Strengthening ALMPs and European cooperation: ACTIVER seminar in Romania

A conversation with Marta Pilati on the national recovery and resilience plans.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

Today, the European Commission will present a package of climate and energy legislative initiatives, its so-called ‘Fit for 55’ package, aiming to reach the EU’s 2030 goal of cutting emissions by 55%.

The package consists of a series of new EU laws, as well as updates to existing laws. There is a broad bundle of measures intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create mechanisms that will support the economy and guarantee a fair transition. Among the several proposals, the European Commission is expected to introduce a ‘climate action social fund’ that will be used by the Member States as a tool to mitigate the risks of the transition for the most vulnerable.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: ‘CESI welcomes the new climate package and the initiatives towards an improved energy efficacy strategy. There is no time to lose: We must act now- for our planet and the people! We must build a climate-neutral economy that preserves ecosystems and at the same time, we must ensure that this green transition will happen in a socially fair way. The proposed changes will have a major impact on the national policies of the Member States and, therefore, we need well-functioning mechanisms that can guarantee a smooth transition.’

Held in the context of the elaboration of an own-initiative report on ‘Democracy at work’, the hearing served to clarify practical and legal questions to be considered in policy efforts to increase information, consultation and participation rights of workers in corporate transformation processes, as they occur as a result of post-Covid recovery measures and the evolution of green-digital transitions. In particular, the hearing also looked at possible improvements to the European Works Council Directive 2009/38/EC.

Representing the voice of trade unions and workers, Aleardo Pelacchi, himself a seasoned trade unionist and experienced participant in European Works Councils, laid down practical approaches on how to strengthen the voice of workers in company-level decision making generally and within the European Works Councils in particular, noting:

• the need to strengthen the right to unionise as a basis for functioning worker representation at company-level. Only when trade union coverage and involvement can they effectively defend the rights of workers, he said.
• the necessity to further strengthen meaningful worker participation in European Works Councils. This should include real, ex-ante involvement and not just ex-post information transmittance after corporate decisions have already been made.
• the urgency to reform European Works Councils to the extent that they require their worker-participants to be unionists. Otherwise, fake (yellow) employer-dictated delegates could speak for workers in the Councils.
• the usefulness of establishing guidelines for more effective worker participation processes, whereby specific questions are brought up at company level, negotiated in a joint worker-employer declaration, and then discussed also with unions at the national level with a view to reaching more and further agreements on the matter.

The European Parliament will review its first draft report during the summer based on the findings of the hearing and eventually adopt it in autumn.

Further information about the file is available on the website of the European Parliament.

The trade unions representing teachers at vocational training schools in Germany (BvLB), Austria (BMHS) and Switzerland (BCH) have expressly welcomed this Commission initiative in the form of a joint declaration. This will enable Europe to meet the needs of an innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy and the digital and green transformation, as well as promoting sustainable growth, social justice and inclusion.

Since 2019, VET teachers’ representative bodies have been involved in the Erasmus Plus VET network “Designing Digitally Supported and Sustainability-Oriented Centres of Excellence in Vocational Education and Training in Europe (DunE-BB-EU 2019-2022)” in order to firm up the design of regional centres of excellence for vocational education and training in Europe.

In the joint exchange, it became clear to the European VET stakeholders that regional VET centres of excellence serve as places of knowledge and innovation. They are where the local, regional, national and international partners and providers of education, VET and higher education all gather and pool their skills so as to design VET that offers high quality and excellence. Learners have the opportunity to obtain general and vocational qualifications at different European Qualifications Framework levels.

In the declaration published at the end of June, the VET teachers’ representative bodies reminded policy makers that national governments also need to invest in transforming vocational schools into regional digitally enabled centres of excellence in vocational education and training with 360 degrees of sustainability education. Europe needs more than 100 centres of excellence in vocational education and training to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and the international-national climate change targets by 2050.

The Joint Declaration on the Design of Regional Centres of Excellence in Vocational Education and Training in Europe is available in the following languages: English – German – French – Italian.

On July 5, the Commission’s services published the 2021 edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review, which shows a diverse impact of COVID-19 crisis on the World of Work.

According to the findings of the review:

• The employment in jobs that cannot be carried out from home (especially in sectors such as accommodation, food and travel) saw a drop.
• The impact of the pandemic on employment varies depending on geographical factors, with rural areas and the Mediterranean regions having the most job losses.
• Well-performing labor markets proved to be more resilient to the crisis.
• While in some Member States measures to reduce the transmission risk of the virus limited traditional collective bargaining procedures, in others social partners played a key-role in deploying response measures.
• The pandemic highlighted the existence of chronic gender inequalities.
• Working from home seems to be beneficial for workers when it does not lead to poor work-life balance.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: ‘The pandemic has hit workers, sectors and regions differently, but it highlighted the importance of the inclusion of workers and trade unions in response and restructuring measures. Especially in countries with strong social dialogue institutions, trade unions proved to be indispensable to designing strategies to building inclusive and resilient societies.’

Read the full review here.

A conversation with Ms. Yana Toom, MEP, on the social impacts of COVID-19, the right to disconnect and the EU-Russia relations.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

A conversation with Mihai Palimariciuc on the EU Agenda on the future of work and the working conditions in platform work.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

Kirsten Lühmann from the German dbb will be a full member in the Board of Administration, Eva Fernández Urbón from the Spanish CSIF will serve as alternate. The mandates run until 2023 when new elections will take place.

CESI has been a member of the EWL since 2006. Kirsten Lühmann has already been a member and alternate in the EWL Board of Administration previously. Eva Fernández Urbón succeeds Carmen Jaffke from CESI’s Luxembourgish member organisation CGFP who held a position in the Board of Administration for CESI but who did not run again. Both Kirsten Lühmann and Eva Fernández Urbon have an extensive track record as trade unionists and supporters of gender equality and women’s rights.

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 has been a long-serving President of the statutory horizontal Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

Eva Fernández Urbon has been National Secretary for Equality and Social Responsibility at CSIF, the Spanish Central Independent and Public Employees’ Trade Union, and is a member of the National Executive Committee since 2019. She has been working on women´s rights and gender equality as a trade unionist for the past thirteen years and has participated in many conferences and published articles related to issue such as ‘Gender gap and university: two realities that feedback’ or ‘The trade union role on the path to equality’. In 2021, she was elected President of CESI’s statutory horizontal Commission on Employment and Social Affairs.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad that CESI continues to be represented in the EWL, Europe’s chief voice of women’s rights. As highly competent and experienced trade unionists in the field, Kirsten and Eva will bring the important voice of independent trade unions to the EWL. As CESI, gender equality and equal opportunities are a central element of today’s society, and in labour markets in particular.”

The names of all elected Board of Administration members is available on the website of the EWL. The General Assembly on June 4-7 also saw the election of the EWL Executive Committee and its new President, Réka Sáfrány from the Hungarian Women’s Lobby. Further details are available here.

The Coronavirus outbreak provoked a global reassessment of values. It has placed the public sector, especially the healthcare systems at the heart of every society. The systemic importance of public healthcare systems has become more evident than ever.

Long before the crisis, CESI stood for more investment in the public sector – as a conditio sine qua non for the resilience of any society. Public services are essential to guarantee citizens’ fundamental rights. Public services set the frame for democracy, non-discrimination and the rule of law. Public services guarantee the well-being of people. Public services are the glue that sticks our societies together.

But after the 2008 financial crisis, and even before that, public services suffered from significant budget and personnel cuts. And the capacity of public services to fulfil their general interest mission had been profoundly affected.

Yet one crisis after the other has shown: It is the public sector which is ‘essential’. It has most recently and dramatically been exhibited by the Covid crisis, but it was equally evident in other previously challenging times such in the aftermath of 9/11, the post-2008 financial and sovereign debt crisis, the 2015 migration crisis and the 2015-2016 terrorist crisis.

The public sector cares for, protects and supports the citizens, the society and the economy. It determines whether societies are sustainable or not. Strong societies require strong public services. And the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its Action Plan requires that too.

Expenditures in public services are therefore not merely costs. They are investments in the future. And after years and decades of austerity, the EU now needs a ‘strong public service agenda’.

In line with the findings of a respective study of the European Policy Centre (EPC), CESI and the EPC will host a thereto related high-level conference on 5th of October 2021. The event will take stock of the lessons learnt from the pandemic – and propose a ‘strong public services-driven’ recovery model. More information about the event here.

More information about performing public services and performing public service personnel for the best possible implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights here.

On June 29, CESI’s internal members’ Expert Commission ‘Education, Training and Research’ (EDUC) convened for its constitutive meeting and endorsed the appointment of Salvatore Piroscia from CONFSAL (Italy) as President, and Luc Viehé from SPELC (France) and Daniëlle Woestenberg from CNV (Netherlands) as Vice-Presidents.

The meeting offered participants the opportunity to exchange with some of the key EU decision makers and researchers in the field of education and discuss on the priorities of the Expert Commission for 2021, the reforms and investments in the education sphere, the needs of the sector, and the status quo of education in the Member States against the background of the Covid19 pandemic and its impact on the education systems

Géraldine Libreau, Policy Officer at the European Commission (DG EAC), presented the objectives, the scope, and the content of the new EU Child Guarantee and explained the role of educators and teachers in its implementation. She also brought to attention a recent report on “Early childhood education and care: How to recruit, train and motivate well-qualified staff”, as well as a series of webinars organized by DG EAC on the topic.

Mihai Palimariciuc, Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, presented the findings of the EPC study on “Well-performing public services for a fair and resilient European society”, which was conducted for CESI’s PULSER project, focusing on the conclusions for the education sector.

Isabelle De Coster, Policy Analyst at the Eurydice Network of the European Commission, talked about Eurydice’s new report on “Teachers in Europe: Careers, Development and Well-being” and described the challenges of the sector, with a focus on the continuous development of teachers, one of the crucial points put forward in CESI Manifesto for the teaching profession when it comes to the valorisation of education professionals

The President of the ‘EDUC’ Expert Commission, Salvatore Piroscia, said: “Today, we had the chance to discuss about many of the issues at stake. We must focus on the role of the teacher, the working conditions in education, and the generational change at our schools. And I will say it again: ‘In every decision, in every project, in every opportunity, we must think what the impact will be for the next generations.’”

CESI Secretary General, Klaus Heeger, added: “We are facing not only the health crisis of corona, but also an economic and social crisis, and we are in the middle of a digital and green transition, and education will play a key role in all these developments. Young people are the essence of every society and the people who transmit education and knowledge must remain in the focus in the coming years.”

CESI voices the need for an open education system with decent working conditions for the staff of all levels of education.

A conversation with Simona Guagliardo on the digitalization of healthcare and its impact on the health workforce.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

Founded in 1975, the French Syndicat National des Sapeurs-Pompiers Professionnels et Personnels Administratifs Techniques et Spécialisés (SNSPP-PATS) is a non-partisan independent nation-wide French trade union representing firefighters and administrative, technical and specialised personnel in fire brigades.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “I am glad to welcome the SNSPP-PATS as an observer to CESI and look forward to fruitful cooperation. CESI has for long been a voice for firefighters and their employment and working conditions. The proper regulation of their working and resting time has been a particular focus of CESI. The competence and sectoral expertise of the SNSPP-PATS will further reinforce CESI’s voice in the representation of the interests of employees and civil servants in administrations and public services, and in fire brigades in particular.”

Further information in the members section.

After one of the most challenging years for Europe and the whole world, the European Union launches a citizen-led series of debates and discussions on our common future. The Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE) is a major pan-European process that aims to offer an open and inclusive public forum that will enable citizens and organizations to become involved in shaping the future of the Union. By spring 2022, the Conference is expected to reach conclusions and provide guidance on the next steps.

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey that was carried jointly by the European Commission and the European Parliament, most European citizens agree that the COVID pandemic made them reflect on the future of the Union. The study showed that the vast majority (92%) across all Member States demand that citizens’ voices are ‘taken more into account in decisions relating to the future of Europe’; around 75% of Europeans believe that the Conference on the Future of Europe will positively affect democracy within the EU, while half of them expressed their interest in participating in the Conference themselves.

CESI believes that there is a need for an active involvement of workers and their representatives in the COFOE and wants to contribute to engaging with its members and partners informing them about the opportunities the Conference opens for social partners and trade unions.

In this context, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions organized a discussion on the role of trade unions and social partners in the Conference in order to provide its members, partners and friends with an opportunity to exchange with some of the key EU decision makers on the Conference and to discuss about the expectations towards the Conference and its significance for European citizens and particularly workers, as well as the possibilities of national and European level trade union and social partner organisations to become actively involved.

A conversation with Mara Brugia and Antonio Ranieri on continuing vocational training and skills intelligence.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

The United Nations´ Public Service Day, marks the beginning of a CESI campaign to calls for a ‘strong EU public sector agenda’.

The Coronavirus outbreak provoked a global reassessment of values. It has placed the public sector, especially the healthcare systems at the heart of every society. The systemic importance of public healthcare systems has become more evident than ever.

Long before the crisis, CESI stood for more investment in the public sector – as a conditio sine qua non for the resilience of any society. Public services are essential to guarantee citizens’ fundamental rights. Public services set the frame for democracy, non-discrimination and the rule of law. Public services guarantee the well-being of people. Public services are the glue that sticks our societies together.

But after the 2008 financial crisis, and even before that, public services suffered from significant budget and personnel cuts. And the capacity of public services to fulfil their general interest mission had been profoundly affected.

Yet one crisis after the other has shown: It is the public sector which is ‘essential’. It has most recently and dramatically been exhibited by the Covid crisis, but it was equally evident in other previously challenging times such in the aftermath of 9/11, the post-2008 financial and sovereign debt crisis, the 2015 migration crisis and the 2015-2016 terrorist crisis.

The public sector cares for, protects and supports the citizens, the society and the economy. It determines whether societies are sustainable or not. Strong societies require strong public services. And the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its Action Plan requires that too.

Expenditures in public services are therefore not merely costs. They are investments in the future. And after years and decades of austerity, the EU now needs a ‘strong public service agenda’.

In line with the findings of a respective study of the European Policy Centre (EPC), CESI and the EPC will host a thereto related high-level conference on 5th of October 2021. The event will take stock of the lessons learnt from the pandemic – and propose a ‘strong public services-driven’ recovery model.

More information about performing public services and performing public service personnel for the best possible implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights here.

Dear members, partners and friends,

After one of the most challenging years for Europe and the whole world, the European Union launches a citizen-led series of debates and discussions on our common future. The Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE) is a major pan-European process that aims to offer an open and inclusive public forum that will enable citizens and organizations to become involved in shaping the future of the Union. By spring 2022, the Conference is expected to reach conclusions and provide guidance on the next steps.

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey that was carried jointly by the European Commission and the European Parliament, most European citizens agree that the COVID pandemic made them reflect on the future of the Union. The study showed that the vast majority (92%) across all Member States demand that citizens’ voices are ‘taken more into account in decisions relating to the future of Europe’; around 75% of Europeans believe that the Conference on the Future of Europe will positively affect democracy within the EU, while half of them expressed their interest in participating in the Conference themselves.

CESI believes that there is a need for an active involvement of workers and their representatives in the COFOE and wants to contribute to engaging with its members and partners informing them about the opportunities the Conference opens for social partners and trade unions.

In this context, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions organizes a timely discussion on the role of trade unions and social partners in the Conference in order to provide its members, partners and friends with an opportunity to exchange with some of the key EU decision makers on the Conference and to discuss about the expectations towards the Conference and its significance for European citizens and particularly workers, as well as the possibilities of national and European level trade union and social partner organisations to become actively involved.

The following speakers shall introduce into the debate:

Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography

Manfred Weber, Chair of the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament

Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General, who will facilitate the debate

The Event will be conducted in English and there will be simultaneous interpretation provided from/to German and Italian.

The event is co-funded by the European Union under the WeEP project.

***Declaration of the Presidium of CESI***

We, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) and the Hungarian Civil Servants and Public Employees Trade Union (MKKSZ) say ‘No’ to Hungary’s anti-LGBT bill!

We, the members of the Presidium of CESI, speaking on behalf of CESI, voice of more than 40 trade union organisations and over 5 million workers across Europe including in Hungary,

and we, the leadership of the MKKSZ, representing 8,000 Hungarian civil servants,

strongly condemn the bill passed by the Hungarian Parliament on Tuesday, June 15, to ban the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality and LGBT rights to minors.

The law can de facto lead to far-reaching changes in educational programmes, the media and cultural life – contrary to the principles of equality, diversity, and tolerance which our societies are built on.

The International and European declarations, covenants, treaties, and charters, as well as the legal orders of all Member States forbid discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

But the Hungarian bill is also a matter of moral, ethics and responsibility. Because it is not only about discrimination. It also about the indirect incitement to hostility, hatred, and violence. And Europe’s painful history stands as a memorial for such incitements to never happen again.

We therefore urge the Hungarian President János Áder not to sign the law. And we urge the European Union, but also the Hungarian people, to stand up against it.

If the bill is nevertheless enforced, the European Commission must take all available steps to seek to sanction the Orbán government for non-respect of a fundamental value of the EU.

The European Parliament and the Member States, acting in the Council, must show a united front on this matter and support the European Commission.

It is of utmost importance that we all remain credible defenders and powerful enforcers of human rights and non-discrimination.

Say ‘No’ to the Hungarian anti-LGBT bill!

Joint Declaration of CESI and MKKS on the Hungarian anti-LGBT bill – PDF version

A conversation with Ms. Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission, on the Conference on the Future of Europe, the challenges for the EU in the coming years, and the role of trade unions.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

Attended by around 100 participants, the 1^st webinar of the project on third-party violence brought together members and representatives of trade unions and employer organizations, as well as researchers and specialists in the field of work harassment and discrimination. The online meeting, organized by EPSU together with CEMR, CESI and HOSPEEM, sought to clarify the definitions, applicable rules, and consequences of (third-party) violence at work.

Jane Pillinger, researcher of the project, presented the EU and international legal framework of the issues at stake and stressed the negative impact of workplace harassment on both workers and managers. Particularly, she talked about the impact on health and wellbeing and the security of the people involved, as well as the challenges in preventing third-party violence and the risk factors that increase the likelihood of such behaviors.

Agnes Parent-Thirion, Senior Programme Manager in the Working Life Unit at Eurofound, presented the latest available data from relevant Eurofound surveys and explained the link between job-quality and anti-social behavior.

After the presentations, the participants discussed on their personal experiences and the role of social partners at national level to tackle and fight third-party violence at work.

For CESI, this is a way of continuing the awareness-raising action on the topic started with its own project on third-party violence at work carried out between 2019 and 2020, in particular through the #NOVIOLENCEATWORK campaign based on a video and manifesto against third-party violence at work.

About the Project

“The role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work” is a joint project of HOSPEEM, EPSU, CEMR, CESI (co-applicants) and ETF, ETNO, ETUCE, EUPAE, UITP (associated organizations), co-funded by the European Commission, for the years 2021 to 2023.

The project aims to assess the effectiveness at the national level of the EU multi-sectoral social partners’ Guidelines to tackle and prevent third-party violence and harassment related to work (2010), which CESI signed in 2018, as part of the TUNED delegation, for the central government administrations’ sector. It will identify areas for improvements and explore possibilities for reviewing the Guidelines’ content and nature considering recent legislative developments and the ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment (2019). The final objective of the project is to become an awareness-raising tool on a gender-sensitive approach to third-party violence and harassment at the workplace.

On June 14, CESI’s internal members’ Expert Commission ‘Public Administrations’ convened for its constitutive meeting following CESI’s Congress in December last year, endorsing the appointment by CESI’s Presidium of Otto Aiglsperger (Eurofedop/GÖD), Carlos Martínez (CSIF) and Andreas Hemsing (dbb/komba) as its new President and Vice-Presidents.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “We are very glad to have Otto Aiglsperger, Carlos Martínez and Andreas Hemsing on board as new leaders of our standing Expert Commission on Public Administrations. All three are leading personalities in major national unions and possess a rich experience in social dialogue and interest representation of public sector employees and civil servants. Their insights will help CESI remain a powerful voice of public sector staff towards the EU institutions.”

The meeting marked an important moment in CESI’s future engagements as a European interest group and social partner, raising awareness and gathering support to launch a new campaign on building a strong EU public sector agenda in the post-Covid recovery measures in the Member States. Otto Aiglsperger noted: “If we want the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility to create a resilient and performing Europe, then important investments must flow into the public services, for they keep the state running in times of crisis. In Austria, for instance, 46% EU funds under the Facility are planned to be spent on climate change measures and 41% on digitalisation. Both are important policy fields, but the public service dimension must not be forgotten in the Member States.”

As external guest speakers, Daphne Ahrendt and Tina Weber from the EU agency Eurofound presented findings of recent studies they had co-authored on ‘Living, working and Covid-19’ and ‘Telework and ICT-based mobile work: Flexible working in the digital age’, which they discussed with the members of the Expert Commission, in particular concerning consequences and impacts of Covid-19 and telework on public services and working conditions of staff in public administrations.

The meeting also saw an intervention by Sara Rinaudo, Chairwoman of CESI’s Working Group on the Future of Work’, who outlined challenges that unregulated telework may mean for workers in terms of constant connectedness, a blurring of work and private life, as well as intensifications of work and extensions of working hours combined with shorter resting periods. She highlighted in this context in particular the role of trade unions in advocating for collective bargaining on telework to mitigate adverse effects.

CESI President Romain Wolff rounded off the meeting with a review of CESI’s activities as a member of the European Commission’s expert advisory Platform for Tax Good Governance. He emphasised: “In the aftermath of the Covid pandemic the global governance system needs to find a more effective way of imposing and collecting due business taxes. Trade unions should play a stronger role in advocating this.”

June 1 could mark the beginning of a new era for fairer taxation in Europe.

As a trade union organisation speaking for duly tax-paying workers, as a voice of tax administration personnel across the Europe, as a longstanding member of the European Commission’ advisory expert Platform for Tax Good Governance: For years, CESI has been calling for the obligation of big multinational companies to report to tax authorities on where they make their profits and where they pay their taxes.

On June 1, the European Parliament and the Council finally agreed on a new directive on such a so-called country-by-country-reporting – 5 years after the European Commission had tabled a proposal, in 2016.

In the future, multinationals and their subsidiaries with annual revenues of over EUR 750 million, and which are active in more than one country, will need to publish and make accessible the amount of taxes they pay in each Member State. The tax transparency reports will also extend to the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions outside the EU (the so-called EU black list of tax havens).

This will not only shed some light on taxes being lost to some of the world’s tax havens but also increase transparency in corporate taxation within the EU. It could be a game changer that will allow for an effective and fair taxation of multinational companies, which currently engage in extensive profit-shifting to countries where they pay little taxes – a legal form of avoidance which costs countries dear: According to estimates, globally up to €200 billion are lost each year due to profit-shifting, equaling up to 10% of the corporate income tax revenue. Big money that could be spent on better public administrations, education and health care systems and further public services – or on lower income taxation for workers.

With country-by-country reporting in place, we as CESI will push for a common corporate tax base (CCTB) – a single set of rules that cross-border companies could use to calculate their taxable profits in the EU – or afterwards a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB), a mechanism according to which consolidated taxable profits of a company would be shared between the Member States in which it is active, with each Member State then taxing its share of the profits at its own national tax rate. It would be a leap forward for fair and effective taxation also by multinational companies.

On CCTB and CCCTB, by the way, legislative proposals of the European Commission have also been on the table … since 2011 … and blocked by Council since then. The reason: the EU Treaties prescribe unanimity voting in taxation policies, which means that individual Member States can veto any new legislation on the matter. Since the Conference on the Future of Europe is currently collecting ideas for a better functioning and more effective policy delivery of the EU, it could be the right moment to bring forward again our proposal to move from unanimous to qualified majority voting in EU taxation policy.

CESI has been speaking up for this for long. Worker-taxpayers would benefit from it.

Three years after the significant ‘Matzak’ verdict according to which standby time at home can be regarded as working time, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) revisited the subject matter as part of the cases ‘D.J. v Radiotelevizija Slovenija’ and ‘RJ v Stadt Offenbach am Main’ and came to further refined conclusions regarding the interpretation of the EU working time directive 2003/88 and the notions of ‘working time’ and ‘rest periods’.

In this context, CESI organised a discussion on the significance of these recent developments for European workers, and especially for workers in sectors where on-call and standby duties are common, such as the emergency and health care services sectors.

Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of CESI, who facilitated the debate, discussed with a panel of special guests about the meaning of the recent cases. Adam Pokorny (Head of the Working Conditions Unit at the European Commission), Pierre Joassart (Lawyer of Mr Matzak at the law firm ‘Deckers&Joassart) and Alain Laratta (Secretary General of the French firefighter union ‘Avenir Secours’) answered to timely questions posed by Mr Heeger and representatives of other trade unions:

How is the Working Time Directive interpreted in terms of the notions of ‘working time’ and ‘rest periods’? Which is the line between the mutually exclusive working time and rest periods? Do we need new EU Legislation on working time? What did we learn from the recent court decisions? (How) do they affect the working hours and remuneration of on-call/standby workers? What are the needs and demands of workers in the emergency sector? Which is the role of trade unions?

New decisions by the CJEU on the interpretation of the Working Time Directive and additional initiatives by the European Commission are expected in the near future and CESI is committed to be present at all these crucial developments.

A conversation with Prof. Paul Schoukens on the role of the EU in improving social and labour protection standards and the importance of the EPSR and the Action Plan for its implementation.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

Scheduled for 11-13 June in Cornwall, the 47th G7 Summit is expected to establish the policy framework of the Group of Seven towards the recovery from the Covid pandemic. CESI calls to give due consideration to an employment- and socially friendly economic bounce-back.

The European Union will be represented by the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council who will engage in actions and discussions with the representatives of the core members and the other invited countries.

The Agenda includes developing recovery policies to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic and strategies that build resilience in order to prepare for future crises, as well as environmental policies and measures on climate change. More precisely, the discussion is expected to focus on the creation of a global network of research hubs, international protocols for future emergencies, and the equal and proportional distribution of Covid-19 vaccines among the countries, as well as the green finance and the transition to alternative energy sources. Finally, one part of the intended discussions includes global economic policies, such as the co-ordination on national economic policies, the reforming of multinationals’ taxation and the regulation of digital currencies.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “As independent unions in Europe, we welcome the efforts towards more resilient and greener societies, but at the same, we highlight the need to make efficient social and employment policies an integral part of this transition. The Cornwall Summit must consider the tremendous impact of the pandemic on employment, as well as the implications of the green transition on the labor market.“

He added: “The transition must not only be economic, green and digital, but also socially just and inclusive. It must address the adverse social and employment-related consequences that the pandemic has had, it must include substantial public health and social investments,it needs targeted social protection schemes for those workers that will be hit the most by the negative repercussions of the environmental and digital transition, and it must introduce protective measures for the workers at the frontline of crises.”

CESI expects that the G7 Summit will reach an agreement that promotes the sustainability of our global Community without leaving anyone behind.

A conversation with Mr. Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive of the European Policy Centre.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

The webinar, which was organised by the European Sunday Alliance and the members of its steering group – CESI, UNI Europa, EKD, Don Bosco, COMECE, CEC, JESC, JOCI-IYCW and FAFCE – served to raise awareness about the need to establish a common day of rest workers and citizens in Europe, also in the context of a possible EU-wide right to disconnect which is currently deliberated on in the EU institutions.

Attended by almost 100 participants, it brought together members and representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission, trade unions as well as civil society and faith-related organisations.

Speakers included MEPs Dennis Radtke (EPP), Sponsor of the European Sunday Alliance, Patrizia Toia (S&D), Co-chair of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Social Economy, Miriam Lexmann (EPP), Co-chair of the European Parliament Intergroup on Work-Life-Balance and Alex Agius Saliba (S&D), European Parliamentary Rapporteur on the right to disconnect, as well as Max Uebe, Head of unit ‘Employment Strategy’ and in charge of the European Commission’s work on the right to disconnect. The webinar was moderated by Hendrik Meerkamp from the CESI General Secretariat.

During the webinar, members of the European Sunday Alliance spoke up in favour of the introduction of a common day of synchronised free (rest) time based on its:

• social desirability: While globalisation, digitalisation and labour market de-regulation have been leading to working times which increasingly fragmentise and reach out to weekends, much time has been lost during which, in the past, citizens and families used to pursue volunteer work, civic engagement, joint social, sports or faith-related activities, domestic and care responsibilities and, more generally, to spend time together. A common day of rest would be an opportunity to make a positive statement about the world we want to live in, a world in which workers, citizens, families, communities have space to thrive together and not become increasingly anonymous, online and phantom-like.
• economic desirability: Many workers seem to have lower stress levels, are generally happier, and are able to recover better during common time off with families and friends and communities. In the long-run, they appear to be more performing at work and less often ill and absent at the same time.

The webinar also sought to clarify that:

• a broad political backing should be possible on the introduction of a common day of rest, given that the European Social Charter already fixes in article 2(5) “a weekly rest period which shall, as far as possible, coincide with the day recognised by tradition or custom in the country or region concerned as a day of rest” – and has been signed and ratified by all EU Member States.
• the EU could safely use article 153 on occupational health and safety as a legal basis to propose legislation on a common day of rest along the wording employed in the European Social Charter, given that Sunday as a day of common rest was already enshired in Article 5 of the old EU working time directive 93/104/EC on this legal basis (a clause that was abolished in the 1990s by the EU Court of Justice not because of the legal basis but because the choice of Sunday vis-à-vis another day of common rest was not justified in the directive).

CESI and the European Sunday Alliance will continue their advocacy work for a common day of rest for as many workers as possible in Europe – knowing that certain essential services always need to be maintained on a 24/7-basis but also being aware of trends according to which more and more non-essential work is performed outside common traditional core working hours – to the detriment of workers, employers and the society and economy alike.

A conversation with Ms. Ioanna Papageorgiou on the initiatives of the European Parliament in the field of Artificial Intelligence and the value of unbiased algorithms for the world of work.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

Following the adoption of the EU Corona Recovery and Resilience Facility, Member States have started to submit to the European Commission their proposals for national plans on how they intend to invest the grants and loans to re-build their social, economic and environmental infrastructures. The national plans are now assessed by the European Commission regarding their compatibility in particular with EU environmental and digital transition targets and will, thereafter, be submitted to the Council for adoption.

To evaluate the possible impact of these plans in the field of employment and social affairs, CESI organised a timely debate with experts from think tanks and representatives from trade unions. As the main speakers of the event, Marta Pilati, Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC) and author of a recent study on ‘National recovery and resilience plans: Empowering the green and digital transitions?’ and Roberto Di Maulo, Secretary General of the Italian Confsal-Fismic trade union and Vice-President of CESI, presented their views on the national recovery strategies and answered to questions relating to the socio-economic-environmental balance of the plans, their priorities in the field of employment and capacities to bring socially just recoveries, and the role of trade unions and social partners in their implementation.

Marta Pilati underlined the risk of new inequalities in the labour markets as a result of green and digital transitions and presented facts showing that vulnerable groups such as youth, women and low-skilled workers are most at risk. Furthermore, she highlighted the significance of creating proper interlinkages among recovery policies to ensure cohesive strategies that will have a positive long-term impact on our societies.

Roberto Di Maulo commented on the Italian plan proposal and the related structural reforms that the Italian government aims to implement in the judiciary, the fiscal system, the social safety net and in education. He also stressed the importance of potential secondary effects of digitalisation and green transitions on employment and jobs and called for an active role of trade unions in guiding green and digital recovery policies to sustainable solutions that will be effectively protecting the world of work as well.

The discussion was facilitated by Hendrik Meerkamp, staff member in the CESI General Secretariat, on behalf of CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger.

CESI plans to hold a further CESI@home on the national recovery and resilience plans in September/October to assess in greater detail how trade unions and social partners can work hand-in-hand with governments and authorities to ensure socially just digital and green transitions under the national Corona recovery and resilience facility.

A conversation on the significance of the Porto Social Summit and the need for a new EU social contract.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

In its position, CESI outlines the following considerations and priorities for collective bargaining for the self employed:

• A general prohibition of collective bargaining for the self-employed via trade unions on the grounds that there may be cartel-forming through joint wage negotiations is not in line with the spirit and the purpose of EU competition law. Justifying the prohibition of collective bargaining by reference to the need to maintain the integrity of the single market (article 101 TFEU) is a misplaced contextualisation of EU law, especially when it is applied to vulnerable and precarious self-employed persons.
• The extension of the right to collective bargaining especially to the precarious and the vulnerable self-employed would be desirable. To make it effective, such a right to collective bargaining should be embedded in a four-tier approach which gives the concerned self-employed (1) the right to join trade unions, (2) the right to collective bargaining, (3) the right to become a part of collective agreements, and thus (4) also the right to take industrial action.
• EU competition law should be made compatible with collective bargaining at least for all solo self-employed providing their own labour through digital platforms or to professional customers of any size with the exception of regulated (and liberal) professions. This should be implemented by a clear Council regulation and coupled to a clear-cut definition and a positive list of regulated liberal professions which are not facing precarious employment as a result of their self-employment (e.g. heads of notary, auditor and tax advising practices, architect bureaus, pharmacies, dental practices).
• This initiative should not be aimed to alleviate challenges for the bogus self-employed. Bogus self-employed are denied regular employee contracts because employers want to avoid higher social ‘costs’. Supporting the right of collective bargaining for the bogus self-employed would mean treating symptoms, not tackling roots. Bogus self-employed are, as the term reveals, false self-employed and de facto employees. What is necessary here is to ensure that they are considered as regular employees with all consequences (regular individual and collective labour law and rights and social security schemes applied to them), thus eliminating bogus self-employment in the first place. It should be noted that the problem of bogus solo self-employment currently also persists in regulated liberal professions (among lawyers, dentists, etc), where persons may be employed under precarious self-employment conditions while they are in fact dependent workers (in the law firm, dental practice), just like regular private sector employees.
• Clear legal frameworks for the right to collective bargaining for the self-employed are required and (well-staffed and resourced) labour inspectorates need to be put in place to control their application and issue (deterring) sanctions for violations.

CESI’s full consultation statement is available here.

A conversation with Mr. Pierre Joassart on the recent case law of the European Court of Justice and its value for European workers.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies.

It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/

#CESItalks

La pandemia di Covid-19 ha dimostrato in modo impressionante (e doloroso) quanto siano decisivi ed essenziali i servizi pubblici e quanto sia urgente migliorarli ulteriormente attraverso una dimensione europea più forte.

#CESItalks

In a long-awaited ‘Communication on business taxation in the 21st century’, the European Commission announced, most notably:

• a legislative proposal, to be published next year, for the publication of effective tax rates paid by large companies.
  
• a legislative proposal setting out union rules to neutralise the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes, to be published before the end of this year.
• a legislative proposal in 2023 for a new framework entitled BEFIT (‘Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation’ with the aim to provide a single corporate tax rulebook for the EU by minimising tax avoidance opportunities in the Single Market. BEFIT would replace its proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, which has been stuck in the Council for long and will be withdrawn.

In a first reaction, CESI Secretary General said: “As a trade union umbrella organisation representing workers across Europe, and as a voice of tax unions, we have stressed for long that forms of taxation other than on labour need to be effective and fair, too. Also the business sector needs clear rules for fair and adequate taxation without loopholes. The European Commission’s plans are a very positive and important step in the fight against corporate tax evasion and avoidance which continues to be too persisting.”

He added: “As an organisation representing public section unions, we have made it clear in the past, not least through our membership in the European Commission’s Platform for Tax Good Governance, that effective and fair taxation of business is indispensable to finance sustainable and performing public services, which serve especially the most vulnerable members of society which cannot buy in substitutive private services. Especially in times of the unprecentended crisis that we face as a result of the Covid pandemic, business needs to play its part in contributing adequately to much needed public tax revenues.”

Romain Wolff, CESI President and CESI representative to the Platform on Tax Good Governance, concluded: “The plans of the European Commission are encouraging. The proposals that the European Commission is going to table will however also need to be adopted by the Council. With unanimity voting in the area of taxation, this will require an effort which I hope will be successful. We have emphasised in the past that the European Commission should seriously attempt to push through a passerelle clause which the Treaties offer in order to move to qualified majority voting in this policy field. This would make it much more likely that ambitious plans also become ambitious legislation.”

CESI’s comprehensive set of demands for effective and fair business taxation are available here. CESI’s position on a possible majority voting in the Council can be accessed here.

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) is a confederation of more than 40 national and European trade union organizations from over 20 European countries, with a total of more than 5 million individual members. Founded in 1990, CESI advocates improved employment conditions for workers in Europe and a strong social dimension in the EU. Most of CESI’s affiliates are employed in the different fields and levels of the European, national, regional and local civil and public services. As such, CESI also represents health care and nurses’ unions across Europe.

Nursing professionals provide an invaluable contribution to our healthcare systems, yet still too often their value is not enough recognised and they remain largely an invisible and heavily burdened part of our care sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic has showcased how dependent citizens are on the nurses’ ability to perform with commitment, professionalism, bravery and on time. Even before this crisis CESI was advocating for more investment in the nursing profession, in order to mitigate the challenges health workers are facing due to care drain and understaffing, work overload, and a lack of access to sufficient technological and protective equipment.

In the EU-28, according to the World Health Organization[1], the shortfall of health workers in the overall sector was estimated at 1.6 million in 2013 and is predicted to grow to 4.1 million by 2030.

Understaffing among nurses, work overload and lacking technological and protective equipment poses risks and real consequences for both nurses (in terms of stress, illness, absenteeism), patients (in terms of morbidity and mortality) and the sustainability of public finance and public health systems (in terms of long-term economic costs).

To address the causes of this and to mitigate its adverse consequences, CESI, on the occasion of today’s International Nurses Day, puts forward again the following demands to policy makers:

1. A target of a common average nurse-patient quota must be established in the EU Member States.
2. The EU’s financial and economic governance system must be rendered more sensitive to allow Member States to finance this without being penalized by the Stability and Growth Pact.
3. EU social legislation must be reviewed to allow for better and safer employment and working conditions for nurses, with a view to better staff attraction and retention in the sector.
4. EU funding for social partners and trade unions is necessary for awareness-raising campaigns to increase the public appreciation of the profession of the nurse.

Today, on May 12th, the International Nurses Day, CESI asks to turn our appreciation and applauses during the Covid lockdowns into action for all the nurses who continue to show up for work, despite clear limitations, all in order to save people’s lives.

Find here an in-depth position paper explaining why the understaffing in the nursing profession needs to be addressed a.s.a.p..

[1] World Health Organization (WHO), Nursing and midwifery: Data and statistics. https://www.who.int/hrh/resources/pub_globstrathrh-2030/en/, accessed on February 17 2021

The aim of our CESI@home event was to identify the potential impacts of the ambitious Green Deal on employment, workers and EU citizens at large. Trade union experts and policy makers met online to discuss issues such as: How can be ensured that green policies will also be socially just? Which is the role of the trade unions generally and public sector unions in particular in managing the Green Deal in socially acceptable way? Which is the relevance of trade union actions in the implementation of green targets?

Antoine Colombani, member of the Cabinet of European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, presented the content of the Green Deal, and related proposals and targets of the European Commission in this respect. Mr. Colombani also commented on the need for a climate-neutral economy that preserves ecosystems and on the importance of a socially just green transition in the context of the EU’s Corona crisis recovery strategy.

Sara Rinaudo, an expert from CESI’s Italian member union CONFSAL and also member of the Board of the CESI Youth and chair of CESI’s Working Group on the Future of Work, explained the role of trade unions in the Green Deal. Ms. Rinaudo noted the importance for trade unions to keep high on the agenda the topic of green policies and added that in this transition, trade unions should take into consideration that:

-There are not only short-term but also long-term opportunities and challenges.

-The green transition will profoundly reshape the labor market and the organization of work and therefore we need to think about targeted social protection schemes for those people who will be hit the most by the negative repercussions of the transition.

-Well-functioning information and consultation mechanisms will be essential for trade unions to better anticipate strategic, economic and technological changes and their impact.

-The transition towards a low-carbon economy is expected to have very strong implications in terms of competences and skills. Potentially, it may affect a great number of workers, raising the need for new skill profiles, lowering the demand for others. Ensuring a fair and just transition will require an evolvement of training and educational systems but also active labor market policies targeting employment creation, training and lifelong learning and trade unions will have a key role in that.

-Trade unions should help steer public opinion: a real sustainable living and working can happen also by a collective and individual cultural shift.

Christian Moos from the German Civil Servants Association (DBB) and member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) presented recent developments in the area of green policies in Germany and confirmed that environmental policies are now an integral part of the German political agenda. Furthermore, he highlighted the challenges and opportunities of this transition for the public sector and the respective trade unions.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger concluded that trade unions have a fundamental role in the green transition process: to guarantee that it happens in a socially fair way that respects European citizens and particularly workers. He added that CESI will work hard towards protecting the most vulnerable in this new era.

La pandemia di Covid-19 ha dimostrato in modo impressionante (e doloroso) quanto siano decisivi ed essenziali i servizi pubblici e quanto sia urgente migliorarli ulteriormente attraverso una dimensione europea più forte.

#CESItalks

Dear members, colleagues, friends and partners of CESI,

In the last days and weeks, events of importance for social Europe took place. The digital platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE) was launched on April 19th, the Porto declaration was adopted on May 8, and the COFOE itself was inaugurated on Europe Day, May 9th.

In Porto, the heads of states and governments reaffirmed their commitment to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights. The most popular answers to what a “more social EU” could be is “cohesion”, “solidarity” or “upwards convergence”, yet often the details of what this might concretely entail, or not, remain blurred.

To remind you, the Pillar establishes 20 principles which, when taken by the letter, would confer “rights”: “Everyone shall have the right to…, workers shall have the right to…, parents and carers shall have the right to…, children shall have the right to…”.

In the Porto Declaration, the European Council declared that “the European Pillar of Social Rights is a fundamental element of the recovery and its implementation will strengthen the Union’s drive towards a digital, green and fair transition. The social dimension, social dialogue and the active involvement of social partners have always been at the core of a highly competitive social market economy. Our commitment to unity and solidarity also means ensuring equal opportunities for all and that no one is left behind.”

However, social policy is a field of multi-layered competence, the Pillar is not binding (it is a solemn proclamation, meaning a declaration of intent), and the rights listed in it are

not directly enforceable for trade unions, workers or citizens. By the same token, the addressees are the Member States, the EU, private or public social protection schemes, the social partners at all levels and in all sectors, employers, health care providers, local governments, public utilities providers etc.

Accordingly, the heads of states and governments also declared in Porto their determination “to continue deepening the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights at EU and national level, with due regard for respective competences and the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.”

And they added: “The Action Plan presented by the Commission on 4 March 2021 provides useful guidance for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights including in the areas of employment, skills, and social protection.” ‘Useful guidance’ says it all. Nothing could be less binding.

The question what the EPSR actually is, is more than justified. It is, that much is clear, a declaration of intent. But is it, as some call it, the “most comprehensive social package ever designed”, or is it rather, as critics complained in the past, more of a placebo that generates positive psychological effects without concrete “active ingredients”?

The implementation of the Pillar needs ingredients: awareness, laws, guidelines, and, not least, money. The EU has already come forward with “75 initiatives at different levels”, Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis commented last Friday; among them legislative and non-legislative initiatives, such as for instance an adjusted European Semester, putting “social policy at the centre of EU policy making”. And if we speak ‘social’ let´s not forget the recovery instrument NextGenerationEU with the €672.5-billion-heavy Recovery and Resilience Facility at its heart. So yes, there is reason to be sceptical – but maybe more to be optimistic.

Now, and this is the general feeling at EU level, the ball lies with the Member States. If the Pillar does not have a concrete impact on the lives of citizens and workers, we will never know if it is the most comprehensive package ever designed – or a mere placebo. The Member States now need to implement and complement EU legislation and spend the funds under the Facility with clear social targets.

In this regard, the recently presented Action Plan may give guidance. It proposes manifold actions at different levels and defines three headline targets which should be achieved by 2030:

1. At least 78% of people aged 20 to 64 should be in employment.

2. At least 60% of all adults should participate in training every year.

3. The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion should be reduced by at least 15 million.

Of course, the EU has always been good in establishing multiannual targets and strategies, such as (previously) the Lisbon Agenda or the EU 2020 Strategy, (and

just recently) the Digital Strategy or the European Green Deal. The question is whether these targets can and will be reached.

Will the Pillar and the Action Plan make a difference? Will they become the ‘most comprehensive social package(s) ever designed’ or will they only reveal another ‘lame duck’?

At CESI, we published our 10 most important demands for a successful implementation of the Pillar of Social Rights in advance of the Porto Summit. And I believe the answer lies with all of us. With us as citizens, workers, politicians, as media and social society representatives, and, not least, as social partners and trade unions.

On 6 May, CESI Youth and StartNet kicked-off the #EUSocialSummit21 in Porto by providing young people, youth organisations and stakeholders with an online civic space to raise their voice. The Porto Social Summit on 7-8 May is a decisive moment for Europe’s future social policies with the European Pillar of Social Rights and its new Action Plan. The aim of the event was to ensure that the rich discussion, ideas and recommendations of the event can feed into the Social Summit and future social policies at European and national level. Delivering social rights to all young people is essential for Europe’s inclusive recovery and sustainable future.

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) is a confederation of 40 trade union organisations from 20 European countries and 4 European trade union organisations, with a total of more than 5 million individual members. 1 further trade union organisations enjoys observer status.

Founded in 1990, CESI advocates improved employment conditions for workers in Europe and a strong social dimension in the EU.

CESI’s particular strength lies in the public sector but CESI also represents private sector workers. Most of CESI’s affiliates are employed in the fields of central, regional and local administration, security and justice, education, training and research, healthcare, postal services and telecommunications, defence and transport.

CESI and its members are involved in advocacy work as an interest group and in social dialogue as a recognised European social partner (since 2005), being involved in various EU-level sectoral social dialogue committees.

Since 2013, the CESI Youth has been a voice of CESI’s young affiliates. CESI’s Europe Academy serves as an internal training centre for members.

CESI defends trade union pluralism as a core component of freedom and democracy, views non-partisanship as a guiding principle of its work, and strictly adheres to ethical fundamental principles such as integrity, fairness, incorruptibility and transparency. CESI defends a European social model based on solidarity and subsidiarity and, in its work, strives to maintain the principles of non-discrimination and gender equality. CESI promotes the further development of its own youth organisation and its inclusion in internal decision-making processes.

CESI works in line with the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention on Human Rights). It defends the principles and aims listed in the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights and in the Council of Europe’s European Social Charter.

To find out more about CESI, access CESI’s statutes, basic positioning paper and activity report 2013-2016 in the resources section.

Not having been invited to participate actively at the Social Summit, CESI publishes its demands for a successful implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in the Member States online. They comprise the following:

1. Strengthened administrations and public services to provide services of general interest: The European Commission should follow an agenda for strong public services. This should highlight, more than before, the urgent need for more investments in administrations and public services and their personnel, in order to make them resilient and allow them to function and deliver essential services for the achievement of the Pillar also during unexpected and severe crises, as currently during the Covid pandemic. The European Semester and a European economic governance system should further encourage rather than discourage investments in the public sector – Even if this may mean additional debts it yields huge returns in the long run.
2. A focus on re-communalisation: The Covid crisis has again unearthed negative impacts of uncompromising market liberalisation and privatisations in many areas of the public sector. This concerns both the quality of service delivery and the quality of employment and working conditions. Rather than continue to pursue a unilateral dogmatic agenda of further market openings in services of general economic interest, the European Commission should encourage Member States to consider more re-communalisations, stressing the role of public services to guarantee the well-being of people and to make societies resilient to crises.
3. Decent work & social conditionality criteria in EU funding: Where Member States, public authorities or private actors seek to benefit from EU financial resources, there should be clear conditionality criteria in place aimed at demonstrating that an envisaged project or measure furthers the realisation of the objectives of the Pillar.
4. Social and decent work criteria in public procurement: The obligation for Member States under EU public procurement rules to ensure that in the performance of public contracts economic operators comply with applicable obligations in the fields of environmental, social and labour law established by Union law, national law, collective agreements or by international environmental, social and labour law should be stricter interpreted and violations pursued more strictly by the European Commission, including via infringement procedures.
5. Socially compatible State aid: The European Commission should envisage to initiate a review of State aid rules to include strict social criteria to the EU state aid regime. Such a revision would ensure that government aid to industry and service actors furthers the realisation of the objectives of the Pillar.
6. Funding for measures of interest: Where the EU has identified a specific goal which it would like the Member States to follow, it should (co-)fund measures to reach this objective to further incentivise Member States. Experience has shown that EU recommendations are most likely to meet the goodwill of Member States if they come along with money.
7. Naming and shaming: The EU’s Social Scoreboard should remain the central tool to monitor the social architecture in the Member States. The appropriateness and soundness of the indicators and benchmarks used in the Scoreboard should be regularly assessed with the full formal involvement of all European horizontal und sectoral social partner organisations. The annual findings of the Scoreboard should always be published by the European Commission.
8. A monitoring mechanism to trace social progress to the Pillar: It would be intriguing to make the Scoreboard sensitive to detecting which new measures and policies actually have its root and ambition in the Pillar and where concrete advantages or benefits were achieved for workers.
9. Access to consultations and the European Semester, also for independent unions: The European Commission must involve all European trade union umbrella organisations and all horizontal and sectoral social partners actively in all debates and consultations on the Pillar and enable them and their members to seize it. Access to conferences, hearings, formal consultations, applicable policy reviews, etc. should be open also to CESI as an independent trade union organisation. This also concerns access to the European Semester process, which is supposed to be(come) a major vehicle to help implement the Pillar in the Member States.
10. Funding for awareness and capacity – also for independent unions: The European Commission should not overly rely on organisations including trade unions to advertise the Pillar out of their own ambition and at their own expense, but set up a dedicated EU funding pot which provides – proportionally for all European trade union umbrella organisations, in particular also CESI as an independent trade union organisation – financial resources to help and enable them to build capacity on the Pillar and apply its principles in their trade union work and in social dialogue. The need for more financial support also concerns capacity building on the European Semester process.

The objective of the project which encompasses representatives from postal companies and unions from 27 EU Member builds on the previous project “Trend research for the postal sector in 2030”, where European social partners have jointly developed 5 different foresight scenarios on what the sector could look like in 2030. The objective of this follow-up project is to go one step further and make the scenarios more operational by drawing the postal characters who will exist in these 5 different realities of the postal sector.

The participants will consider what could be the main tasks and missions for identified profiles in the framework of a typical working day. The specificities of the operating conditions will also be considered as well as the tools, in particular digital ones, to be used for each function. This will enable to analyze what postal jobs will be created, will disappear or will evolve in these 5 scenarios. Besides the postal characters, it will also be important to consider some other key characters who will exist in the different scenarios, especially the consumers, who will be in interaction with the postal characters. The impact of the wider economic, regulatory, social environment will be essential to depict each character’s evolutions.

The consultant’s role will be two-folds:

1) the main objective is to support the participants with a relevant method to elaborate and develop these postal characters;

2) while the second objective is to facilitate innovative and dynamic workshops, mainly facilitated digitally, which aim at having European social partners thinking out of the box and forward looking. The consultant will work in close cooperation with the Steering committee consisting of employer and trade union representatives.

Further details can be found in the call for tender application. All interested applicants must send in their application, by 10 June 2021 at the latest, to [email protected] as POSTEUROP ensures the administrative management of this project and to [email protected] as project manager.

For more information on the former SDC project and on SDC activities please see its website: www.postsocialdialog.eu

Shortly before the #PortoSocialSummit we discuss about the policies and measures that can transform Europe into a zone of social equality and justice for ALL!

The #PortoSocialSummit needs to make clear that a successful European Pillar of Social Rights requires:

“…strengthened public administrations for quality services of general interest.”

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“…a resolute monitoring mechanism to trace concrete social progress to the pillar.”

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“…effective social and decent work criteria in EU public procurement standards.”

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“…better access to EU-funding for awareness-raising and capacity-building activities.”

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“…targeted and incentivising EU funding for Member States.”

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“… A focus on re-communalisations for high quality services of general interest.”

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“…strengthened public administrations for quality services of general interest.”

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“…more inclusive access to closed-door & Brussels-centred deliberations around the Pillar.”

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“…annual comprehensive public national analyses of the social scoreboard.”

A functioning civil service is not an end in itself. It is the foundation for freedom, security, democracy and economic development.

However, the civil service no longer has any personnel reserves. Due to the Corona pandemic, our colleagues, including those who are not directly involved in fighting it, are working to the limit and beyond. Overwork, depression, anxiety and burnout are the consequences. A similar situation had already occurred five years earlier when it was necessary to deal with the large refugee and migration movements.

The EPC study on ‘Well performing public services for a fair and resilient European society’ shows what can be concretely improved and how this can be achieved. I would like to briefly pick out two points as examples, the first being digitalization.

The financial pressure for the introduction of digital technologies is greater for the public service sector than for the general economy.

However, digitalization must improve the lives of all and not be a money-making programme for a few who accumulate immense wealth. After all, the new technologies and possibilities have been developed mainly by employees. They should benefit at least as much as the entrepreneurial side. The public employer must be a role model in ensuring that digitalization benefits all public employees. Digitalization is above all an instrument for better quality of service provision and not an instrument for savings.

The second point is the proposal for an “annual report on the quality of public services in the EU”. This should provide EU-wide and country-specific insights through a common methodology for assessing the quality of public services. And this information should then feed into the proposals prepared and published in the context of the European Semester to bring about improvements.

Finally, I am pleased that Austria is mentioned positively with regard to the role of the Court of Audit. Apart from the Parliament, the Austrian Court of Audit is the only institution that controls the government and its bureaucracy on a broader, interdepartmental basis. It points out undesirable developments, makes concrete proposals for improvement and demands reports on their implementation. Although the Court of Audit – apart from these reporting obligations – has no means of exerting pressure, a large part of its recommendations are regularly implemented. This is exactly how the “Annual Report on the Quality of Public Services in the EU” could be used to create pressure for high-performance public services.

Otto Aiglsperger

A conversation with Mr. Tiemo Wölken, MEP, on the EU vaccination strategy and the Digital Green Certificate.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/ #CESItalks

“DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers”

The two years project is co-financed with the European Commission’s funds. #DiWork

Over the last years, many programmatic interventions have gone in the direction of technology-driven public services. However, the actual realization of this transformation has proceeded slowly, often due lack of resources and insufficient consideration of workers’ experience and point of view.

In February 2020, the European Commission has launched the strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”.  The EU’s digital strategy aiming to make this transformation work for people and businesses, while helping to achieve its target of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. Throughout the strategy, the EC will focus its attention on three key objectives: a technology that works for people, a fair and competitive economy and an open, democratic and sustainable society. It aims at a European society powered by digital solutions that put people first, opens up new opportunities for businesses, and boosts the development of trustworthy technology to foster an open and democratic society and a vibrant and sustainable economy.

The impact of digitalisation, especially the required competencies and working conditions, is a growing concern among public sector personnel. The COVID-19 crisis has impressively (and painfully) demonstrated how decisive and essential public services are and how urgently their further improvement through digitalisation is needed.

In this scenario, it is a priority to intervene in a broad and incisive way also on the ICT competencies in the public sector, through the definition of targeted interventions, to meet the potential growth of our economy, but mostly to meet specific requests from the European citizens and entrepreneurs.

The digital transformation of public services requires a profound change through the affirmation of a wide and heterogeneous range of skills at all levels. The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI) wishes to support this process, identifying the necessary methodology, tools and new skills for public sector personnel in Europe.

The project aims to go in the direction of digital transformation through the identification of tools and actions, making a distinction between different sectors and selected countries with the final goal of strengthening and consolidating the basic and advanced digital skills of the employee with effective change management.

This project also aims to investigate these evolving realities, to provide the Trade Unions’ Representatives with a better understanding of how employees can benefit from technology, but also understand the associated risks in terms of possible deterioration of working conditions and the potential impact new technologies can have on occupational health and safety.‍

A conversation with Ms. Estrella Ferrandis, MEP, on the Plan for the Implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its significance for European workers.

#CESItalks is a series of conversations with MEPs and EP officials/experts on social and employment policies. It is part of a project co-financed by the European Parliament: “WeEP – The EP and workers: a well-designed post-pandemic recovery plan.”

The project wants to raise citizens’ and workers’ awareness of the role of the European Union – and of the European Parliament in particular – in the design of social standards.

Against the background of the post-Covid recovery and the heralded digital and green transitions, social and employment policies are more than ever of major relevance.

More info: https://www.cesi.org/posts/weep-the-ep-and-workers-a-well-designed-post-covid19-recovery-plan/ #CESItalks

The Covid pandemic has caused dramatic changes to almost every aspect of the world of work. A significant number of people found themselves unemployed, many were suspended from their work or sent into short work, and others had to fear dismissal. Workers have died after contracting the deadly virus at the workplace, often as a result of inadequate occupational health and safety protection, and the majority of the working population has learned to follow demanding health protocols that often affect their performance and increase their fatigue.

At the same time, new working patterns have emerged and flexible forms of work have seen a rapid unfolding. Especially teleworking has become the rule for millions of workers worldwide, as a measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which as meant new risks for their mental health and their ability to balance working and private life.

Today, on May 1, CESI Secretary General, Klaus Heeger highlights the special importance of this year’s Labor Day for all workers and particularly for those who have been at the front line in the fight against the virus: “Today we express our gratitude to all those workers who continue to risk their lives for us: the doctors and the nurses, the cleaners, the emergency agencies, the delivery couriers, and many others in the public and private services. After one year in this tremendous crisis, we realize more than ever the value of solidarity and the need for effective protective mechanisms for workers and their rights. Even in this new and unexpected era, the demands of the workers at the Haymarket Square of Chicago still hold true today: ‘Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.’ Today, we honor the struggles of the labour movement and focus our attention on the challenges of our times: decent working conditions and health and safety protection, fair remuneration and sound representation for every worker, during and after the pandemic!”

#LabourDay

The Covid pandemic has caused dramatic changes to almost every aspect of the world of work. A significant number of people found themselves unemployed, many were suspended from their work or sent into short work, and others had to fear dismissal. Workers have died after contracting the deadly virus at the workplace, often as a result of inadequate occupational health and safety protection, and the majority of the working population has learned to follow demanding health protocols that often affect their performance and increase their fatigue.

At the same time, new working patterns have emerged and flexible forms of work have seen a rapid unfolding. Especially teleworking has become the rule for millions of workers worldwide, as a measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which as meant new risks for their mental health and their ability to balance working and private life.

Today, on May 1, CESI Secretary General, Klaus Heeger highlights the special importance of this year’s Labor Day for all workers and particularly for those who have been at the front line in the fight against the virus: “Today we express our gratitude to all those workers who continue to risk their lives for us: the doctors and the nurses, the cleaners, the emergency agencies, the delivery couriers, and many others in the public and private services. After one year in this tremendous crisis, we realize more than ever the value of solidarity and the need for effective protective mechanisms for workers and their rights. Even in this new and unexpected era, the demands of the workers at the Haymarket Square of Chicago still hold true today: ‘Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.’ Today, we honor the struggles of the labour movement and focus our attention on the challenges of our times: decent working conditions and health and safety protection, fair remuneration and sound representation for every worker, during and after the pandemic!”

The COVID-19 pandemic has tested the resilience of our healthcare systems – and too many failed. Long before this crisis, CESI has been advocating for building resilient public health systems by first addressing one of the most important impediments: the understaffing of the healthcare workforce.

On the so-called ‘European Immunization Week’, this deficiency must be highlighted -yet- again: In the EU-28, the shortfall of health workers in the overall sector was estimated at 1.6 million in 2013 and is predicted to grow to 4.1 million by 2030.

Understaffing risks and real consequences for both the workforce (in terms of stress, illness, absenteeism), patients (in terms of morbidity and mortality) and the sustainability of public finance and public health systems (in terms of long-term economic costs).

And, as commonly known, the most important factors that lead to staff shortages in the health sector are inadequate employment and working conditions, as well as an ageing of the workforce and of the population in general.

To address the causes of understaffing of nurses and mitigate its adverse consequences, CESI has brought forward the following demands:

1. The establishment of a target of a common average nurse/doctor-patient quota in the EU Member States.
2. An increased consideration of the needs of a sustainable in the EU’s financial and economic governance to allow Member States to finance this without being penalised by the Stability and Growth Pact.
3. A tangible improvement of the working conditions, pay and recognition of healthcare staff – not least to attract and retain dedicated and qualified workforce in a sector of such fundamental societal importance.
4. EU funding for social partners and trade unions for awareness-raising campaigns to raise public appreciation for the healthcare professions.
5. A new of focus on EU cohesion policy, pre-accession assistance and neighborhood policy to reduce ‘push factors’ for healthcare leading them to seek employment in richer areas and countries.

For more information CESI has prepared a more elaborated position paper on the topic, which is politically endorsed by CESI member organizations as of March 2021 (CESI_position paper_understaffing of nurses_EN_2021).