childhood care, health, education and training. Investment possibilities under the current EU’s macroeconomic and fiscal surveillance framework remain very restrictive; in this context more flexibility and incentives for increased public social investments should be enabled and encouraged by the EU – A new Golden rule for public social investments is needed.

• Developing and implementing the Pillar should involve all recognised social partners at all levels of the process. Inclusive sectoral and interprofessional social dialogues are fundamental, based on the criteria established in the European Commission’ SEC(2010) 9064 final (p.5) to be recognised as a sectoral social partner in European sectoral social dialogue.

The full position paper can be accessed here.

As defence has become increasingly urgent concern for the EU, the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs presented a respective report.

It is now clear that based on recent developments, a change of mind-set has to take place in Europe and its Member States.

Thomas Sohst, President of the CESI Defence Trade Council and member of the German Armed Forces Association has expressed his deep satisfaction: “It is the first time that a report on European defence mentions social aspects explicitly. This underlines, that it is not merely a question of providing combatants, material and weapons. It is also about the people, the soldiers, the citizens in uniform.”

EUROMIL, the European Organisation of Military Associations, had commented on the draft version of July, so that issues of particular concern for soldiers -such as the right of military personnel to form and join professional associations or trade unions and the involvement in a regular social dialogue with the authorities – have been included in the report.

“We now invite the European Council to take concrete steps towards the harmonisation and standardisation of the European armed forces, in order to facilitate the cooperation of armed forces personnel under the umbrella of a new European Defence Union. I am convinced that this first step will open up plenty more opportunities to improve the situation Europe wide”, Mr. Sohst added.

CESI’s Defence Trade Council will continue to follow the process and the various developments on both EU and national level following this decision.

Following some initial references to the need for more investments in last year’s AGS, this year’s edition features additional mentions in this field.

According to the Commission, Member States should invest more in labour market participation, quality jobs, training and upskilling and in social infrastructure and access to quality services, including childcare, healthcare, long-term care and education. ‘The low funding cost environment makes it an ideal time for the Member States to frontload public investments’, the Commission writes. It also made an important direct link between investments in human capital and economic growth, noting that investments in training ‘will be needed to push up growth of total factor productivity’.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “In this year’s AGS, the European Commission implies that investment in human capital is economically worthwhile. The Commission also recognises the urgency to deliver inclusive growth and fare better in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. In our view, this is vital for Europe’s economic and social recovery.”

At the same time, the AGS still needs a further paradigm shift towards enabling more public social investments. The Commission advocates more investments by those countries that can afford it, thus moving the euro area as a whole towards a positive fiscal stance, but warns all other Member States to do so. The Commission underscores that ‘where fiscal space does not exist [to invest, Member States] should deliver on the requirements given by the Stability and Growth Pact.’

“According to the Commission, cuts in public budgets still take precedence over public social investments. However, it is mostly those countries hit hardest by the crisis and with the highest debt levels which have the greatest social challenges but no scope to remedy because of the EU’s restrictive budgetary surveillance rules”, Klaus Heeger said.

The European Commission considers a more systematic application of existing flexibility rules under the Stability and Growth Pact (the so-called investment clause), which will allow Member States to make some investments even when stretching the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). This is encouraging but not sufficient.

“In sum, Member States continue to be threatened by EU sanctions in case of increased spending for social purposes and in human capital. What we need is a revision of the Stability and Growth Pact to allow Member States to invest more socially. Using creative arguments, the Commission and the Council recently let Spain and Portugal off the hook after they had violated the Pact, but if the rules were modified sensibly, there would be no more need to wind out of sanctions for reasonable spendings. Trade unions, civil society groups and politicians have increasingly been voicing support for this. Time is ripe for a Golden Rule for public social investments according to which certain expenditures in human capital and social cohesion can be exempted from the Pact. Also public administrations and public services need to be well-funded and equipped if they are to provide accessible and high quality support for citizens”, Klaus Heeger underlined.

On a more general note, he added: “CESI welcomes references in the AGS to the importance of social dialogue in the labour markets. However, there is no mentioning of the need for more inclusive and pluralist social dialogue. In our view, there are worrying trends across Europe of the largest trade unions finding themselves in increasingly privileged positions. In our view, all workers count and it should not exclusively be the biggest social partners that are heard by policy-makers and institutions.”

According to the report, the recent coup “represented a direct attack on democracy in Turkey”, but there has been a “serious backsliding in the past year in the area of freedom of expression”, with “selective and arbitrary application of the law.” Overall, the report notes, post-coup decrees issued by the Erdogan government “produce effects beyond the state of emergency” which “raises questions as to the proportionality of the measures taken.” Most importantly, the report finds that measures also affect key rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), in particular the right to a fair trial.

Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General expressed his deep worries about the current situation in Turkey: “CESI and its member organisations avow themselves to the principles of democracy and the rule of such laws designed to protect fundamental rights, especially those established by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are therefore strongly calling upon all relevant actors to do what is in their power to make sure that those persons who, as a consequence of the coup, may have been suspended, dismissed or even arrested, are unconditionally guaranteed the fundamental rights to a fair trial by independent and impartial tribunals and the presumption of ‘innocence until proven guilty’. Arbitrary persecutions and arrests remain incompatible with fundamental rights and the rule of law.”

The full Turkey Report can be accessed here.

Yes, the gap between the EU and the citizens must be closed to secure the future of the European project, but, let’s be honest, if the EU wants to provide solutions for the big issues, the renationalisation of policies cannot be the answer. The growing interconnections of national economic, financial, social and security policies require a strong signal towards greater integration within Europe and improved international cooperation.

Empowering the EU to “deliver results” in such areas as migration, security, defense, external relations and taxations require further shifts of national sovereignty in, admittedly, very sensitive areas.

As a trade unionist it is easy to say that solidarity is at the heart of the European social model, but this solidarity cannot only be invoked among workers and between workers and those excluded from the labour market – it must also be invoked between Member States in all kind of policy fields.

Yet as we know, we call for ‘more Europe’ when we think we can impose our way of thinking upon the continent. And we denounce this Europe as undemocratic and intrusive when someone else’s vision is to be imposed upon us.

What we have to learn again is to accept compromises – not only to see them as evils destined to undermine our democracies, but also as necessary steps when serving higher interests.

This higher interest is a more united European continent, a continent where the unconditional respect of democracy, the rule of law and the respect for fundamental rights and liberties are inalienable guiding principles.

After the US Presidential elections, it is fundamental that the EU stands for these values around the world more fiercely than ever before. That is, in the end, what will keep Europe strong.

Kirsten Lühmann, CESI´s FEMM Commission´s chairwoman (again) welcomed the EC initiative: “The European Commission is demonstrating great motivation concerning this issue and it can count on CESI’s unconditional support in its endeavours. However, let us also be honest, the current prognoses are clearly not encouraging. “

According to the latest Global Gender Gap Report 2016 of the world Economic Forum, the worldwide gender pay gap will not be closed for another 170 years, and the economic gender gap 2016 “has reverted back to where it stood in 2008, after a peak in 2013.”

Lühmann deeply deplores these findings: “The 2015 report had predicted 118 years for the worldwide gender gap to close, and now we are at 170 years! Even if economic slowdown has to be taken into account, it means that in too many countries homework has not been done.”

Referring to the to her mind most important conclusions of the Report, according to which the forecasts “reflect the current state of progress and serve as a call to action to policymakers and other stakeholders to accelerate gender equality “, Kirsten Lühmann highlighted everyone´s responsibility:

“CESI is such a stakeholder, and we reiterate our firm intention to make things change. We provide all our expertise relating to the modern working world for the EU equality strategy. As trade unions, we see cases of unequal treatment on a daily basis, so we know that problems are particularly serious for women in the professional world. “

Yet for CESI´s FEMM-Commission chairwoman one thing remains key for any real success: “If the main responsibility for home and child care remains on women, labour market equality will never work. There we need strong legislative incentives and obligations which may lead to a real change of paradigm in our heads.”

Kirsten Lühmann, CESI´s FEMM Commission´s chairwoman (again) welcomed the EC initiative: “The European Commission is demonstrating great motivation concerning this issue and it can count on CESI’s unconditional support in its endeavours. However, let us also be honest, the current prognoses are clearly not encouraging. “

According to the latest Global Gender Gap Report 2016 of the world Economic Forum, the worldwide gender pay gap will not be closed for another 170 years, and the economic gender gap 2016 “has reverted back to where it stood in 2008, after a peak in 2013.”

Lühmann deeply deplores these findings: “The 2015 report had predicted 118 years for the worldwide gender gap to close, and now we are at 170 years! Even if economic slowdown has to be taken into account, it means that in too many countries homework has not been done.”

Referring to the to her mind most important conclusions of the Report, according to which the forecasts “reflect the current state of progress and serve as a call to action to policymakers and other stakeholders to accelerate gender equality “, Kirsten Lühmann highlighted everyone´s responsibility:

“CESI is such a stakeholder, and we reiterate our firm intention to make things change. We provide all our expertise relating to the modern working world for the EU equality strategy. As trade unions, we see cases of unequal treatment on a daily basis, so we know that problems are particularly serious for women in the professional world. “

Yet for CESI´s FEMM-Commission chairwoman one thing remains key for any real success: “If the main responsibility for home and child care remains on women, labour market equality will never work. There we need strong legislative incentives and obligations which may lead to a real change of paradigm in our heads.”

Within the frame of this meeting and his speech at the Congress, Romain Wolff highlighted four points that represent, according to CESI, important barriers to a proper balance between work and family life: rigid working time, children’s care, family members’ care and an the difficult shift from full time to part-time work.

“While a general increased flexibility is welcomed and may be positively influenced by new technologies, this cannot happen at the expenses of the employees´ availability, working time and, last but not least, safety and health”, Romain Wolff underlined. “However, the most fundamental obstacle to be overcome is the one in our heads, telling us us that women should be the ones carrying most of the family and household loads. As long as we cannot achieve a shift of paradigm in this regard, the concepts of work-life balance and gender equality will remain empty slogans!”

In this context, CESI´s French members and colleagues from Alliance Police Nationale have met with the President of the French Republic Francois Hollande to further discuss urgent matters that complicate the work carried out around the clock by security officers.

“The exasperation is fully comprehensible, and CESI reiterates our support for amending and improving working conditions for the security forces. Our colleagues at Alliance Police Nationale have been battling the topic of legitimate defence and safe working conditions for French security officers for years and we not only support them at every step of the way but would like to see these issues being handled more seriously on the European level” Klaus Heeger said.

CESI encourages and supports the trade union movements, and reiterates that we need to protect the ones that are protecting us.

More than 130 participants came together in Madrid to discuss and recommend best practices for efficiently implementing and enforcing OSH policies and regulatory frameworks in the public sector, particularly highlighting the role of managers, trade unions and safety reps.

During the event it emerged that the public sector is very often the first sector to be hit by restructuring and that this usually means more work to be done by less personnel – while expectations addressed to the public sector and its workers are permanently increasing. This leads to problems related to health and safety at work, it was said.

Participants and speakers also underlined that new technologies lead to a “dematerialisation of the office life”, which translates into a change of working time patterns, work organisation and work rhythms. It was highlighted that these new working rhythms -but also the use of the new mobile work devices- can have a profound impact on health and safety.

Different high-level interventions noted the influence of work-life balance, work organisation and of course working conditions not only on the safety and health of workers but also on the productivity of the workforce. The costs of implementing efficient OSH policies within companies or administrations, which always lead to concrete economic and financial returns, need to be considered as investments, it was said. Participants also underscored the role of trade unions and social partners as constructive partners, not as obstacles, in the definition and implementation of OSH measures.

Many speakers underlined the further need to raise awareness about the importance of OSH policies, improve the exchange of best practices, expand and specify legislative frameworks and, most important of all, ensure their proper enforcement.

In his conclusions, Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General, highlighted the need for CESI and its member organisations to inform each other and work together hand in hand in order to make sure that the best OSH legislation, models and practices are adopted and applied throughout Europe.

The findings of the symposium, along with those of the first conference of the year, will be used to finalise a study on best practices in OSH in the public sector in Europe. The conference programme, speaker presentations and all further material related to the Madrid symposium and this year’s project of the Europe Academy will be published here.

Matthäus Fandrejewski’s intervention was a follow-up from the European Youth Event (EYE), which took place in May this year in Strasbourg, presenting ideas relating to the EU External Action in dealing with migratory flows.

According to Matthäus, there is an urgent need to better recognise and match skills of migrants with the needs on local labour markets in Europe. In particular, he said that following a screening with the help of a new CV-like database, migrants arriving in Europe should, where possible, be matched to Member States which are in need of special skills that they possess – of course, while taking their cultural backgrounds into consideration. Moreover, a harmonised international equivalence system and a more effective scheme for recognition of qualifications should be implemented in order to assess and make use of the professional competences of migrants that were educated and trained abroad. This would maximise chances for migrants to find employment, make a positive impact on the economy and domestic labour markets, and integrate into societies and local civil society structures.

Matching skills of migrants with needs on local labour markets

He said: “As a trade unionist I know how painstakingly difficult it is to find an opportunity on today’s labour market, even for national citizens. When it comes to migrants they face even bigger difficulties as they have to overcome language barriers and not knowing whether your skills are officially recognised will also lead to a lack of self-confidence. The proposal is to create a database where migrants can upload their CV in order to check if their skills match with the needs of the Member State they would like to emigrate to. Once a match has been found, the migrant can send their application to the Member State. Subsequently the Member State can then verify the application and information the migrant whether he/she stands a good chance to find employment according to their skills, qualifications and languages.”

Investments in public services needed

The implementation of his proposal, he said, would however require the political will of decision-makers to invest more in the necessary public services and administrations. A video recording of the debate that took place can be accessed through the European Parliament’s website. A statement by Matthäus is also available on the European Parliament’s Instagram page.

What is responsible: the discrete but decisive actions of the EU, or internal political pressure on the island itself? Whatever the reason, Prime Minister May has recently announced that Article 50 will be triggered at the end of March 2017 at the latest. The final, effective decision to do so can only be made by the Parliament in Westminster, however.

That is why it is still possible (though currently believed to be unlikely) that the British government may not be able to announce its intention of exiting the EU in accordance with Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, due to a majority vote in the British Parliament from MPs who never wanted the country to leave the EU, despite the British people’s vote in favour of Brexit. In addition, until then, developments in terms of its relations with the EU could lead to the new British government being unable to justify the country’s exit from the European Union. The EU would then find itself in an even more critical position than before the British referendum. Indeed, if the 27-member union does not want gamble away all its chances at a convincing new beginning with greater acceptance and support for European integration and put its own survival at risk, it will have to clearly define its relations and requirements for our British friends.

In order to prevent the failure of negotiations and under pressure from the British, the secession clause was integrated into the EU Basic Treaty or Reform Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU Treaty). The Treaty was thus signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon, the city after which the last and currently valid EU Treaty was named.

According to Article 50, an EU Member State “may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements”. To activate its withdrawal, the state “shall notify the European Council of its intention”. Once Article 50 has been triggered, the Member State and the Union must negotiate and conclude an agreement “setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal”. The treaties shall cease to apply to the state in question from the date of the entry into force of the withdrawal agreement. If a state which has withdrawn from the Union asks to rejoin again, its request shall be subject to Article 49 TFEU. Those are the legal requirements.

As can be noted, Article 50 does not exclude the scenario described above. It does not set forth whether or when the British government must make its decision to withdraw from the Union following the British people’s vote. Moreover, the 2-year deadline can be extended, thus requiring further interpretation. In other words, the entire EU could be taken hostage by such manoeuvring by the British government.

However, that cannot be the rationale underlying this somewhat half-baked provision. At the time of its conception, Article 50 was a new, psychological concession directed at the British who were fearful for their sovereignty. However, it was not designed to become a lever and licence for them to weaken or compromise Europe’s unification achievements by means of an unlimited period of limbo because the British government must follow through the politically binding albeit de jure not binding popular Brexit vote. This would lead to a lengthy period of uncertainty, finally ending in the conclusion that the negotiation of a withdrawal agreement is too complicated and tiresome to reach, and that it would not be worth the effort anymore due to the fact that the EU has become too weak and incapable of action.

(A new referendum could provide a solution to the de facto non-negotiable withdrawal agreement – and those responsible would be spared. But in that case, the citizens of all European member states would be dupe, and this would be difficult to justify. Once again, the burden of the blame would fall upon the EU in its usual scapegoat role – instead of it being viewed as a beacon of hope.)

In any case, until then, only a handful of large and influential Member States would be in charge of deciding in what direction the EU should head. Article 218 TFEU sets forth the process for the negotiation of a withdrawal agreement. Whether in or out, it would not be as decisive anymore (even in the event of the application of Article 218, Article 207 TFEU shall rule trade agreements, and they would all have to be renegotiated, demanding colossal and completely unproductive efforts). This betrayal of the fundamental values and basic ideas underlying the EU (such as democracy and the equal treatment of all EU members) represents a deathblow. It is also possible that Chancellor Angela Merkel (who means well) is also part of this serious problem because she does not want to offend our British friends.

Whatever the case, the 27-member EU must interpret Article 50 TFEU in line with the European Union’s best interests. Indeed, it is a matter of survival. An exiting state cannot be responsible for determining the future development of European integration, in any form whatsoever.

The following clear guidelines for action for the 27-member EU should be applied immediately:

• The EU should be responsible for the interpretation of Article 50 TFEU and resolving the legal loopholes therein.
• In accordance with the options at hand, the EU should call upon the British government to issue its decision to withdraw from the EU as a result of the Brexit referendum, without any further hesitation and by the announced March deadline, notifying the EU of this fact as per Article 50 TFEU or announcing the final and binding decision of the British Parliament and British government not to withdraw from the Union by said deadline.
  In the latter case, the Brexit chapter would come to an end, without legal consequences, and the UK would remain in the EU as a full member. (However, in this case too, the concessions granted by the EU to Mr Cameron prior to the referendum to improve the chances of a “Remain” vote would not be viewed as a British acquis, despite the fact that no conditions were tied to them at the time.)
  The British government would then be in charge of explaining to British voters why it cannot or will not carry out the will of the majority. In that case, it is highly likely that new elections would have to take place in England because the government has repeatedly announced that it would implement the Brexit vote.
• If Britain does not formalise its intention to exit the EU by March 2017 or does not formally announce its wish to remain in the Union by that same date to the competent bodies of the EU, the latter will decide, acting by a qualified majority, that the withdrawal of Britain shall become effective in law with immediate effect on March 31 2017 as a result of the will of the majority of British voters. From that moment on, from the EU’s standpoint, Great Britain would become a third country which would not be party to a large number of the global agreements and treaties struck by the European Union, despite its own government’s lack of action.

The relations between the EU and England will be the object of a newly-negotiated treaty. If the UK formally notifies the EU of its withdrawal from the Union in accordance with Article 50 by 31 March 2017, a transition period of two years will be granted before the country’s exit from the Union is fully effective (this period may even be prolonged upon the EU’s unanimous decision). This will provide time to negotiate the future relations between Britain and the EU. The country’s exit from the Union, however, will take effect upon the termination of this transition period, whether the negotiations have been successful or not.

In my opinion, in line with the rationale of Article 50 TFEU and the above guidelines, British employees and civil servants working for EU institutions that are involved in paving the ground for political EU decisions or who can influence them should leave their posts immediately, be suspended or take early retirement. Commission President Juncker’s promise would have to be adapted accordingly.

Great Britain’s participation to covering these costs will have to be negotiated. This must definitely remain an obligation for the UK. The required removal should apply to Council members, MEPs and Commission members (the English Commissioner Lord Hill resigned from his position of his own volition following the Brexit vote, but he was substituted by Sir Julian King from the UK for the new Security Union portfolio), as well as to the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee. Their expert knowledge may be required in the country’s delegation, however.

A special case is that of the former Portuguese President of the Commission, Mr Barroso, who has recently accepted a top position at Goldman-Sachs: he is supposed to represent the interests of the City of London in the upcoming negotiations. In addition to other matters of concern, his in-depth insider knowledge, network and contacts to individuals involved in the negotiations raise concerns about a conflict of interest benefiting the UK and harming the EU.

Mr Cameron’s referendum aimed to momentarily serve the cohesion of his own party but, as the result of the vote has demonstrated, it has done a disservice to both his country and the EU. The implementation (which is in principle unnecessary) of the British exit will require a great deal of effort and energy. It will have to be planned so as to harm the European citizens as little as possible. Otherwise, the fall of Europe shall be a reality.

This raises new issues about the advantages and disadvantages of direct and representative democracy. We must now hope that those involved will be strengthened by this experience – which could have been spared both at the side of the British and the side of the remaining Member States. No one can say that it is the EU’s fault: the EU can only exist if all those who entered it continue to construct it and participate, as well as grant it the necessary competences for common action. There are sufficient crises as it is.