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#SocialDialogue - Europe's future

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The newly-established European Labour Authority set up by the European Union will focus on strengthening mutual trust and facilitating development and implementation of employment rules across the EU in the most efficient and safe way.

The necessity of the Authority’s establishment arises from the global labour market transformation due to technological innovation, demographic pitfalls, climate change and globalization, as well as rising challenges inside the EU and the needed solution to the intra-EU mobility problem of European workers that are members of trade unions.

According to the Eurobarometer, the free movement concept for workers across the EU is supported by up to 80% of Europeans, with the employment issue being of key importance for more than 17 mln EU citizens who work in Europe outside their countries of origin.

Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility Commissioner Marianne Thyssen said: “The authority will be the oil in the machinery of the internal market, a place where colleagues from different national authorities become used to working together and solving problems together. This will make the wheels of labour mobility turn more smoothly, to the advantage of millions of European citizens and businesses.”

The International Labour Organization was another body that welcomed the authority’s establishment, setting a priority of international labour standards creation, promotion and ratification in its Centenary Declaration. An open social dialogue between the regulators, including the Authority, employers and employees represented by trade unions is the key to accomplishing this task, with special emphasis needed on ensuring freedom of assembly and establishing collective agreements. In this regard, it is the trade unions that will be the driving force behind effective development of this tripartite communication, making it possible to tackle the lack of information on workers’ rights in the EU.

With assistance from national regulatory bodies, the Authority will provide workers (including through trade unions) and employers with better access to information on their rights and obligations, said Jean-Claude Juncker. “This will directly support the millions of Europeans as well as the millions of businesses operating cross-border in the EU”, he pointed out.

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Over the last 20 years, trade union growth in Europe has been decelerating, with the recent economic crisis having an additional negative effect on collective agreements in various industries, leading to rising inequality, economic security and widespread practice of temporary employment contracts across the entire EU.

In response to this as well as in the light of the start of works in the Authority, IndustriALL, the largest international trade union confederation, has launched its new Together at Work campaign aimed at expanding trade union membership and demonstrating the positive impact of collective bargaining in protecting workers’ rights.

According to OECD data, development of collective agreements and related centralization and coordination of a tripartite dialogue on all issues pertaining to corporate labour management allows to increase the employment rate and, accordingly, reduce unemployment.

Establishing collective agreements supports employees across Europe in getting better working conditions. For instance, members of steel trade unions in Germany and the Czech Republic have managed to bridge the gender gap in terms of wages, increase average salaries and reduce the working week duration. Similar results have been achieved in other industries in France, Finland and Belgium.

This was made possible through accumulation of the best trade-union practices in major international companies that are members of IndustriALL. An example for the oil sector can be found in LUKOIL. The company’s International Association of Trade Union Organizations (IATUO), which has recently marked its 25th anniversary, now brings together over 130,000 employees of production sites in Russia and beyond.

IATUO cooperates with IndustriALL within the Global Framework Agreement, with LUKOIL being the only company in Eastern Europe to take responsibility for organization and consistent implementation of CSR policies.

The social partnership agreement principles between IATUO and LUKOIL are implemented within the company’s structure in Russia and internationally, underpinned by collective agreements in each country of presence.

Council of the IATUO LUKOIL Chairman Georgy Kiradiev said: “A trade union gives an opportunity to draw the employer’s attention to the employee’s issues and protect the interests of the latter if need be. It is often enough for a trade union to competently argue the employee’s legitimate interests, and the issue will be resolved in a quick and efficient way. It is always possible to reach consensus – one just needs to know how to negotiate.”

In developing its Together at Work concept, IndustriALL took into account IATUO’s experience in building work with foreign trade union organizations within the company’s structure. Eventually, the programme should make it easier for European businesses to adapt to market requirements and, with the support of European Labour Authority, ensure implementation of tripartite dialogue to achieve global sustainable development.

Supporting the previously set pace to foster social dialogue in the EU looks encouraging, and the first results achieved by the European Labour Authority will reveal the commitment of European decision-makers in the near future.

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