UNI Europa

In Europe, too few workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Yet bargaining collectively is the most powerful tool to improve workers’ lives, resulting in higher pay and better conditions. In 2022, a European law – the Minimum Wage Directive – was passed that could transform workers’ bargaining power. Now, as part of the law, EU member states will make national action plans that promote collective bargaining. These national action plans should create a legislative and regulatory framework that will make it easier for unions to achieve 80 per cent collective bargaining coverage, as set out in the law. One of the most effective ways to reach that target is multi-employer bargaining. Learn more about it here: https://lnkd.in/eWpxuQtN

We welcome the re-elected commission president’s promised revision of the EU Public Procurement Directive, a long-standing UNI Europa demand. Public procurement is one of the best tools to reach the EU’s strategic target of 80 per cent collective bargaining coverage. Any revision, however, must ensure that only employers which respect collective bargaining are eligible for public contracts. Our full reaction:

Building an organising culture is an urgent priority for trade unions across Europe. Last week, UNI Europa and its organising centre EPOC held a two-day workshop to introduce participants to the approach we have taken in developing organising capacity. Since 2020, EPOC Network has regularly brought together affiliated unions involved in our organising work to learn from one another. It was initially set up during COVID as a short form webinar whereby unions could present their organising experiences – both successes and challenges – and discuss with other unions in similar situations. More recently, EPOC Network has started to bring together UNI affiliates involved in our organising work in a face-to-face format to really break down the structural challenges we face as unions. The workshop was aimed two distinct groups of participants. Firstly at affiliated unions that are reflecting on their current strategy and exploring the potential for a trade union renewal programme – especially those unions with well-established (including sectoral) collective bargaining. The second group of participants were from the European level – staff of UNI Europa as well as other ETUFs and the ETUC – to explore what the potential is supporting national level affiliates in their renewal from the international and European level. In the context of the forthcoming ETUC Trade Union Renewal Centre this type of collaboration is more important than ever.

Can the ⚖️ Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) be a helpful tool for European Works Council delegates to design innovative due diligence practices? A big question for the participants of a recent ETUI-UNI Europa joint trade union training on what the councils can expect from the new #CSDDD framework 🔭 More info here: https://lnkd.in/ewH_yHp9

📢 WE ARE HIRING! As Project Coordinator on Organising and Collective Bargaining policy, you would organise a series of organising training events, strategy workshops with trade union leadership and analysis of collective bargaining policies. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gFUm7iTb

📢 Call For Tender: European Postal Sector Social Partners Solicit External Expertise For 🌍 EU-Funded Project On “Skills and Work Environment In The Digital Transition” The project’s goal is to provide social partners in the postal sector with a comprehensive insight into the transformation of professional profiles and skills in postal services considering the rise of e-commerce, changing customer requirements, and the imperatives of the green transition. As a result, social partners will be better equipped to identify skills requirements emerging over the next ten years for four occupational profiles, namely back-office operations; delivery of postal items; post offices network; call centers or customer relations. The project will provide insight into essential skills for adapting to changes in postal employment and will collect best practices in terms of training. More on 👉 https://lnkd.in/dzBunD67 All interested applicants must send in their application by 7 June 2024 at the latest to UNI Europa Post & Logistics Director Dimitris Theodorakis.

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👁️🗨️ Searching for two experts for a UNI Europa project on collective bargaining UNI Europa seeks an expert to analyse existing policy proposals for enhancing collective bargaining across different institutional contexts in Europe. This analysis will support discussions with national affiliates on upcoming action plans. The expert will collect proposals from various regions, categorizing them based on institutional settings. Deliverables include four policy briefs and a presentation to the steering committee by 15 September 2024. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/ee4PYyNa UNI Europa seeks an expert to conduct a mapping exercise of social partners in Europe’s services sectors under the ‘Capacity building for Collective Bargaining’ project. The expert will analyse recent Eurofound data, complement it with additional information, and deliver a comprehensive database, report, and presentation by 1 August 2024. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/ei5QNTcC

NEW CALL FOR TENDER The aim of the two-year project “STAFF – Supportive tools for ambitious fair franchising” is to contribute to empower trade union officials and workers representatives to be able to anticipate, react and respond to challenges due to the growing trend of franchising in the commerce sector. The project will establish basic principles and a common understanding and awareness of what ambitious fair franchising should look like, present solutions to the threat deteriorating working conditions and reduce the possible negative impact on workers of franchising. UNI Europa, the European Services Workers Union, will coordinate the project and will count on the direct involvement of six key national affiliates: AVC Puls (Belgium), CFDT Services (France), KASZ (Hungary), Fisascat (Italy), FNV (Netherlands) and Solidarnosc (Poland). As described in a call for tender just published, the project will benefit from the input of experts. Find out more below:

NEW CALL FOR TENDER! Working time arrangements vary sector by sector, and workplace by workplace. Part-time and full-time jobs, more or less flexibility and predictability, remote work: there are dozens of models – and each of them has a strong impact on the quality of worker’s life, inside and outside their workplaces.  To support services sectors unions in recognising, assessing and negotiating fair working time models, UNI Europa today kicked off the EU-funded project “FATIMA – Fair working time matters”. A number of UNI Europa member union are directly involved in the project to ensure a strong link between research and policy work, and what workers experience in their daily activities.   During next two years, four target sectors – ICTS, commerce, care and property services – will be at core of the main project activities: research on working time models – with an innovative checklist to help assess what is “fair” or not –, four sectoral workshops and a catalogue of policy recommendations.  A call for tender has just been launched to identify the experts who are going to work on these deliverables. Find out more and apply: https://lnkd.in/eNey4Jjj