Main News

2017-11-16 12:00

On the occasion of tomorrow’s Gothenburg Social Summit, the Presidium of CESI adopted messages on key priorities that CESI considers vital for a more social Europe: A joint, dedicated implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights by governments, authorities, social partners, trade unions and the organised civil society; more social investments to finance the Pillar especially in children, education, health, and training; a placement of social rights at equal footing with the economic freedoms in Europe; and the regularisation of new forms of work and atypical employment relationships by making them subject to core labour law and social security.

2017-11-13 12:00

Since the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008, all European Union Member States had to address the issues of shrinking budgets for healthcare and increasing needs of the care sector. The CESI trade council ‘Health’ brought together representatives of practitioners in the health sector from six countries to discuss the issues of shortages of medical staff, working time conditions, privatisation, digitalisation and the danger of brain drain in the health sector.

2017-11-11 12:00

On the occasion of its last meeting, CESI´s Trade Council “Defence” dealt with the current state of affairs in defence matters. In particular the new reflection paper in European defence as well as new initiatives and proposals, among them also legislative ones, were discussed.

2017-11-09 12:00

On Tuesday, November 7, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger together with a delegation of CESI’s member organisation ATCEUC, the Air Traffic Controllers European Union Coordination, met with the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, to discuss implications of the European Commission’s recent Communication ‘Aviation: Open & Connected Europe’ on the right to strike in air traffic management (ATM).

2017-11-08 12:00

On Friday, November 3, the European Commission’s second phase EU social partner consultation on a revision of the Written Statement Directive 91/533/EEC came to a close. As part of the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, this followed a first phase of the consultation which ran this summer. In its second phase response, CESI advocates a revision of the Directive as one important component to fight precarious work across the EU.

2017-11-08 12:00

On October 16-17, CESI Youth Representative Matthäus Fandrejewski was in Abu Dhabi for the World Skills Conference 2017 to present on ‘Skills and careers without borders’.

2017-11-03 12:00

November 3 is EU Equal Pay Day – again. It symbolises the wage gap between women and men. A gap of 16.4% in the EU. A gap according to which the ‘average’ woman does not get paid anymore as of today – until the end of the year. And: Last year’s EU Equal Pay Day was also on November 3, which means that no progress has been achieved since then. According to Kirsten Lühmann, President of CESI’s Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, policy makers and authorities are just not doing enough to bring about change.

2017-10-27 12:00

On October 18, CESI and the Hessen Land Representation to the European Union brought together key stakeholders from the national and European levels to discuss the future of the ‘European Defence Union: What next?’ at the 17th edition of CESI’s lunchtime debate series ‘CESI@noon’.

2017-10-25 12:00

On October 24, the Employment and Social Affairs Ministers of the Member States adopted a general approach regarding the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive. Among others, and differing from the views of the European Parliament, the Councils advocates an exclusion of the transport sector and remuneration standards of main contractors to subcontractors from the directive. While confirming the inclusion of temporary agency workers who shall be paid in accordance with the laws and practices of the host Member States, the ministers remained largely silent on a broad application of collective agreements as a basis for remuneration rules for posted workers. However, despite having expected more, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger expressed a cautious optimism with the decision of the Council:

2017-10-24 12:00

Earlier this month in October, CESI’s internal members’ Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality deliberated, together with representatives from the European Commission and the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), on the European Commission’s recent legislative proposal for a Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers. Based on their debate as well as CESI’s contributions to a two-stage social partner consultation preceding the publication of the proposal, a set of key priorities was put forward in advance of legislative negotiations on the file between the EU’s two co-legislators, the European Parliament and the Council.

2017-10-20 12:00

Today, CESI’s internal members’ training centre, the Europe Academy, held its annual symposium, this year on ‘Bridging education and the world of work: Vocational training and apprenticeships’. More than 100 participants came together at the premises of CESI’s German member organisation dbb in Berlin to discuss best practices on how different types of vocational training and apprenticeship schemes can help young people access increasingly dynamic and globalising labour markets.

2017-10-17 12:00

On October 5, the European Parliament plenary adopted a report on prison systems and conditions which emphasises the need for better employment and working conditions for prison staff as a precondition for safer, more secure and less tense conditions in prisons. As a European confederation with national trade unions with prison employees among their membership, CESI welcomes this report with several clear recommendations for action for the European Commission and the governments of the Member States.

2017-10-16 12:00

On October 12, CESI’s Trade Councils on ‘Justice’ and ‘Security’ held their constitutive meetings after CESI’s Congress in December last year. Following elections of the presidency and vice-presidency for the term until 2020, the trade councils -as CESI’s internal members’ committees for deliberation and positioning on EU policies and politics in the fields of law enforcement, justice and security- debated on the latest European developments in police and judicial cooperation as well as border security which are impacting on their professional life.

2017-10-12 12:00

Yesterday, the EU’s agency for research on gender equality, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in Vienna, launched the 2017 edition of its Gender Equality Index (GEI). As the most comprehensive European comparative report of its kind, the GEI measures every two years how far the EU and its Member States are from realising a gender-equal society. The 2017 shows that progress towards gender equality in Europe is, generally, real, but also frustratingly slow. According to Kirsten Lühmann, President of CESI’s Commission on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), the EU Institutions as well as the governments of the EU Member States need to show more ambition to achieve real gender equality in all dimensions of society, work and life a lot faster that at present.

2017-10-06 12:00

Yesterday, CESI’s Commissions on ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ (SOC) and ‘Women’s Rights and Gender Equality’ held their constitutive meeting after CESI’s Congress in December last year. Following the elections of the presidency and vice-presidency for the term until 2020, the commissions, as CESI’s internal chief members’ committees for deliberation and positioning on EU horizontal employment, social and gender equality policies and politics, discussed some of CESI’s most pressing European priorities that concern the employment conditions of workers in Europe.