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

The Union of Montenegrin Physicians was founded in 2013 and is a vocational trade union representing the interests of doctors of medicine. The UMP works towards the improvement of the socio-economic position of Montenegrin doctors as well as for the improvement of working conditions and the protection of the labour rights of its members.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am very glad the UMP chose CESI to represent its interests in the EU arena. CESI already brings together a number of trade unions in this area. The accession of the UMP further strengthens our voice as a trade union confederation representing workers from the public health sector towards the European institutions.”

In the position, which was endorsed earlier this year by CESI’s Trade council ‘Central Administration and Finances’, CESI and UFE, the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe, welcome the fact that the new European Commission has placed the fight against tax avoidance and tax fraud practised by businesses on the top of its political agenda but argue that despite some progress, several demands of trade unions in the area of tax transparency and tax justice have not yet been met.

In particular, CESI and UFE:

• welcome the European Commission’s recent proposal on increased transparency requirements for corporate taxation but regret that it only applies to multinationals that operate in the European Union, thus excluding foreign tax havens and pushing businesses to relocate;

• call for a Tax Identification Number (NIF) covering all 28 EU Member States as a tool for public administrators to facilitate the exchange of tax-related information between countries;

• encourage the Commission to pursue an ambitious agenda in terms of a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) in the EU;

• welcome the European Commission’s legislative initiative aiming to introduce six legally binding measures to fight aggressive tax planning applied by corporation but question whether these measures are sufficient to abolish tax loopholes in general and resolve the problem of unjustified transfer pricing, patent boxes, notional interests, hybrid products acting as a base for double non-taxation; and

• encourage the Commission to work towards a harmonisation of procedures as regards the denunciation of tax swindling – noting that the Member States with the lowest fines and least constraints benefit from a competitive advantage and are responsible for a certain amount of distortion of competition, thus promoting tax fraud.

The full joint position can be accessed here (in English language). For other language versions, please see the policy positions section of CESI’s website.

“Once again, we face the growing threat of terrorism and radicalised elements within our own borders. Our European police forces and firefighters are in charge of protecting our security and safeguarding us from dangers. Every single day, they form our first line of defence against terrorism and other security threats. It’s about time we protect them too!”

The UEFA European Championship raises particular challenges, in which all forces of society are urged to ‛protect those who protect’ much more proactively. “At times like these, we need to remember that our societies are based on values of freedom, democracy, respect and tolerance. The current challenges faced when attempting to ensure that these principles are respected are tremendous – yet security forces and law enforcement bodies lack the necessary support.”

CESI’s new position paper on the important role of public sector workers in the fight against radicalisation and terrorism was submitted to the Dutch EU Presidency at a meeting with the Minister of Security and Justice, Ard van der Steur, on May 31. This paper highlights the need for a holistic approach to fight radicalisation on numerous fronts – as well as the urgent need to guarantee increased assistance and support to public sector workers in the fields of law enforcement, civil protection, education, culture and, last but not least, sports.

A humane reception of refugees is a topic that preoccupies many Member States but there are a multitude of integration-related issues that only begin once a person has been granted international protection, entering employment being one of them. At Tuesday’s CESI@noon event, CESI set out to discuss labour market integration from the entrepreneurial and trade unionist side.

Moderated by the Secretary General of the European Movement International, Petros Fassoulas, the event hosted key actors and experts within the field: Brando Benifei, Italian S&D MEP and currently rapporteur for a parliamentary report on social inclusion and labour market integration of refugees; Marie Boscher, legal migration and integration expert in the European Commission’s DG HOME; Elif Alduman, President of the humanitarian and development organisation KYM International; Wolfgang Müller, Managing director at the German Federal Employment Agency; and Robert Anderson, Head of Eurofound’s Living Conditions and Quality of Life research programme.

Brando Benifei: Key to achieve labour market integration without disadvantaging other groups

Mr Benifei firmly stated his belief in things being done at the local level wherever possible, and encouraging what is important for civil society and trade unions. He reported that in his report he put a focus on direct financial support to social partners working on the ground. Mr Benifei also insisted on the fact that integration must not be done at the expense of other vulnerable groups. This can be materialised by working against social dumping and not decreasing national minimum wages or preventing that resources are being channelled from other needs, he said.

Marie Boscher: Failing to invest in integration today will bring enormous costs in the future

Mrs Boscher guided the participants through an overview of recent actions launched by the European Commission in the field of migration management, including the publication of an action plan on integration and a proposal on a revision of the EU’s Blue Card Directive to attract highly skilled third country nationals on June 7. She highlighted that according the Commission, a revised Blue Card Directive would also apply to beneficiaries of international protection and permit them to carry out entrepreneurial activity alongside traditional employment. Ms Boscher was very clear that failing to invest in labour market integration today would bring disproportional costs in the future. She also reported that the Commission will pursue a pilot programme during this summer which aims to find and present best practices for migrant entrepreneurship, and explaining how and why they are so successful.

Elif Alduman, Wolfgang Müller: Labour market integration experiences in Germany and out on the field

Drawing from experiences on the ground, Elif Alduman and Wolfgang Müller spoke of their experiences in Germany and out on the field. Ms Alduman brought forward examples of refugees who had successfully invested and opened up their own businesses and recalled that the former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was the son of Syrian refugees.

Wolfgang Müller presented the German national public employment service, which is the biggest of its kind in Europe. He reported that the service makes an effort to already intervene when refugees first arrive in Germany and the decision of granting asylum is still pending. He underlined the service’s philosophy to initiate the integration process as soon as possible and even before asylum has been granted – albeit only when there is a certain likelihood that the decision will be a positive one. Mr Müller made clear that the service’s intervention policy is based on the likelihood of a positive outcome of an asylum procedure and that it is irrelevant how easy it will be to integrate a person into the labour market.

Robert Anderson: An important role for mentoring schemes by trade unions and entrepreneurs

Robert Anderson presented the work done by Eurofound on refugee integration into labour markets and the possible contributions of social partners in this context. He stressed the importance of sharing best and creative practices as concerns specific aspects related to the integration of refugees into the labour market, such as skills assessments and the recognition of qualifications. Targeted subsidies to employers for job placements may be helpful but involving workers in quality mentoring could also be an effective route, he remarked. He also said that there is an important role to be played especially by trade unions in raising awareness and giving advice to refugees with regards to accessing employment.

The Secretary General Klaus Heeger also concluded that labour market integration of refugees can also be beneficial for trade unions (see also https://euobserver.com/opinion/134381)

CESI’s work on this topic will continue as more refugees are arriving in Europe and it is increasingly important to initiate integration as soon and as all-inclusively as possible.

While allowing for certain flexibility to react to relevant issues that may arise unexpectedly, the work programme foresees the following activities during the next two years:

1. The Committee will closely cooperate with the European Commission throughout the transposition process of
its Agreement on Information and consultation rights of workers and their representatives adopted on 21 December 2015 into a directive and its adoption in the Council and Parliament.
The Committee will also monitor national developments on information and consultation rights, especially regarding restructuring with short updates of key developments at the Committee’s meetings in light of the content of the Agreement.

2. By the end of 2016, the Committee will produce a monitoring report of its Framework Agreement for a quality service in central administrations for a quality service in central administrations.

3. In view of the ongoing European Commission consultation of social partners on its roadmap ‘New start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families’, the Committee will prepare a common position on this particularly important topic. As part of annual reviews, the Committee will follow up on its policy recommendations towards equal pay between women and men adopted in 2014 with a view to improving access of women to decision-making positions and tackling women’s overrepresentation in low pay positions.

4. The Committee will focus on psycho-social health risks at work. To this effect, an 18-month project funded by the European Commission will look at emerging psycho-social problems, new technologies and practical use of health risk assessments. The project will consist of a mapping review of existing literature on psychosocial risks, three regional seminars (Madrid, Vilnius and Berlin) and the designing of a user friendly common health risk assessment tool in the form of a guide and a short video.

5. The Committee will work on a modernisation of administrations in the context of the European Semester and the recent economic crisis in Europe. To this effect, a Draft statement/policy recommendations on the European Semester will be produced.

The full work programme can be accessed here. Further information about the EU’s social dialogue committee ‘Central government administrations’ and CESI’s involvement in it can be accessed here.

Carmen Jaffke from the Luxembourgish CGFP will be a full member in the Board of Administration, Kirsten Lühmann from the German dbb will serve as alternate. The mandates expire in 2018 when renewed elections will take place.

CESI has been a member of the EWL since 2006. Both Carmen Jaffke and Kirsten Lühmann have been a member and alternate in the EWL Board of Administration in the past and have both an extensive track record as trade unionists and supporters of gender equality and women’s rights.

Carmen Jaffke is President of the Equality Law Commission of the CGFP as well as Vice-President of CESI’s Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. She has held both posts since 2007.

Kirsten Lühmann, a Bundestag MP for the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 2009, is a former Equal Opportunity Commissioner of German Police Trade Union (DPolG, a member of the dbb) as well as a former member of the Executive Board and now Honorary member of the General assembly of the dbb’s Federal Women’s Council.

She is also a member of the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) and the European Network of Policewomen (ENP). Within CESI, she currently serves as President of the Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

The names of all other elected EWL Board of Administration members will soon be made available on the website of the EWL. Edith Schratzberger Vecsei from the Medical Women’s International Association was elected to succeed Viviane Teitelbaum as President of the EWL. For further information about the EWL, visit http://www.womenlobby.org/.

The recommendations are an outcome of an internal seminar for young CESI affiliates which took place in Brussels on March 3-4 and was co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme. The ‘Recommendations for a boosted participation of young people in civic processes, with a special focus on trade union work’ relate to topics such as:

• establishing more and deeper links between youth work organisations/civil society organisations and young people in order to stimulate their involvement in voluntary work;
• reforming education systems with a view to teaching more civic education;
• having public authorities more visibly award voluntary civic engagement of young people, for instance through certificates and awards;
• putting in place measures that will allow young people to better reconcile job duties and voluntary civic engagements;
• taking measures to reach out more to refugees and migrants for voluntary civic activities; and
• ensuring better framework conditions for youth organisations to pursue youth inclusion activities.

They also specifically focus on ways to engage young people more in trade unionism. They suggest, for instance:

• a better coordination of awareness raising campaigns by trade unions in schools, universities and job-seeker forums;
• a further empowerment young people in internal decision-making processes in trade unions; and
• a more effective legal employment protection for young people engaging in trade union work, especially those in precarious work relationships.

The recommendations can be accessed online through the policy positions section of CESI’s website. They are also discussed in CESI’s internal organs and sent as recommendations for action to all member organisations and affiliates as well as to officials, politicians and decision-makers working on youth policies in the EU institutions.

Klaus Heeger said: “Attracting young affiliates is a challenge that many trade unions face. I am confident that the recommendations worked out by our young members will help us, the trade unionists, be forward-looking organisations with a strong base of young members. I hope that through parliamentarians like Ms Vana, the recommendations will also be considered in future reports of the European Parliament and the Commission and serve as guiding principles for action by politicians and policy makers.”

“It is important to continue helping public administrations in the set-up of awareness-raising and psychosocial risk prevention systems that form part of an overall policy to manage occupational risks and which is integrated into the social dialogue.” This was the message conveyed by the President of the Europe Academy, Emilio Fatovic, in his opening address of the symposium.

Europe Academy President Fatovic: Collective management of psychosocial risks at work vital

Fatovic, an affiliate of CESI’s Italian member organisation Confsal and also a long-standing representative in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), made very clear that it is the task of trade unions and trade union confederations like CESI to collect more evidence about positive and negative consequences of new work rhythms and to lead a discourse on concrete demands and measures. “It is more than ever important that employees are involved in the management of psychosocial risks at work”, Fatovic concluded.

Keynote address by Danish MP Bent Bøgsted

In his keynote address, Bent Bøgsted, Chairman of the Employment Committee of the Danish Parliament, agreed with this notion, stressing that, when properly managed, new work rhythms can bring benefits and win-win situations to both employers and employees. He cited well-regulated telework as a possible field of application.

A welcome speech was also given by Jørgen Jørgensen, Director of CESI’s Danish member organisation FF (Frie Funktionærer), which co-hosted the Europe Academy symposium together with Krifa (Kristelig Fagbevægelse), a Danish affiliate of CESI’s member Eurofedop.

Work-related sick leave still “unacceptably high”

In a presentation on the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020, Zinta Podniece from the European Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion noted that according to the Commission, work-related sick leave, work-related diseases and accidents are still “unacceptably high” and put a “heavy burden” on competitiveness and public social security budgets. “Investment in occupational safety and health contributes to the well-being of workers and is cost-effective. According to recent estimates, investments in this area can produce high ratios of return”, she explained. She added that the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 and EU funds play a key role in the Commission’s strategy to encourage EU Member States and employers to improve the implementation record of applicable occupational safety and health (OSH) measures. Innovative ICT products and services, provided for through digitalisation, can also help them adapt workplaces and work organisation – including working time, workplace accessibility and workplace interventions targeted at older workers – to the needs of employees, Ms Podniece concluded.

Public sector workers prone to work rhythms that often lead to stress and absenteeism

Referring to preliminary results of Eurofound’s 6th European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), Mathijn Wilkens from Eurofound explained how working time preferences are often not easily adjustable especially in public administrations, how health sector workers are particularly affected by atypical working hours and how many employees in the education sector have to work frequently during their free time. Stress and absenteeism can be a direct outcome of this.

Ongoing research on new working time models and solutions

Two speakers from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) spoke on working hours, health, well-being and participation in working life and on working hours in knowledgede-intenstive work. Mikko Härmä presented a FIOH project on the creation of new working time models (‘WOW-project’), which aims at the development of guidance to trade unions to improve health, well-being and participation in working lives. Annina Ropponen highlighted that modern forms work organisation developed by the project might, for instance, help employees reduce their work-related smartphone use outside regular work hours.

Two case studies on wellbeing and OSH management in the public sector were presented by Barbara de Clippel from the Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security (FPS Social Security) and Mikkel Hundborg from Krifa. While Ms de Clippel outlined the human resources and OSH-strategy of FPS Social Security (‘Attract-Retain-Motivate-Engage’) – which includes a successful emphasis on employee-friendly digital telework – Ms Hundborg explained just how important functioning work-life balance instruments (such as well-regulated telework) are to keep employees motivated.

CESI Secretary General Heeger: Simply ignoring changes is not an option for trade unions

The symposium was wrapped up by a panel consisting of CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger and representatives from member organisations and affiliates: José Fernández Vidal from the Spanish CSI-F, José Razafindranaly from the French FGAF and Rolf Weber from Krifa/Eurofedop. It was commonly agreed that new working rhythms, caused not least by ongoing digitalisation processes, is an evolving reality which trade unions have to engage in if they want them to happen in their favour. “Ignoring digitalisation and the changes it brings in terms of new working rhythms will mean that things will happen without us”, said Mr Heeger, adding that “trade unions must play a central and active role in practically assisting employers and authorities in the setting up of employee-friendly work environments that respond to new working rhythms.”

Further work by CESI on occupational health and safety

A Europe Academy conference in Madrid on October 14 will follow-up on the symposium in Copenhagen, then themed ‘Responsible players in the implementation of the OSH policy in the public sector in Europe: managers, trade unions, safety reps’. Thereafter, a CESI-commissioned study will be published on good practices in health and safety management in the public sector. The findings of the symposiums and the study will be disseminated via the ‘Healthy workplaces campaign‘ of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), where CESI is a partner.

Further information about this year’s Europe Academy project – including presentations and conference material – can be accessed in the Europe Academy section of CESI’s website.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project was split in two interlinked seminars taking place in the course of 2016, in Copenhagen and in Madrid, and was synthesised into a study.  

• Copenhagen seminar: 3 June 2016
• Madrid seminar: 14 October 2016
• Brochure Copenhagen seminar: EN/DE/FR
• Brochure Madrid seminar: EN/DE/FR
• Study: EN/DE/FR/ES/IT

The theme of the Europe Academy’s 2016 project was ‘Health and Safety at Work in the Public Sector in Europe: New Challenges’. During a first seminar in Copenhagen, expert speakers from trade unions, politics, think tanks and European institutions discussed on general new challenges for health and safety at work in the public sector in Europe. A second seminar in Madrid addressed the role of managers, trade unions and safety reps as responsible players in the implementation of the occupational safety and health policies in the public sector in Europe. More information about the Copenhagen seminar is available here. A brief report about the Madrid seminar can be accessed here.

Towards the end of the year, was published on best practices in occupational safety and health management in the public sector in Europe. Results were disseminated within the CESI network as well as among European and national level institutions and policy makers and via CESI’s partnership in the ‘Health workplaces campaign’ of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, EU-OSHA.

PRESENTATIONS/SPEECHES :

Copenhagen Seminar, 3 June 2016

• FATOVIC Emilio, 3.6.: FR/IT
• JØRGENSEN Jørgen, 3.6.: EN
• PODNIECE Zinta, 3.6.: EN
• WILKENS Mathijn, 3.6.: EN
• HÄRMÄ Mikko, 3.6.: EN
• ROPPONEN Annina, 3.6.: EN
• DE CLIPPEL Barbara, 3.6.: EN
• HUNDBORG Mikkel, 3.6.: EN
• RAZAFINDRANALY José, 3.6.: EN (Annex) / FR (Annex)

Madrid Seminar, 14 October 2016

• FATOVIC Emilio, 14.10: FR/IT
• FLOCKEN Susan, 14.10: EN
• IRASTORZA Xabier, EU-OSHA, 14.10: ES
• SANCTORUM Brenda, 14.10: EN

‍

The paper, fully titled ‘Fighting radicalisation: Supporting public sector workers’, is the result of CESI’s long-standing work on how the public sector and its employees can be better equipped and enabled to face rising radicalisation and surging terrorist threats in Europe more effectively. Throughout the last year, CESI held several conferences and meetings on this topic.

Klaus Heeger said: “In the light of recurring terrorist attacks within and outside Europe, the question of how to best fight and prevent terrorism is of crucial importance. It is clear that the public sector and its employees must be at the centre of the debate. As a trade union confederation, CESI represents many public sector employees that get in touch on a daily basis with persons at a potential risk of radicalisation: Teachers in schools, security forces in prisons, police forces in their local communities. They have stressed understaffing and shortcomings with regards to equipment and training for a long time. Our position paper tries to bring this issue to the political agenda.”

CESI’s position paper stresses in particular that:
• the legal protection of security agents must be further improved;
• more training on anti-terrorism is needed for soldiers since they are being increasingly deployed in the fight against terrorism despite this initially not being part of their mission;
• further support and training on the detection of radicalisation is urgently required for the various public sector workers that are in direct contact with individuals at risk of radicalisation – such as teachers or prison guards;
• education should become a social integration channel and a vector for values such as civil rights, democracy, fundamental rights, tolerance and respect. This means that teachers must receive more support from schools – and that schools must receive more support from the state in order to better guide students when shaping ideas and their identity.

The position paper will be made available in the policy positions section of CESI’s website soon.

Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Accessible high quality public services for all play a key role for inclusive societies and social cohesion and justice. It is especially the less advantaged people that need them because they cannot afford private services. Even senior staff of the IMF – in past often a keen supporter of cuts in public budgets – recently concluded that severe cuts in public services bring about prominent costs in terms of increased social and economic inequalities – and that this hurts the level and sustainability of economic growth at large. It is high time that authorities and governments across Europe – including in Belgium – rethink their restrictions on their investments in public services.”

He added: “Cuts in public services in Belgium have been accompanied by cuts in public sector staff, wage freezes and restructuring processes. Employment conditions have in this process deteriorated both financially and in terms of work intensity. This affects all sectors – from transport to healthcare, education and administrations. If public services are to deliver, its employees must be enabled to do quality work. The Belgian, Flemish and Walloon governments and authorities must return to revamped financial resources, higher staff levels and better working conditions in the public sector. CESI fully supports the action taken today by Belgian public sector workers.”

For the reference to the IMF source, follow this link.

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) and the New European Business Confederation (UNITEE) in collaboration with the European Movement International and KYM International invite you to the next CESI@noon event on

‘Labour market integration of refugees – the role of entrepreneurs and trade unions’

Tuesday 14 June 2016 – 1.00-3.00pm – Cocktail lunch from 12pm

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

Register for the event here

With a total of 1.3 million asylum applications made in Europe in 2015, the question of how to integrate refugees into the labour market is the challenge for many member states. At the next CESI@noon event, we will be looking at the possible additional ways in which trade unions and entrepreneurs can support and assist refugees.

In the interests of both the refugees and the societies which welcome them, fast labour market integration is key. However, according to recent studies, innovative integration support measures are still lacking – and insufficiently funded. Also, from a trade union perspective, the massive influx of a young labour force may exercise pressure on social and labour protection standards, with the result that the matter of how to best integrate refugees into the labour market is only reluctantly addressed.

Over the course of the event, CESI and UNITEE wish to highlight the potential benefits of various labour market integration measures for refugees, such as mentoring programmes, which may be developed by entrepreneurs and trade unions. Enhancing their role and responsibility may also allow them fully to tap into the potential of refugees as future entrepreneurs, employers, employees and trade union members – not least in order to adapt to future challenges. Possible success stories shall be identified and ultimately explored.

Welcome:

Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of CESI

Discussion with the participation of:

Robert Anderson, Head of Unit, Eurofound
Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament
Marie Boscher, Policy Officer, European Commission
Savas Metin, Secretary-General, KYM International
Wolfgang Müller, Managing Director, German Federal Employment Agency
Romain Wolff, Secretary-General, CGFP Luxemburg

Moderation:

Petros Fassoulas, Secretary-General of the European Movement International

Conclusions:

Adem Kumcu, President of UNITEE

As done previously, CESI and UFE, which together represent several hundred thousand employees in tax and customs administrations, met to discuss the recent initiatives of the Commission within this field to set out comprehensive recommendations.

While the organisations welcome President Juncker’s initiative making this fight a priority of the actual European Commission, and presenting over the last year several legislative proposals which are going in the good direction, these only meet half way the expectations and long-standing demands of the trade unions.

For instance, on transparency, which is a key element, the latest proposal on public country-by-country reporting is a good step forward, however the limited scope to corporate within the EU and with an annual revenue above 750 million euros (i.e. only 10% of the multinationals) is considered too restricted to have a real impact. Moreover, in order to facilitate this exchange of information, thus the work of tax professionals, CESI and UFE are of course in favour of the creation of Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) which have been proposed by the Commission three years ago but are not yet established in the direct taxation area.

On the Anti-Tax Avoidance Plan, while some proposals, such as the introduction of general anti-abuse rules in double taxation treaties (DTC) and a new common list of tax havens outside the EU are positive, others, such as the interest limitation and controlled foreign company rules (CFC) are weaker than those of the OECD and seem insufficient to eliminate rulings, patent boxes, hybrid mismatches, etc.

On this occasion, CESI and UFE wish to reiterate the importance and urgency to relaunch the CCCTB allowing fair taxation and competition at the EU level. While the organisations understand the political difficulties to reach an agreement and the envisaged progressive approach of the Commission (CCTB), the consolidation part remains crucial.

The trade unions also stress the fact that the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion cannot be effective without real administrative penalties, enquiries and the protection of whistle-blowers who have proven their efficiency in revealing tax scandals.

Finally, and most importantly, the trade unions highlight once again the urgent need to invest in tax and customs administrations which, with the necessary means and staffs, can contribute to increase the revenue in the member states by reducing tax fraud and tax evasion. Investments in tax collecting rather than budget cuts are needed now more than ever.

CESI and UFE believe that with a corresponding political determination the EU can actually decrease tax fraud and tax evasion. Both organisations therefore hope that these proposals are just the beginning of fair taxation and that future measures will pick up from there and be more ambitious.

The full position will be made available in the policy positions section of CESI’s website once the position has been adopted by CESI’s Presidium. For more information please contact Agathe Smyth, Policy adviser, [email protected].

Klára Fóti from Eurofound, delivered a presentation on consequences of intra-EU mobility on social security systems and public services. She noted in particular that unmet needs of mobile EU citizens in their host countries are mainly found in areas like language services and information on rights. More training for staff in service providers on the rules and regulations applicable to EU mobile citizens would have a significant positive impact on labour market and social integration as well as on destitution, she stressed.

The Trade Council members also held a debate on the impacts of digitalisation on employment relationships and trade unionism in public administrations. There was a general agreement that digitalisation should not be considered a threat per se but that, if properly shaped and regulated, digitalisation can lead to win-win situations for both employees and employers. It was highlighted that financial savings, achieved by productivity gains through digitalisation, should be shared with employees in one way or the other. It was also suggested that the concept of working time should be revisited if workers achieve productivity gains in the context of digitisation processes.

A discussion ensued about the influences of continued cuts in public budgets on the functioning of and work in public administrations. An appeal was adopted which calls on the EU institutions to remind the EU Member States that public administrations need to have the necessary means and resources to deliver appropriate services to citizens and businesses and that they cannot function properly if their employees continue to be subject to wage freezes and increased work intensities. The appeal still needs to be adopted by the CESI Presidium. Following its adoption the appeal will be published in the policy positions section of CESI’s website.

At the end of the meeting, a joint position by CESI and the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe (UFE) on the European Commission’s fight against tax fraud and tax avoidance and the role of tax administrators therein was adopted. The position still needs to be confirmed by the CESI Presidium in June (see separate press release).

The European Youth Event, which takes place every two years, was hosted by the European Parliament and was attended by 7,000 young people aged 16 to 30. Under the theme “Together we can make a change” the EYE saw debates and workshops with Members of the European Parliament and other political decision-makers and opinion-builders.

CESI Youth booth on benefits of trade unions for young people

The CESI Youth ran a booth where EYE participants could share their ideas on how trade unions can be most useful for young people. EYE participants could leave their thoughts on posters, and it appeared that young people put their hopes in trade unions especially when it comes to ensuring decent wages for everyone, advancing on equal pay for equal work, and eliminating social dumping. It became evident that young people also expect trade unions to be active in terms of engagement for civic participation and pluralist democracy beyond Europe’s borders.

CESI Youth-hosted workshop on youth migration

The delegation of the CESI Youth also organised a workshop entitled ‘Are refugees welcome?’ together with the Deutscher Bundesjugendring, where two refugees, Jihad Suliman and Sarah Mardini, reported about their way from Syria to Germany and their new life in Europe. Their stories were exemplary in highlighting problems and challenges that Europe (still) faces when it comes to legal entry possibilities for refugees, the processing of asylum procedures and the recognition of professional qualifications and study diplomas. The event also featured the participation of MEP Julie Ward (S&D, UK), who reported about her activities in favour of a positive reception of refugees in Europe. The workshop attracted more than 200 participants, entirely filling a committee room in the European Parliamentand making the event a great success.

CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski speaks in the hemicycle on labour market integration of young migrants

CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski later spoke as a panelist at a debate on the social and labour market integration of migrants and refugees in the hemicycle of the European Parliament in front of 800 young EYE participants. As a trade union representative, Matthäus’s statements in favour of a facilitated recognition of qualifications for migrants were welcome by the audience with applause.

Finally a deal! This was the bottom line expressed by EU leaders on the agreement found at the EU-Turkey summit with the Turkish delegation headed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

A deal …

It was decided, most notably, that:
• all new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands as of 20 March 2016 will be returned to Turkey and that for every Syrian being returned to Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled to the EU;
• Turkey will take any necessary measures to prevent new sea or land routes for irregular migration opening from Turkey to the EU;
• the fulfilment of the Turkish visa liberalisation roadmap will be accelerated with a view to lifting the visa requirements for Turkish citizens at the latest by the end of June 2016; and that
• the Turkish EU accession process will be re-energised.

… But many questions arise

As a first reaction, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger stated that “The EU-Turkey migration deal may be the best outcome of the negotiations, but whether it will bring the refugee smuggler’s business to an end and provide clear rules for legal entry into the EU remains very unclear. Many questions also remain with regard to the notion of safe third country, the ability to implement this agreement and the ambiguity that surrounds the resettlement procedure and burden sharing.”

“If Turkey is declared a safe third country and migrants are brought back to the country, Turkey must identify fully with the Geneva Convention. Moreover, the EU must ensure that Turkey honours core human rights and that migrants in the country will be effectively protected in accordance with international asylum standards.”

He concluded: “Another point to bring into the equation when safeguarding human rights is that the EU is in fact not as weak as it often believes it is. Recently, Turkey has become increasingly unpopular with Russia and more and more isolated in the Middle East region both politically and economically. The EU needs Turkey just as much as Turkey needs the EU. The EU should be aware of this when trying to push the Turkish government to respect core human rights and protect refugees adequately.”

The CESI Youth decided to propose Sophie Hellmayr from CESI’s Austrian member organisation GÖD to head the CESI Youth as Vice Youth Representative together with CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski from CESI’s German affiliate dbb. So far, the CESI Youth has not had a Vice Youth Representative and has been run, with support from the CESI General Secretariat, by Matthäus alone. The nomination of Sophie Hellmayr still has to be approved of by the competent CESI organs.

The CESI Youth also discussed on draft statutes. Founded in 2013 with a mandate from the CESI leadership, the CESI Youth still has to be given its own statutes. They are planned to be adopted by the CESI Youth and CESI’s decision-making organs in late 2016 or 2017.

In terms of policies, the CESI Youth discussed and adopted a draft position paper entitled ‘For the successful reception and integration of young migrants’, which puts a focus the role of the public sector and its employees in the effective management of youth migration. Core propositions and demands brought forward in the paper include following:

• Integration in the education systems is fundamental to acquire the capacities to integrate into the labour market. The possibility of accessing training in the migrants’ host countries therefore plays a decisive role in this context, especially for young migrants.
• The delicate situation during the transition to adulthood when turning 18 and, therefore, losing special support entitled to minors, has to be well planned for young refugees in order to avoid disorientation and a complete loss of autonomy.
• Formal education should be a space where social ideas and values are taught, and where young people first receive a solid human rights education. This would foster a positive image of cultural diversity.
• Allocating special support to the search of family members of unaccompanied minor and young migrants is vital to safeguard minors and their fundamental rights.

The paper, which is a CESI Youth position and does not necessarily reflect the position of CESI, will be made available in the policy positions section of CESI’s website.

The hearing was convened at the initiative of the Committee of the Regions’ Secretariat and Yoomi Renström, Swedish member of the Committee of the Regions in the PES group and rapporteur for an opinion on the recent proposal by the European Commission on a targeted revision of the EU’s posting of workers directive.

The hearing was attended by representatives from social partners concerned with posting of workers. The objective was to assess to what extent the European Commission’s proposal is useful to advance occupational non-discrimination between posted and ‘native’ workers.

Commission proposal can lead to some upward social convergence

During his intervention, Mr Heeger welcomed in particular that the Commission’s proposal foresees a time limit set to the maximum duration of posting, even if the suggestion to set the time limit to 2 years is too long. The currently applicable directive does not include specifications in this regard, which opens the door to abusive unlimited posting of workers by employers.

In principle, Mr Heeger also welcomed efforts by the Commission to make posting rules binding for temporary agency workers and to take remuneration as a benchmark to achieve equal pay for equal work for posted workers. The current directive refers merely to ‘minimum rates of pay’ which are applicable to posted workers. This is not as encompassing as referring to remuneration, which includes further worker benefits depending on applicable collective agreements – and which is therefore a more effective concept to achieve true equal pay for equal work. However, Mr Heeger also stressed that practical questions remain. The Commission suggests to only take universally applicable collective agreements into consideration when determining remuneration components and levels. This is problematic given that these do not exist in all Member States and that sectoral agreements are sometimes more relevant than certain universally applicable ones.

Representatives from the employers were mostly against the Commission’s proposal, saying that existing rules should be properly enforced before revising them.

Expressing his confidence that the Commission’s proposal can lead to some upward social convergence in the EU, Mr Heeger said that the Commission should not give in to calls by a number of Member States and corporate lobby groups to withdraw the proposal.

During its meeting, the Trade Council adopted resolutions on topics including ‘Impacts of digitalisation on working conditions and employment’ and ‘Increasing flexibilisation of working time’.

Flexibilisation of working time not at the expense of worse work-life balance

The resolution on flexibilisation of working time welcomes increased flexibilisation in principle but requests that this must not happen to the disadvantage of workers. To this end, it advocates a better involvement of employees in the drawing up of duty rosters. Otherwise, it states, flexibilistation of working time cannot be reconciled with objectives to achieve a better work-life balance for employees.

Equip workers to face digitalisation

The position on impacts of digitalisation on working conditions and employment notes in particular that:
• new forms of employment that have risen due to digitalisation (such as telework or crowdsourcing) must be regulated so that they will not lead to precarious employment relationships;
• further frameworks must be established to provide for an adequate training of workers in digital forms of work;
• gains through digitalisation in terms of profits should not come to the exclusive benefit of the employer but should be shared with the workforce; and that
• time savings by employees due to digitalisation should lead to traditional models of working time being re-considered.

Social dialogue and trade unionism in Albania: Prospects and challenges

The Trade Council meeting took place in the framework of a conference on the functioning of social dialogue and trade unionism in Albania, moderated by Ylli Ballta, Head of the Albanian post trade union FSPT (a member of CESI’s member organisation Eurofedop). Together with the General Director of the Albanian Post Mailind Lazimi, representatives of the Albanian ministers for innovation, social welfare and economic development, and further professionals and experts in industrial relations in Albania, the Trade Council members exchanged about challenges that trade unionists in the country face in making their voice heard through social dialogue.

Keynote debates circled around the following topics:
• The deployment of armed forces to solve the refugee crisis and to fight terrorism;
• Labour rights, gender equality and rights of association in the armed forces; and
• European Defence – quo vadis: Sovereignty, cooperation or integration?

A major challenge: Army personnel performing atypical tasks in migration management and anti-terrorism

The deliberation on ‘Deployment of armed forces to solve the refugee crisis and to fight terrorism’ was informed by Thomas Sohst, President of the Trade council and affiliate of CESI’s member organisation ‘Deutscher Bundeswehrverband’ (DBwV; the German armed forces association). The deployment of armed forces to manage migration flows at the EU’s external borders and to help the police fight terrorist threats internally has been a topic of growing concern for the Trade council. Army personnel often feel ill-placed and ill-equipped to perform atypical tasks like these.

For better working conditions: A right to association for army personnel in all EU Member States

Johan Vermeire, the Permanent representative to the Council of Europe of CESI’s member organisation Eurofedop, spoke on recent developments in ‘Labour rights, gender equality and rights of association in the armed forces’. The improvement of the working and living conditions as well as of fundamental (social) rights of the personnel in the armed forces in Europe is one of the central aims of CESI’s Trade council ‘Defence’. The Trade council considers that achieving a proper right to association and to form trade unions in the defence sector is an important objective to be realised to this end. Currently, not all Member States grant this right.

Security for Europe through a Defence Strategy that takes into account the needs of army personnel

Gerrit Schlomach, Political advisor to the MEP and defence policy expert Michael Gahler (EPP, DE), intervened on the topic ‘European Defence – quo vadis: Sovereignty, cooperation or integration?’ During the discussion that followed, it emerged that an encompassing European Defence Strategy is sorely needed to ensure the EU’s security. It was stressed that in order to be successful, such a strategy must be flanked by well-equipped armed forces in terms of manpower and resources.

The objective of the Commission is to “facilitate the provision of services across borders within a climate of fair competition and respect for the rights of posted workers, who are employed in one Member State and sent to work temporarily in another by their employer.”

Proposed changes in remuneration, rules for temporary work and long-term posting

According to the Commission:
• Posted workers should be subject to equal pay and working conditions as local workers. All rules on remuneration applied generally to local workers should also have to be granted to posted workers;
• National rules on temporary agency work should apply when agencies established abroad post workers; and
• If the duration of posting exceeds 24 months, the labour law conditions of the host Member States should have to be applied, where this is favourable to the posted worker.

Posted workers not to be at par with ‘domestic’ workers

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “We have waited a long time for this proposal but have been partially disappointed. It is a right decision to suggest that national rules on temporary agency work should apply when agencies established abroad post workers. However, all labour law conditions of host Member States shall only apply to posted workers after 2 years. The length of this threshold is not acceptable especially since very few workers are posted for such long times. Not many workers would feel any improvements. There is also no real suggestion on how to avoid letter-box companies and systematic exchanges of posted workers by their employers to circumvent thresholds.”

May 9 1950 marks the day of Robert Schuman’s historic declaration where he set out his ideas for a new form of political cooperation in Europe. What thereafter became the European Union has advanced much since then and can today celebrate peace and relative liberty, stability and prosperity. However, things are far from perfect and the protection of European citizens, workers and institutions is a continuous task which has become more acute during recent years.

Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Peace in Europe since World War Two is an enormous achievement and the EU has played an important role in this. However, liberal democracy has recently been put at risk especially in several Eastern European Member States. Moreover, Europe has not yet recovered from the recent crisis and social divergences have been increasing sharply for several years. And decent working conditions and equitable labour rights are no reality for many European citizens. As the world is moving towards more globalised and digitilised forms of work, the employment landscape changes. EU and national-level regulations and laws are lagging behind as workers are being dealt with in arbitrary manners and are forced to engage in precarious work relationships in the absence of robust legal and social protection.”

Mr Heeger added: “Solidarity, the EU’s bedrock of success, is at risk on multiple levels. There is a real possibility that the majority of British citizens will in June say ‘We are better off without the EU’. True financial solidarity for Greece and its citizens has not come a long way since the crisis started. Plus, the current refugee crisis is creating a rift between Member States. Today it is more significant than ever to remember that in times of hardship Member States are stronger united. Border checks are being erected between nations that once pledged solidarity to each other. The raise of radical elements and terrorist threats in society is another major threat to the stability of Europe. However we can still learn from Robert Schuman’s words: ‘World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.’”

“2016 must be a better year for gender equality in Europe than 2015. 2015 was, in fact, a year of stagnation – at best! The year started off with the withdrawal by the European Commission of its proposal for a revised EU maternity directive. After national ministers in the Council had continued to simply block negotiations with the EU’s second co-legislator, the European Parliament, the European Commission saw no reason to uphold its proposal.

National ministers in the Council also acted infamously with regards to a second landmark file, the Women-on-boards directive proposal by the European Commission, which looks at ways to achieve a more balanced representation of men and women among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges. Even though the proposal dates back to as long ago as 2012, and even though the European Parliament already adopted its position in 2013 and was ready to engage in negotiations, ministers in the Council failed in December 2015 – again – to agree on a common internal position. The file is pending to the day.

Not only the Council disappointed me in 2015 – also the European Commission failed to identify with strong pro-gender equality politics. The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2010-2015, which laid out action priorities to achieve gender equality in pay, decision-making and other aspects across Europe, ran out on December 31. However, despite engaged and widespread support by the European Parliament, organised civil society groups and trade unions – including CESI – and even by the governments of most EU Member States, the Commission did not propose a successor strategy. What has been left to work with as of 2016 is a low-level ‘Commission staff working document on a Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019’ – a document with a political weight nowhere near a Strategy.

Especially in light of recent set-backs, it is vital to continue pushing for better gender equality policies and politics in Europe. The Commission recently issued a roadmap on an overarching initiative on work-life balance which looks at how working families and carers can be better supported in their efforts to combine work and domestic responsibilities. Of course, this initiative is of interest especially for women. After all, it has been mostly women that raise children and care for older family members – often at the expense of their careers and salary and pension levels. While consultations with the organised civil society and social partners are still ongoing, we therefore need to make sure that this initiative will yield hard legislative proposals by the Commission that grant adequate parental and carer’s leave rights especially for women.

In this context I join the UN in calling on the EU institutions and the governments of the EU Member States to live up to the UN’s theme of the 2016 International Women’s Day: “Step it up for gender equality!”

Press release as pdf

This is the result of a selection procedure by the European Commission following an open call for applications for non-government members.

The Platform for Tax Good Governance is an expert advisory group to assist the Commission in developing initiatives to promote good governance in tax matters in third countries, to tackle aggressive tax planning and to identify and address double taxation. It brings together expert representatives from business, tax professional and civil society organisations and enables a structured dialogue and exchange of expertise which can feed into a more coordinated and effective EU approach against tax evasion and avoidance.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “As a trade union confederation representing numerous national-level tax administrations’ trade unions, CESI has a keen interest to facilitate transparent tax systems in which tax evasion has no place and tax administrators can effectively perform their duty – collecting all due taxes. I am glad CESI can continue to bring its sector-specific expertise to the Platform.”

Further information about the Platform is available on the European Commission’s website.

Dirk Richter from the German Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) intervened as a guest speaker on the implications that the recent rise in the number of refugees coming to Germany has had on the work of the Agency and its staff members.

Refugee integration has far-reaching consequences for public administration staff

He said that the increase of refugees and asylum seekers has been a challenge for the Agency especially because of increased workloads and additional burdens for staff members. He noted that 3600 new positions were created especially in the fields of career advising, job placement and asylum case processing to order to cope with the increase of refugees and asylum seekers. He added that investments are needed to further train Agency staff in new competences they need, such as giving support to traumatised refugees.

Extensions of working lives can bring opportunities and challenges

Philippe Seidel, policy officer at the AGE Platform, held an expert presentation on challenges and chances that longer working lives can bring to older workers. He noted that employees’ work-life balance and longer working lives and intergenerational knowledge transfers in companies may be squared effectively and efficiently by means of partial retirement schemes. He noted however that partial retirements can involve downsides, too: Too many schemes currently do not sufficiently reach low-skilled workers and/or are likely to lead to a precarisation of older people’s work.

Unknown too often: the EU-wide emergency number 112 for medical assistance, the police and fire brigade

Benoît Vivier from the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) spoke on the functioning of the European Emergency Number 112 which, free of charge and on a 24/7 basis, connects anywhere in Europe automatically to a directory for medical assistance, the fire brigade and the police. He reported that the number 112 is only known by 27% of the EU’s population, which represents a great obstacle to making it work in practice. A discussion was held on whether awareness raising can be promoted by trade unions too.

Privatisations in water supply often yield negative results

Finally, Peter de Paepe from De Watergroep delivered a keynote presentation on problems related to privatisations of water supply providers. Making references to cases where privatisations yielded negative results in terms of service provision and working conditions, he underscored the importance of pushing the European Commission to acknowledge that only public water supply can guarantee a functioning right to water and sanitation for citizens.

The main objective of the hearing was to present and discuss the European Semester Alliance’s assessment of the European Semester’s 2016 Annual Growth Survey and its report of the European Semester’s 2015 Country-specific recommendations. Formally themed ‘The Annual Growth Survey behind, the European Semester ahead: What proposals to make Europe 2020 more social, democratic and sustainable?’, the hearing saw interventions by the hosting MEPs Marian Harkin (ALDE) and Sergio Gutiérrez-Prieto (S&D) as well as their colleagues Sofia Ribeiro (EPP), Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL), Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA) and Enrique Calvet Chambon (ALDE). Massimo Suardi, Deputy head of Commissioner Dombrovskis’ cabinet, spoke on behalf of the European Commission.

A hearing on the European Semester at a timely moment

The hearing took place at a timely moment, with deliberations on the 2016 European Semester process having recently begun to unfold: The European Commission published the Annual Growth Survey 2016 towards the end of last year and the European Parliament finalised its own-initiative report on employment and social aspects in the Annual Growth Survey 2016 just two weeks ago.

CESI: European Semester focus on quality jobs is still lacking

While speakers representing other European Semester Alliance members intervened on environmental (Green Budget Europe), social (Age Platform) and gender equality-related (European Women’s Lobby) merits and shortcomings in the European Semester, CESI Policy Advisor Hendrik Meerkamp presented a trade unionist perspective, highlighting in particular that an overarching focus on job creation and quality work is still missing.

The programme of the hearing can be accessed here. The European Semester Alliance’s slide presentation is available here.

The European Semester Alliance is a broad coalition bringing together 14 major European civil society organisations and trade unions, representing thousands of member organisations on the ground at European, national and local levels in the European Union. The European Semester Alliance aims to support progress towards a more democratic, social and sustainable Europe 2020 Strategy, through strengthening civil dialogue engagement in the European Semester at national and EU levels. Visit the European Semester Alliance’s website for further information. As a member of the European Semester Alliance, CESI works to stress the importance of worker rights and the role that strong public services (and hence the several million public sector workers it represents) play in providing services that are crucial for the state to function and for the societies to prosper.

Mr Heeger said: “Decent working conditions and fair worker rights are still far away for many citizens across Europe. I welcome very much the new narrative on a more social EU that was picked up by European Commission President Juncker. The Pillar of social rights which he proposed earlier this year is a useful tool to work towards fairer working conditions, sufficient social protection and effective access to the labour markets. However, the pillar outline issued by the Commission has made few references to implementation tools. While it refers to the pillar vaguely as a ‘reference framework’ and ‘compass’ to promote reforms for more social justice in the Member States, we must make sure that the pillar will have teeth when it comes to implementation and enforcement. The Pillar will need to be measured against results on the ground. We must move from words to deeds.”

He added: “Globalisation and digitalisation have led to an increasing fragmentation of labour markets in space and in time. Atypical and precarious forms of employment are on the rise, and many of them remain unregulated. This leaves a legal vacuum for abuse and exploitation by employers. The EU urgently needs to address working conditions and worker rights in new forms of employment.”

The theme set by the ILO for this year’s Day is ‘Workplace stress: It’s time to lift the burden’.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Stress-related health and safety issues are more widespread than commonly believed. Apart from the many workers which are still threatened by occupational accidents, there is an increasing number of people facing health problems because of stress at work. This can be caused by discrimination, violence, rising work intensities and increased job insecurities. 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 especially prevalent among white collar workers and public sector employees. Eurofound research showed that the public sector has recently been especially affected by restructuring and budget cuts and that this has had negative implications on stress levels among staff members. Eurofound also established that workers in the service sectors experience violence and harassment in the workplace more often than those from other sectors. Educators teaching students, nurses working with patients and public administration workers serving citizens are often particularly affected. This has a real impact on their health, well-being and productivity and may in severe cases lead to absenteeism or even require early retirement.”

As a trade union confederation representing public sector trade unions from across Europe, CESI has made occupational health and safety in public services a work priority. Having been a partner in EU-OSHA’s Healthy Workplaces Campaigns since 2012, CESI is this year running a major capacity building project on health and safety in public services in Europe. High level member seminars with expert participation will take place on ‘New work rhythm and their impacts on health and safety’ in June in Copenhagen and on ‘Responsible players in the implementation of the health and safety policy in the public sector in Europe’ in October in Madrid. Moreover, a study has been commissioned on best practices in health and safety management in public services in Europe.

The agreement foresees mutual collaboration between the SAE and CNV-Connectief and the dbb respectively when it comes to support measures for mobile workers in the healthcare sector in Spain and the Netherlands / Germany.

CESI’s third and fourth deal on fair labour mobility in the healthcare sector

The agreements respond to increasing levels of social and occupation-related abuses of mobile workers by employers. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “One of the particular complexities that many mobile workers face is a lack of information about the social and labour right conditions they enjoy in their host country. Employers often exploit this unawareness.”

The agreements follow two previous deals struck by CESI between its Spanish member organisation SATSE and the dbb. Klaus Heeger added: “I am more than happy that we managed to conclude two further collaboration agreements for a fair mobility of healthcare workers. We now have to implement the new agreements together with our partners.”

Discussions on m-health, access to healthcare and working time for carers

At the Trade council meeting, further deliberations and presentations were held on a variety of subjects related to the needs of employees in the healthcare sector.

Pēteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit ‘Health and Well Being’ in the European Commission’s DG CNECT, updated the Trade council members on the most recent developments regarding the Commission’s Green paper on m-health.

Claire Mock-Muñoz de Luna from the Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU) spoke about the training that the Migrant and Ethnic Minorities Training Packages project delivered between 2014 and 2016 for health professionals with the aim to improve access and the quality of health services for migrants and ethnic minorities. She brought to the attention of the Trade council the gap that often exists between legal entitlements to health services on paper and access to them in practice.

Trade council President Esther Reyes Diez informed about the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) judgment of September 2016 in case C-266/14 in which it was ruled that where workers do not have a fixed or habitual place of work, the time spent travelling each day between home and the first and last customers constitutes working time within the meaning of the EU working time directive. Ms Reyes Diez stressed that this judgment may have positive consequences for many healthcare professionals that need to travel to patients over longer distances but are not paid during this time.

Finally, Francisco Toquero from CESI’s Spanish member organisation CSI-F gave a presentation on the consequences the recent economic crisis has had on the health and safety of health professionals in Spain. He reported that work intensity and job precariousness has increased markedly for many employees as a result of the crisis.

Most notably, the Presidium confirmed that the Congress will be held under the theme of three interrelated main motions.

Congress main motions on impacts of digitalisation, the role of public services and on the future of EU integration

A topical motion entitled ‘Digitalisation: Finding the balance’ will lay out CESI’s position on the impacts of ongoing and increasing digitalisation on the different forms of employment and on the working conditions of employees. The motion will also outline CESI’s view on how to address possible negative consequences of digitalisation on the work of trade unions, trade union membership and collective bargaining.

A motion on ‘Public services: Delivering results’ will make a case for well-equipped and well-resourced public administrations as a tool to provide public services in sufficient quantity and quality. The motion will argue that this is vital in order to manage key societal challenges of the future such as achieving a higher degree of social justice and effective internal security.

Finally, a motion entitled ‘The future of Europe: Investing in people’ will set out CESI’s vision of how important European challenges can be addressed, in particular in the field of employment and social affairs. Aspects that the motion will follow-up on include minimum social standards, gender equality, minimum wages, education and training, health, and the integration of migrants and the less advantaged.

New position papers on migration management and the prevention of radicalisation and terrorism adopted

The Presidium also held discussions about recent EU level developments in employment and social affairs such as the forthcoming European pillar of social rights and debated about developments in EU Member States related to pension systems, intergenerational justice and collective bargaining.

Thematic position papers on migration management and on the prevention of radicalisation and terrorism were adopted. Both will be made available in the policy positions section of CESI’s website.

The next meeting of the Presidium will be on June 21 in Brussels. Planning for the Congress will in the meanwhile be ongoing within in the CESI General Secretariat.

As a European trade union confederation representing primarily public sector workers, CESI has attached great importance to both topics. CESI has for a long time worked on solutions to address rising radicalist threats and to manage migration and integrate migrants successfully. Its members, be it from the education, justice or security sectors, have for long brought the problem of rising radicalist tendencies in European societies to the public attention. Working at the forefront with incoming migrants and refugees, CESI affiliates have recently also stressed that investments in migration management and the integration of migrants are urgently needed if major societal costs are to be avoided in the longer term. CESI and its members have and will continue to contribute to finding holistic and cross-sector solutions.

Migration management: Better support for public sector workers needed

The position paper on migration management and the integration of migrants outlines CESI’s view on how public sector workers could be better supported to efficiently receive and effectively integrate incoming migrants.

Above all, the position stresses that sufficient personnel and investment should be urgently allocated to central and local administrations as well as to the health and education sectors in order to deal with additional workloads resulting from the arrival and integration of numerous migrants.

It also underlines the importance of ensuring access to training courses and resources for staff members in order to give them the capacities necessary to deal with the challenges involved in the reception and integration of migrants.

Prevention of radicalisation and terrorism: Public services need more resources

The position on the prevention of radicalisation and terrorism notes that public services need more resources in order to act more effectively – in particular with regards to the justice sector (prison administrations), social, education and healthcare services, and the justice sector.

The text notes above all that:
• CESI supports moves towards the improvement of the legal protection of security agents;
• soldiers are increasingly being deployed in the fight against terrorism despite the fact that this was not initially part of their mission, which makes it necessary to provide them with additional tailored training;
• further support and training is urgently required for the various other public sector workers who are in direct contact with individuals at risk of being radicalised;
• education should become a social integration channel and a vector for values such as civil rights, democracy, fundamental rights, tolerance and respect, which means that teachers must receive more support from schools – and that schools must receive more support from the state in order to better guide students when shaping ideas and their identity; and that
• there is a need to strengthen and support penitentiary personnel, namely by training them to better understand and detect the signs of radicalisation as well as respond to such situations.

Both position papers will be made available in the policy positions section of CESI’s website.

As a European trade union confederation representing several national tax administration trade unions, CESI in principle welcomes the Commission’s proposal as a step towards less tax avoidance. It goes beyond action 13 of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan in that it requests multinationals in the EU to make information public on where they make profits and where they pay taxes (‘country-by-country reporting’ – CBCR). CESI has for long advocated more transparency requirements in this area in order to help overwhelmed tax administrations perform their role: collecting taxes.

Nonetheless, despite the recent Panama Papers, which after LuxLeaks and SwissLeaks once again revealed the enormous scale of tax avoidance in Europe and beyond, the Commission’s proposal falls short of CESI’s expectations in a number of important aspects and appears, in sum, insufficient to bring down all tax avoidance practices for good.

Shortcomings in the proposal

First, the scope of application of the proposed transparency requirements is in CESI’s view too narrow as it only concerns firms operating within the EU. Companies outside the EU would only have to publish an aggregate figure of total taxes paid outside the EU. This will not help identify money being transferred to tax havens outside the EU, such as Panama, although most of the world’s tax havens are actually not in Europe. The proposal will incentivise multinationals to move their tax activities to countries not covered by strict transparency obligations. To be effective, these should be extended to ALL countries.

Second, the reporting threshold is too high. The proposal’s transparency requirements target only multinationals with an annual turnover of at least €750 million. This means that only a small minority of multinationals will actually be concerned. CESI calls to extent the scope of the Commission’s proposal to all multinationals as defined in the EU’s Accounting Directive.

The EU can do more

CESI believes that the EU can help bring the solution to the global problem of tax avoidance. However, objectives must be more ambitious and include full public CBCR obligations (as called for by the European Parliament in the context of the Shareholder rights directive) coupled with effective enquiries, penalties and broad blacklists.

To reinforce its voice towards the Commission, CESI recently also co-signed a joint letter of 46 trade unions and civil society organisations to Commission President Juncker, asking to finally take action on an effective disclosure of tax information by multinational corporations. The same was asked for by CESI in its response to a consultation by the Commission on corporate tax transparency in September last year.

Youri Devuyst, Policy officer in the European Commission’s DG for Education and culture (EAC), gave a kick-off speech on how the EU can support teachers in their role as educators that want to help achieve the objectives laid down the Paris Declaration – an EU level roadmap for tolerance and non-discrimination put down in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks and as a tool to bring down and prevent radicalisation in the future.

Preventing radicatilisation requires more civic education – and simultaneous support for teachers

Mr Devuyst stressed that the Commission intends to take on a responsible role when it comes to the promotion of civic education, training in media literacy and the teaching of common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination. Underscoring the role of the Commission as a facilitator of an effective exchange of existing information as an implementation vehicle in this regard, he noted that more can be done to ensure that best practices (such as those outlined recently by the in the Network of experts on social aspects of education and training) actually arrive at the teachers and in the classrooms.

Noting that civic education plays a vital role in the socialisation of citizens, Trade council members highlighted that in their view education systems should not only be exclusively tailored to teach the technical skills allegedly needed on the labour markets. In this regard, they welcomed the Commission’s stated focus on civic education to prevent radicalisation.

Confsalform’s Scholarjobs project: A best practice employability programme

The Trade council also discussed an employability programme of CESI’s Italian member organisation Confsalform: The Scholarsjob project, which aims to provide dual apprenticeships for students from the age of 15 independently of their study programme. Salvatore Piroscia from Confsalform presented project as a best practice example where students develop skills to analyse, evaluate and improve company profiles in social media networks. Mr Piroscia reported that the project has been a success so far, having involved around 1000 students and delivered training for 200 teachers. He announced that Confsalform is now looking to collaborate with partners from other EU Member States to give a European dimension to the project and carry it beyond Italy.

Existing since 2000, EU-OSHA’s Healthy workplaces campaigns typically run for two years and are backed by the EU institutions and social partners such as CESI. At the national level, they are coordinated by a network of focal points of EU-OSHA.

Launch of the campaign on April 14

The 2016-17 campaign on ‘Healthy workplaces for all ages’ will be formally launched on April 14 – a press conference in Brussels will be open to the public. The campaign aims to help employers address the challenges of an ageing workforce and raise awareness of the importance of sustainable work throughout employees’ working lives.

The specific objectives are:
• to promote sustainable work and healthy ageing from the start of the working life;
•to prevent health problems throughout the working life;
• to provide ways for employers and workers to manage occupational safety and health in the context of an ageing workforce; and to
• to encourage the exchange of information and good practice.

Occupational health and safety at work a priority at CESI

CESI Secretary General said: “This EU‐OSHA Healthy workplaces campaign addresses one of CESI’s core priorities. As a trade union confederation, CESI has for long worked to promote adequate health and safety measures for all workers, be they young, mid‐aged or of older age. At CESI, we believe that effective occupational health and safety must be ensured without gaps throughout the entire work life cycle of employees ‐ When there is a gap, this will likely have negative implications for individual workers at present and in the future too.”

CESI’s involvement in the campaign will be explained in detail in a dedicated website section as well as on the official homepage of the Healthy workplaces campaign.

The letter can be accessed here in pdf-format.

CESI President Romain Wolff: EU action on tax justice has fallen short of expectations

CESI President Romain Wolff said: “The Commission’s recent much-advertised Anti-Tax Avoidance Package on country-by-country reporting (CBCR) obligation fell short of expectations. We call for a public disclosure of CBCR-related information and not only of aggregated data outside the EU. CESI believes that this is needed not only to support overwhelmed tax administrations in performing their role and function but also to allow a much needed democratic control of tax practices. Moreover, there is an urgent need of a less restrictive CBCR financial threshold as for now only multinationals with a turnover above 750 million euros would be concerned. CBCR should cover all large companies as defined in the EU’s Accounting Directive.”

As a European trade union confederation representing several national tax administration trade unions, CESI has for a long time called for more investments in the personnel and resources of tax administrations, more investigation in dubious tax practices and a better protection of whistle blowers that want to disclose tax-related information to public administrations.

Romain Wolff said: “The Panama Papers reveal the enormous and scandalous extent and scale of tax avoidance practices by a wide range of well-off and privileged individuals. After LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks and other previous revelations, we are starting to get used to tax scandals. The Panama Papers underline once again the urgency of taking concrete and effective action in the field of taxation. Tax havens must be included in a global strategy for tax justice.”

Wolff: “Wealth must be taxed appropriately and everyone must pay his of her fair tax share”

He added: “Wealth must be taxed appropriately and everyone must pay his or her fair tax share. Tax avoidance does not only make rich persons richer but also makes a fool of those citizens that naturally pay all their taxes in their home country. Morally speaking, tax avoidance is also stealing money from the provision of public services by the state which the less privileged need so much.” EU Member States which do not prevent tax avoidance effectively are ever more deprived of fiscal resources and increasingly turn to austerity politics, hurting the society at large.

Romain Wolff stated: “At CESI, we hope that the Panama Papers will, even more than was the case with Luxleaks or Swissleaks, lead to public pressure on politicians and push the European Commission and EU Member States to take appropriate measures to effectively put an end to any dubious tax practices. Commission President Juncker said he made the fight against tax avoidance a priority of the Commission. It is high time to deliver.”

CESI’s work for tax justice

As a European trade union confederation representing several national tax administration trade unions, CESI has for a long time called for more investments in the personnel and resources of tax administrations, more investigation in dubious tax practices and a better protection of whistle blowers that want to disclose tax-related information to public administrations.

Making reference to today’s terrorist attacks in Brussels and the recent bombings in Ankara and Istanbul, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “We at CESI are shocked about today’s horrendous terrorist attacks in Brussels and the brutal bombings in Ankara and Istanbul last week. At least 21 persons seem to have been killed in Brussels and at least 37 in Ankara and 5 in Istanbul. Many more were injured. What distresses me most is that, just like in previous attacks – Paris, Madrid, London or Copenhagen – peaceful civilians were the ones hit as random targets. This cannot be accepted.”

Mr Heeger added: “As a European trade union confederation representing primarily public sector workers, CESI has for a long time worked on solutions to address rising radicalist threats. Our members, be it from the education, justice or security sectors, have for long brought the problem of rising radicalist tendencies in European societies to the public attention. CESI has and will continue to contribute to finding a holistic and cross-sector approach to counter radicalisation in a sustainable and effective way.”

CESI has held several events and conferences on the challenge of radicalisation in the recent past. Its internal sector-specific trade councils – especially those on security policy and education policy – have deliberated and formally positioned themselves already on several occasions.

Mr Heeger concluded: “Brutal and coward attacks on civilians cannot be tolerated. Faced with imminent violent threats, the public authorities and the judiciary must be able to crack down on violence and ensure public order, security and freedom for all. Terrorism shall never win. Never. Ever.”

Debates during the meeting were held on a number topics that touch on the daily work of employees in the security sector, including related to Schengen, Europol, terrorism and radicalisation.

Keynote presentations by policy experts and professionals

Oliver Seiffarth from the Border management and Schengen unit of the European Commission’s DG HOME delivered a keynote address on the substantial challenges that FRONTEX staff as well as national police forces and custom officers face in managing migration and in keeping the Schengen system functioning.

Christian Moos, member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and chairman of the EESC study group on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons in the EU, gave a presentation on the problems which a widespread possession of firearms poses for public security. Mr Moos, who is also a Trade council member for CESI’s member organisation dbb (the German civil service federation), highlighted the problematic implications that firearm possession by citizens has on the efforts of police and security forces to maintain public order.

This was complemented by an interventions by:
• Hermann Benker, Vice-president of the Trade council and affiliate of the dbb, who spoke on ‘The fight against terrorism and radicalisation in a different context: New forms of criminality linked to migration and refugee issues’;
• Stéphanie la Rosa, Vice-president of the Trade council and representative of CESI’s member organisation Alliance Police national (the French police union), who made an intervention on the need for better protective equipment for security forces; and
• Gerrit van de Kamp, President of the Trade council and affiliate of CESI’s member organisation Eurofedop, who spoke on a right to self-defence for police staff members and security forces. He noted that threats towards them are increasing and that this necessitates a better protection as well as a legitimate self-defence in certain situations.

Wil van Gemert, Deputy director of Europol, Operations department, also informed the Trade council members of new Europol capacities and work on cooperation with national police forces.

The challenges which were deliberated on concerned:
• reducing violence against prison employees;
• addressing the right to strike of justice employees; and
• dealing with impacts of refugee immigration on penitentiary systems.

A growing concern: Violence against prison employees

Touria Lebbad, CESI policy advisor for justice policy, delivered a keynote presentation on the increasing incidence of violence against prison employees. She reported that in some cases rioting in prisons has increased by more than 70% during the last three years and that in some places serious attacks on prison employees have recently increased by almost 50%.
She noted that this development can be attributed to at least two factors: First, statistics show that overcrowding and staff shortage in prisons is still a major problem in many EU Member States. As the staff-to-prisoner ratio remains too low, prison staff members can hardly keep prisons a calm place. Second, the retirement age for justice employees has been continuously raised in many EU Member States, and older workers have more so than younger ones difficulties in fighting off violent younger offenders. Raising awareness of increasing violence against prison employees will remain a key priority of the Trade council.

Still an issue: The right to strike of justice employees

Mark Freeman, a justice expert, presented a case study of the right to strike of justice employees in the UK. The case study was discussed by the Trade council members against the backdrop of the situation of the right to strike of justice employees in the different EU Member States. It emerged that there are still problems with it in several Member States. The Trade council will continue to work on this topic.

An emerging challenge: Impacts of refugee immigration on penitentiary systems

Franz-Josef Schäfer, Vice-president of the Trade council and affiliate of CESI’s member organisation dbb (the German civil service federation), introduced a debate on the impacts of increasing refugee immigration on penitentiary systems. This related in particular to an increasing level of foreigners in prisons, which becomes more elevated as the share of foreigners in a country increases too. Trade council members noted that prison administrations need to better adapt, equip and train their staff members especially in terms of necessary linguistic and cultural skills. Foreigners in prisons give rise to specific requirements for prison staff members and the prison managers, it was concluded.

According to the Commission, the proposed European pillar of social rights is to “set out a number of essential principles to support well-functioning and fair labour markets and welfare systems within the euro area.” The Commission further writes that “the Pillar should become a reference framework to screen employment and social performance of participating Member States and to drive reforms at national level.”

A pillar on a wide variety of social challenges

The Commission proposes to focus the Pillar on three areas:
• a section on equal opportunities and access to the labour market will focus on aspects such as skills, secure labour contracts, work-life balance and active support for employment;
• a division on fair working conditions will circle around wages, occupational health and safety and social dialogue; and
• a section on adequate social protection will cover aspects related to social services, pensions, unemployment benefits, care and minimum income.

Open questions remain on the implementation side

According to CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger, the communication and its accompanying texts can be a positive step into the direction of a more social Europe. However, he also noted: “A final assessment of the Pillar initiative will depend on the nature of the concrete proposals on the creation and implementation of the Pillar which the Commission has announced for 2017. So far, a number of open questions remain.”

Indeed, a number of questions remain unanswered:
• How will the stated objectives be implemented in the Member States? According to CESI, hard legislation is needed wherever possible, but the communication is rather silent about this;
• Why should the Pillar only be mandatory for Eurozone countries, as suggested by the Commission? In CESI’s view, efforts are needed to ensure the participation of all EU Member States in order to ensure a real upward convergence of social standards in the entire EU; and
• How should the stated objectives be financed? According to CESI, a clear statement is needed to stress that well-resourced public services and substantial additional social investments are required to implement key objectives of the Pillar initiative.

Following an in-depth analysis of the communication and its accompanying documents, CESI will in the context of structured dialogue opportunities and a newly-launched consultation make sure to raise questions such as these with the Commission services.

N.B.: The Pillar communication and its accompanying documents can be accessed on the Commission’s webpage. Follow this link to access the abovementioned consultation. The Commission also set up a special webpage on the Pillar, which can be accessed here.

The seminar, which was co-funded under the Erasmus+ programme, was informed by keynote interventions by:
• Allan Päll, Secretary General at the European Youth Forum (EYF), who spoke about the EYF as an advocacy platform for young people’s interests;
• Tamás Várnai from the European Commission’s DG EMPL, who explained the EU’s main policies on youth employment; and
• Ellen Durst from the European Commission’s DG EAC, who presented selected EU initiatives to promote and foster active youth engagement in society.

Based on the presentations and on their own work as young trade unionists, the seminar participants developed a set of recommendations for an enhanced participation of young people in civic processes and trade unionism in particular. These were presented at a meeting in the European Parliament hosted by MEP Monika Vana and with the participation of the cultural and employment/social affairs advisors of the Greens/EFA group, Frédérique Chabaud and Herlinde Vanhooydonck.

Ways to foster participation of young people in civic processes

The set of recommendations includes diverse suggestions for an enhanced participation of young people in civic processes and relates to topics such as:
• establishing more and deeper links between youth work organisations/civil society organisations and young people in order to stimulate their involvement in voluntary work;
• reforming education systems with a view to teaching more civic education;
• having public authorities more visibly award voluntary civic engagement of young people, for instance through certificates and awards;
• putting in place measures that will allow young people to better reconcile job duties and voluntary civic engagements;
• taking measures to reach out more to refugees and migrants for voluntary civic activities; and
• ensuring better framework conditions for youth organisations to pursue youth inclusion activities.

How to attract more young trade unionists?

The recommendations also specifically focus on ways to engage young people more in trade unionism. They suggest, for instance:
• a better coordination of awareness raising campaigns by trade unions in schools, universities and job-seeker forums;
• a further empowerment young people in internal decision-making processes in trade unions;
• a more effective legal employment protection for young people engaging in trade union work, especially those in precarious work relationships.

Disseminating key recommendations within and beyond CESI

CESI Secretary General Heeger welcomed the recommendations worked out by the seminar participants: “Attracting new, young and engaged affiliates is a challenge for many trade unions in Europe. The recommendations adopted during our seminar can serve as a guide for them to address it.” The recommendations, which will be available soon online in the policy positions section of CESI’s website, will be discussed in CESI’s internal organs and sent as recommendations for action to CESI’s member organisations and affiliates as well as to officials, politicians and decision-makers working on youth policies in the EU institutions.

The objective of the hearing was to establish the social partners’ views on the desirability of additional EU legislative (and non-legislative) measures to support better work-life balance solutions in the different EU Member States.

The hearing took place against the backdrop of the Commission’s recent Roadmap ‘New start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families‘, which discussed possible additional measures to be taken at EU level in favour of a more adequate work-life balance for working families and carers. The basis of the hearing was a written social partner consultation by the European Commission which closed in early January 2016 and in which CESI also participated with a formal contribution.

During the hearing, a Commission delegation, headed by the Director-General of DG Employment Michel Servoz, outlined the rationale of the roadmap, provided an overview of the current EU level policy tools to support work-life balance and outlined the current EU legal framework in the area of work-life balance.

Regrettably, employer representatives, headed by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME and CEEP, made clear that they reject new measures any time soon. Neither new social and employment legislation nor new or adapted EU level social partner agreements are desired, the delegation declared. According to them, more research is needed in order to find the best work-life balance solutions. In CESI’s view, this is a mere strategy to delay better working conditions for employees. CESI attaches great importance to achieving a well-regulated flexibilisation of working time and the location of work, better interlinked full-time/part-time work schemes and better child and elderly care options for workers.

Fortunately, the Commission representatives indicated that they do want to progress quickly towards better work-life balance schemes in Europe. To this end, a second-phase social partner consultation is to be launched in April or May to concretely discuss possible legislative and non-legislative measures.

Held under Chatham House Rule, the workshop featured interventions of high level representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament, civil society organisations and the academic field.

Expert interventions on social investments under EU macro-economic and fiscal governance

Presentations and discussions were held on the following topics:
• The future shape of the social dimension within the European Semester;
• Opportunities and implications of more fiscal space for social investment in EU governance;
• Options for national social investment reforms and implications for the European governance; and
• The role of political parties – Policy proposals for a stronger social dimension in the European macro-economic governance model.

Klaus Heeger: “Now is the time to discuss social investments”

Most speakers agreed on the topicality of the subject and on the need to research more on technical details of a better embedding of social investments in EU macro-economic and fiscal governance. In his opening intervention, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger recalled that the 2016 AGS’s first-time real call for more social investments provides the right momentum to make progress in this regard.

Mr Heeger also focussed on possibilities of trade unions to become more involved in the European Semester process, calling to further reform the process to enhance the formal role of trade unions at the Member State level. However, he also stressed that trade unions may sometimes also need to be more proactive in providing input to discussions on the European Semester’s yearly Annual Growth Surveys (AGS), country reports and country-specific recommendations (CSRs).

‘Cost of non-investing’ as an economic argument for social investments

The workshop also addressed the lacking appreciation of social investments among many policy makers that are not (entirely) convinced of positive economic and social returns of social investments. Several speakers said that where doubts exist, a concept of long-term ‘costs of non-investing’ should be clearly established and promoted as an argument in favour of social investments. Effective tools to measure the long-term economic and social costs of, for instance, a lacking integration of refugees are uncircumventable, these speakers concluded. Mr Heeger took up the idea to formulate a ‘Gold standard’-clause for a deduction of social investments in the deficit rules of the EU’s economic governance tools such as the Stability and Growth Pact.

Social investing is a topic of major interest for CESI. Representing several million public sector workers, CESI has called for a long time to end austerity measures and invest again more in the public services, also in the context of its membership in the European Semester Alliance.

Third workshop and concluding study on social investments forthcoming

The workshop was the second of its kind in a series of three CESI-EPC workshops on social investments. A summary report will be available soon. Further information and a summary report about the first workshop on social investments is available here. The third workshop will be held on May 20. The workshop series will be concluded by a publication on social investments, which will be published in September 2016 (tbc).

According to the adopted decision, the principle of ‘free movement of workers … may be subject to limitations on grounds of public policy, public security or public health … If overriding reasons of public interest make it necessary, free movement of workers may be restricted by measures proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued.’

In case the UK votes to stay a member of the EU, the EU regulation on the freedom of movement for workers within the EU is to be amended. The Council could then authorise Member States to restrict access to in-work benefits ‘in situations of inflow of workers from other Member States of an exceptional magnitude over an extended period of time.’

This would be a clear restriction to the barrier-less free movement of workers. CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “This would mean that EU foreign nationals might not be receiving the same benefits as UK nationals even when they are performing the same job and pay the same taxes and social security contributions.”

What is more, the new laws could even have implications beyond migrant workers in the UK. Klaus Heeger added: “In an amended EU legislative text, the new rules would apply across the EU. Any Member State could then work towards similar restrictions of equal treatment of mobile workers. This is a tragic signal for fair mobility and the social Europe we are trying to build.”

Formally themed ‘Labour mobility: Opportunities and risks. Which role for trade unions and NGOs?’, the event addressed questions such as:
• What are the challenges for trade unions and social NGOs to take on a more active role in informing and assisting people who move to work to another EU Member State?
• What can the EU do to further facilitate the engagement by trade unions and NGOs?
• How can the Labour mobility package and trade union/NGO engagement with mobile workers be squared with each other?

Needed: More financial support for trade unions and NGOs, better enforced laws

Following introductory words by the hosting MEP Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA), the Secretary Generals of CESI and Eurodiaconia, Klaus Heeger and Heather Roy, outlined the practical challenges that trade unions and NGOs face when they want to counsel mobile workers. They highlighted especially the need for a better financial support by authorities for trade union and NGO efforts to set up fair mobility counselling structures and an adjustment and proper enforcement of applicable legislation on equal treatment and social security coordination across borders.

After a statement by Jordi Curell-Gotor, Director ‘Labour mobility’ in the European Commission’s DG EMPL, about recent related Commission initiatives in the context of the forthcoming Labour mobility package, Alice Hamilton, expert researcher at the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), presented best practices of trade union and NGO initiatives on fair labour mobility on the ground. Many of the cases she presented were directly derived from the FRA’s recent report ‘Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the EU‘, which had found “scant evidence” of severe labour exploitation of many people who move to work to another EU Member State.

Speakers and audience stress the importance of transparent pre-departure information

MEPs Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz (EPP group), Agnes Jongerius (S&D) and Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL) delivered their views on how the EU can better help that trade unions and NGOs ensure that labour mobility in the EU happens in a fair and non-discriminatory matter.

In a concluding Q&A session, attaches from permanent representations as well as representatives from trade union confederations, employer groups and NGOs brought in their views. A majority underscored the importance to not only revise legislative frameworks but to have existing rules actually being implemented, respected and enforced effectively. Many participants also stressed the need to step up cross-border cooperation with regards to the provision of transparent and comprehensive pre-departure information for mobile workers about rights and challenges involved in labour mobility.

For further questions about the event, contact [email protected].

The hearing will be hosted by MEPs Sergio Gutiérrez Prieto (S&D) and Marian Harkin (ALDE) and also involve interventions by MEPs Sofia Ribeiro (EPP), Ulla Tørnæs (ALDE), Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA) and Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL). Massimo Suardi, Deputy Head of Commissioner Dombrovskis’ Cabinet, will speak for the Commission.

The objective of the hearing is to discuss how the EU’s economic governance and the European Semester in particular can be made more democratic in governance and more social and sustainable in content.

For the Semester Alliance, CESI, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), Green Budget Europe (GBE) and the AGE-Platform will speak, presenting the Semester Alliances arguments from a trade union, social and environmental perspective.

Registration for the hearing is still possible until February 23. Further information and a full programme can be accessed here.

The European Semester Alliance is a broad coalition bringing together 14 major European civil society organisations and trade unions, representing thousands of member organisations on the ground at European, national and local levels in the European Union. The European Semester Alliance aims to support progress towards a more democratic, social and sustainable Europe 2020 Strategy, through strengthening civil dialogue engagement in the European Semester at national and EU levels. Visit the European Semester Alliance’s website for further information. As a member of the European Semester Alliance, CESI works to stress the role that strong public services (and hence the several million public sector workers it represents) play in providing services that are crucial for the state to function and for the societies to prosper.

The 16-page report can be accessed in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian language.

It summarises the key findings presented at a symposium in Dublin on June 25-26, which had featured expert interventions on:
• the status quo of restructuring in the public sector in Europe;
• the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM);
• the status quo regarding the protection of information and consultation right in the public sector at the European level;
• the European Union Quality Framework for anticipation of change and restructuring;
• case studies from Spain, the UK, Belgium, France and Spain on the restructuring in the public sector, with a special focus on the role of social partners in the promotion of information and consultation of employees; and
• recommendations for the improved protection of the right to information and consultation of employees in the public sector in Europe.

The report can be accessed here, along with all other material related to the Europe Academy’s 2015 project on information and consultation of workers. For further questions, please contact CESI’s project officers Aurelie Quintin ([email protected]) or Marcella Migliori ([email protected]).

The conference was opened by Silvia Costa, Italian MEP and Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education.

Conference opening by MEP Silvia Costa

In her introductory words, Ms Costa underlined the risk of considering school education as a mere service for the labour market. She admitted that the skills taught by the educational systems need to be adapted to the needs of the labour markets and that there is “a need for a deeper and better dialogue between institutions and employers”. However, she stressed that regardless of this, education must always play an important role in shaping high quality cultural backgrounds within the citizenry.

CONSAL Secretary General Marco Paolo Nigi also underscored the crucial function which teachers play in teaching youngsters to be skilled workers on the one hand and conveying values on the other.

Education: Reconciling labour market skills needs with competences in values

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger followed up on this. Making reference to the European Commission’s current initiative entitled ‘A new skills agenda for Europe’, he stressed that education must necessarily take into account developments that change skills needs on the job markets (such as digitalisation) but that the teaching of fundamental democratic values should also play an important role in education. Losing track of the latter might contribute to radicalisation within societies, he added.

ScholarJobs: A best practice example to raise young people’s employability

At the heart of the conference was the presentation by Salvatore Piroscia, Director General CONFSAL’s member CONFSAL-form, on ScholarsJob, an Italian national-level project to raise young people’s employability by means of apprenticeships.

The ScholarJob project has also been presented as a best practice on dual apprenticeships at a previous meeting of CESI’s internal member’s committee on education (TC EDUC).

All conference material can be accessed on CONFSAL’s website (available in Italian language only). A selection of videos is also available on YouTube.

Discussions centred around three major topics: The impacts of digitalisation on employment, working life and trade unionism, the EU’s agenda concerning labour mobility, occupational health and safety, working time and the recently announced European pillar of social rights, and the EU’s current work-life balance and gender equality priorities.

Digitalisation: A major challenge for trade unions

A keynote intervention on the topic ‘Impacts of digitalisation on employment, working life, and trade unionism’ was given by Agnes Parent-Thirion from the Working Conditions and Industrial Relations Unit at Eurofound. Her intervention made clear just how profound the implications of digitalistion are and will be on the different forms of employment, working conditions as well as on collective bargaining and trade union membership. Digitalisation will be one of the core priorities for CESI to work on during 2016.

European Commission: A full agenda in employment and social affairs

Stefan Olsson, Director ‘Employment’ at the European Commission, spoke about the political priorities of the European Commission for 2016 in the field of employment and social affairs. He referred in particular to the Commission’s work on the Labour mobility package, plans for a New skills agenda for Europe and the ongoing REFIT-analyses of the EU’s occupational health and safety acquis, the Written statement directive and the European works council directive. He also outlined the Commission’s plans to develop an entirely new European pillar of social rights and underlined the role that the trade unions and social partners should play its development and implementation. CESI will concentrate its work in particular on aspects related to labour mobility, occupational health and safety and the development of the Pillar of social rights.

An unclear future: The EU’s work-life balance and gender equality agenda

A further debate took place on ‘Work-life balance and gender equality priorities beyond the withdrawn maternity leave proposal’. This discussion was informed by interventions of MEP Arne Gericke, member of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and Paolo Panzeri, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at the Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU (COFACE). Both explained their view of the Commission’s recent withdrawal of its Maternity leave directive proposal and the subsequent publication of a Roadmap ‘New start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families’. Given that the roadmap is still to unfold into concrete proposals and measures in 2016, CESI will work to further specify its priorities and bring them to the EU institutions.

Note: CESI’s SOC and FEMM Commissions are separate entities with their own agenda and presidency but are composed of the same members and meet jointly, usually twice a year. Visit the SOC-FEMM section on CESI’s website for further information.

The event, which is co-funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, will see 30 young trade unionists from across Europe gather in Brussels to discuss and adopt recommendations about ways for a fostered active inclusion and civic engagement of young people in societal and political processes and trade unions in particular.

For further information about this event, visit the events section of our website or contact Marcella Migliori (CESI Project Officer).

Please note that this event is by invitation and open to CESI affiliates only.