Main News

2015-09-16 12:00

In its recently issued 2014 report on developments in collectively agreed pay in EU Member States, the EU agency Eurofound found that central administration employee wages are still frozen in many EU Member States and that in others social partners are not (yet) involved in wage setting. Overall, from a trade union perspective, the report highlights encouraging trends as well as worrying developments.

2015-09-14 12:00

In a judgment issued last week, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the journeys made by workers without fixed or habitual place of work between their homes and the first and last customer of the day constitute working time. This brings concrete improvements for many mobile workers – especially in the care sector.

2015-09-10 12:00

Yesterday, CESI submitted its answer to a public consultation on increased corporate tax transparency, launched by the European Commission last June together with an action plan for fair and efficient corporate taxation in the EU. The consultation is to gather feedback on whether companies should have to publicly disclose more tax information, including through country-by-country reporting (CBCR). CESI believes so.

2015-09-09 12:00

Today, the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker held a much-awaited speech in the European Parliament on the state of the union and announced new plans to manage the EU’s ongoing refugee and migration challenge more successfully. He proposed both an emergency and a permanent common crisis relocation mechanism for refugees. As a trade union confederation representing numerous public sector workers who are working with and receiving refugees on a regular basis, CESI recalls that the public services in Europe’s regions, towns and municipalities need (more) help to be able to take in refugees with dignity – including from the EU.

2015-09-07 12:00

Last week, the European Commission issued its draft 2015 joint Commission-Council report on the implementation of the Strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET2020). The document, which still needs approval by the Council, includes readjustment proposals for ET2020 to two of the EU’s major challenges: the need to further bring down youth unemployment and the necessity to better prevent radicalisation. The CESI Youth and CESI’s Trade Council ‘Education, Training and Research’ attach great importance to the report.

2015-08-25 12:00

To provide for humane and integrative immigration into Europe has always been a tremendous challenge for the EU member states in the past decades. But with the spread of crisis in the Middle-East and Northern Africa over the last years, and with immigration reaching unprecedented and unimaginable heights, these challenges have become almost insurmountable.

2015-08-20 12:00

One month after the euro summit and the political agreement reached on 13 July, a new financial assistance agreement mobilising up to €86 billion for Greece has been reached on 14 August. Yesterday, the European Commission also signed with Greece a new agreement for a new stability support programme. All these agreements include measures, including labour market and privatisation reforms that Greece needs to fulfil under the control of the European institutions.

2015-08-03 12:00

Last month, after continued blockades by the Council, the European Commission withdrew its proposal on a revised maternity leave directive from 2008. Today, it presented a roadmap on a new follow-up initiative. The roadmap, themed ‘A new start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families’, sets out possible ways forward not specifically for maternity leave but more generally for a better work-life balance faced by working families and women and men with dependants. The possible options to move ahead, as set out in the roadmap, include both legislative and non-legislative options. Kirsten Lühmann, President of CESI’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Commission, stresses that concrete proposals that will flow from this roadmap must be ambitious and not lack teeth.

2015-07-27 12:00

Just in time before the Brussels summer recess, CESI spoke to MEP Thomas Mann about recent developments in EU employment and social affairs – most notably in relation to the current revision of occupational pension rules in the EU, the TTIP’s likely social impacts and the potential of the Juncker investment plan to create jobs. This interview continues the ‘CESI speaks to …’-series on insights into EU employment and social affairs hot topics.
Thomas Mann is one of the most experienced EU politicians in the field of employment and social affairs. As a German EPP affiliate, he has been a member of the European Parliament and its Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) since 1994. Between 2004 and 2014, he was also Vice-chair of the EMPL Committee and has been a substitute member in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) since the late 1990s.

2015-07-24 12:00

Last week, the European Commission opened a public consultation on the EU’s social security coordination legislation. CESI is currently running an internal consultation among its members with a view to submitting a joint CESI response.

2015-07-20 12:00

Today is the last day to submit an answer to the European Commission’s public consultation on the future of equality between women and men in the EU. CESI has sent its response already, highlighting the need for a strong and ambitious successor to the 2010-2015 EU gender equality strategy.

2015-07-13 12:00

At a euro summit yesterday, the heads of state or government of the eurozone member states decided on a set of measures that Greece needs to fulfill in order to potentially qualify for an ESM support programme and thus stay in the eurozone. The measures mean uncertainty with regards to the future of the Greek public services as well as labour rights and working conditions of private and public sector employees.

2015-07-10 12:00

Today, the European Commission’s advisory Platform for tax good governance held its 7th meeting. As a member of the platform, CESI participated in this meeting, which featured in particular debate with Heinz Zourek (chief of the Commission’s DG TAXUD and chair of the platform) on the Commission’s recently issued Tax Transparency Package and its Action Plan on Corporate Taxation published last month.

2015-07-08 12:00

Today, the European Parliament plenary adopted its long-awaited report on recommendations to the Commission on the TTIP negotiations. The final report explicitly calls to exclude public services from an agreement with the USA. CESI, which represents numerous national trade unions from different fields of the public sector, very much welcomes the report: It marks a further step in CESI’s successful campaign to keep the public services out of TTIP and thereby ensure that quality services of general interest can be provided in Europe in the absence of TTIP-induced harmful liberalisation and privatisation pressures.

2015-07-07 12:00

In June, Matthäus Fandrejewski – the lead representative of CESI’s youth organisation, the CESI Youth – was honoured by the German Federal President Joachim Gauck for his outstanding voluntary work for the CESI Youth and other organisations and institutions. CESI says: “Congratulations, Matthäus, you deserve this recognition!”