CESI participates in social partner kick-off on EU Quality Jobs Roadmap

A conversation with Albert van der Smissen, Chairman of the Dutch Categorial Financial Union (Nederlandse Categoriale Vakvereiniging Financiën- NCF), which represents staff of the Dutch tax and customs administration.

#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

On Thursday, 2 December, CESI’s Board approved the membership of the French National Union of Professional Firefighters and Technical and Specialised Administrative Staff (Syndicat National des Sapeurs-Pompiers Professionnels et Personnels Administratifs Techniques et Spécialisés- ‘SNSPP-PATS’). Founded in 1975, the French trade union represents firefighters and other personnel in fire brigades.

Following the positive vote by the Board, CESI’s President Romain Wolff said: “CESI continues to grow. The accession of SNSPP-PATS further upgrades CESI’s role as an EU-level confederation in the emergency services sector. We are ready to support our new member and we are looking forward to a successful cooperation.”

The membership approval of SNSPP-PATS complemented a Board meeting that provided the participants with the opportunity to share their views on the implications of the Covid pandemic in their countries, sectors and unions and on the related needs of the workers they represent. The members of the Board commented on the new Covid-measures that have been/are going to be imposed across Europe and discussed best practices regarding the protection of workers and their rights under the current circumstances.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger praised the high level of solidarity among CESI’s members and presented the latest achievements of CESI’s General Secretariat and the organisation’s work priorities for the next year. He said: “2021 has been a tough and challenging year, with the Covid pandemic and crisis persisting. One more year in this tremendous health crisis started with plans, expectations and objectives that had to be adapted to unexpected and rapid changes. We had to be flexible and, at the same time, effective. I believe that we managed to do it with great success, together with our members.”

And he added: “When I look back at all these Covid-related difficulties and obstacles we faced this year, I realise how well we have worked together and how important our mutual support was within the CESI network. Indeed, CESI is not ‘just’ an organization: CESI is a real family!”

A conversation with Arvydas Dambrauskas, Chairman of the General Trade Union of the Republic of Lithuania (Respublikinė Jungtinė Profesinė Sąjunga- RJPS), on the impact of the pandemic on public services. RJPS represents staff in health care services, social services, transportation, local and regional governments, libraries and further cultural institutions.

#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 Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, MEP, on the role of the EU in ensuring safe workplaces and its initiatives to protect workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens.

#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

CESI SG Klaus Heeger and the representatives of CNV Connectief, Patrick Fey and Daniëlle Woestenberg, met today to talk about the European strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”, the impact of digitalisation, required competencies, safety procedures, work-life balance and the need of digital tools for the public services in The Netherlands.

More about DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers: https://lnkd.in/dFrbQue4

CESI members in the Expert Commission raised serious concerns about challenges that demographic ageing and lacking recruitment of young personnel mean for a persisting understaffing in the public sector in many Member States. It was made clear that more investments are needed to hire and retain more staff in key areas of public interest like the care and nursing in particular, and that more investment in the training and recruitment of personnel in the public services at large are also needed if they are to be performing for citizens and business and help implement key EU measures for them, including the post-Covid EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and the green-digital transition which the European Commission currently drives. Better intergenerational exchanges were considered necessary for the transfer of expertise and institutional memory and trade unions were named as a potential intermediary for such experiences. Digitalisation was considered a step forward by most of the representatives of central, local and regional administrations. Otto Aiglsperger (Eurofedop), President CESI’s Expert Commission ‘Public Administrations’ said: “The Covid pandemic experience has shown everyone how resilient and flexible the European public sector could be in adopting new ways of working remotely and delivering quality public services”. Carlos Martinez (CSIF), Vice-President of the Expert Commission, stressed how, before the pandemic, only 0.5% of the Spanish public sector employees could telework, but that during the lockdowns the rate increased to even 80%.

The members of the Expert Commission noted positively the European Commission-hosted large-scale conference ‘Supporting Quality of Public Administration in the European Union Member States’ on November 25 as a sign of the EU to jumpstart a strong public service agenda for Europe which CESI has demanded for long.

Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “We are encouraged to hear European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira stressing the role that public administrations play in the realisation of key initiatives for citizens and business such as the implementation of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility in the Member States. Also the green and digital twin-transition will not be possible without administrations and the support of public services. Citizens and workers cannot do without public administrations, and public administrations cannot do without sufficient investments in its facilities and equipment and adequate levels of well-trained personnel. We see the conference on November 25 as a successor to our noted conference on public services of October 5 and hope that the European Commission will now jumpstart a new strong public service agenda for Europe which CESI has been demanding for long.”

A conversation with Laviniu Lacusta, President of the Romanian Free Trade Union in Pre-University Education (Uniunii Sindicatelor Libere din Învăţământul Preuniversitar- USLIP), which represents the personnel of the education sector mainly in primary and secondary and other pre-university education.

#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

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger talked with Oliver Denk, senior economist in the Jobs and Income Division of the OECD, about the impact of the pandemic on our labour markets and the expectations towards CESI’s ‘Summer Days 2022’.

Oliver Denk said: ‘COVID-19 has been a massive shock to Europe’s labour markets. Decisive policy action and the move to the digital workplace limited the decline in employment. But the differences across sectors and groups of workers have been huge. People in precarious jobs and young workers have been particularly affected. At the same time, we see shortages of workers in healthcare and other frontline occupations. And all these changes happen in the face of megatrends such as digitalisation and AI, the ageing of the population, and climate change.’

He added: ‘Our policy priority now should be to improve the quality of employment. The vaccination of the working population will create safer workplaces. Active labour market policies will help workers to re- and upskill. And we must find ways to finally lift productivity and pay in the post-COVID world of work. To achieve all this, the role of trade unions will be very important.’

#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

CESI Talks con Francesco Cavallaro, Segretario Generale della CISAL, Confederazione Generale dei Sindacati Autonomi dei Lavoratori.

I temi principali dell’intervista:

-Le conseguenze della pandemia sui lavoratori italiani e il ruolo del sindacato CISAL.

-Le istituzioni europee e le priorità politiche nel futuro dell’Europa.

Maggiori informazioni: https://bit.ly/3c0jrUE

#CESItalks

CESI Talks con Raffaele Margiotta, Segretario Generale della CONFSAL, Confederazione Generale dei Sindacati Autonomi dei Lavoratori.

I temi principali dell’intervista:

-Le conseguenze della pandemia sui lavoratori italiani e il ruolo della sindacato CONFSAL

-Le istituzioni europee e le priorità politiche nel futuro dell’Europa.

Maggiori informazioni: https://bit.ly/3c0jrUE

#CESItalks

A conversation with Luc Viehé, President of the French Free Catholic Education Professional Trade Union Federation (Syndicat Professionnel de l’Enseignment Libre Catholique- SPELC), which represents educational staff in the scope of free cathoic education.

#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

On November 24, the Brussels appeal court ruled that a decision by the Dutch-speaking Brussels commercial court in 2015 that banned the operation of the ‘UberPop’ services, which connected unlicensed drivers to customers, applies to all of Uber’s services, including professional drivers. The ruling follows a temporary suspension of Uber’s services in Brussels in September.

The predominant legal issue of the longstanding legal battle has been the notion of “taxi service” under the provisions of the Ordinance of the Brussels Capital Region of 27 April 1995 on taxi services and vehicle location services with driver (Ordonnantie van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest van 27 april 1995 betreffende de taxidiensten en de diensten voor het verhuren van voertuigen met chauffeur/Ordonnance de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale du 27 avril 1995 relative aux services de taxi et aux services de location de voiture avec chauffeur – the “Ordinance”)- a regulation which does not take into account the technological developments which occurred with the widespread use of smartphones and gig economy applications.

The publication of the recent ruling, which is expected later this year, will shed light on the reasons behind the court’s decision and the issue of (un)fair competition in ridesharing.

In the meantime, 2000 private licensed UBER drivers in Brussels will no longer be able to pick up customers.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: ‘The absence of targeted legislation regulating platform work together with an outdated legal framework in the domain of taxi services dating back to 1995, years before the advent of smartphones, are putting drivers, their services and not least the customers at risk. We understand that the legal aspects of this issue are complex, but we cannot accept that this legal uncertainty results in leaving thousands of workers and their families unprotected. They need a fair and inclusive legal framework for platform work.’

In particular the Autumn Package‘s Annual Sustainable Growth Survey (ASGS) puts forward a correct analysis of many of the disruptive impacts that the Covid pandemic, digitalisation and green transitions have and will have on labour markets, employment, job functions and working conditions. It rightly stresses the need for a just transitions, comprising a focus on re- and upskilling, the provision of quality jobs and the fight against poverty and the related need to investments in this area. The accompanying Joint Employment Report, too, emphasises the need for a fair, inclusive and sustainable recovery.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “We are generally encouraged by the tone of this year’s Autumn Package. During the last years, it has been getting increasingly social even if by now attention must be paid that it does not overly focus on green and digital topics at the expense of social ones. A focus is needed on workers who are facing financial hardship as a result of the Covid pandemic turmoil and financial insecurities as a result of green-digital disruptions in labour markets.”

The ASGS takes this analysis further to call for “a coordinated and sustained effort over several years is necessary to ensure a persistent and sizeable increase in private and public investment proportionate to the needs of the twin transitions and economic, social and territorial cohesion.“

Klaus Heeger said: “Generally, the urgency of investment is duly noted but a very clear message misses on the need for a strong public service agenda in Europe and the need to invest massively in the resilience of public services and its personnel – as a lesson learned from the Covid pandemic. This is very unfortunate.”

He added: “We agree with the European Commission’s assessment that higher public investments should be financed also by means of better tax compliance. However, the Commission fails to conclude on what is the main challenge in this: For better compliance and a more effective collection of taxes, next to better tax legislation and cooperation between administrations, more personnel is needed in tax authorities to keep pace with the evolving creative strategies of evaders and avoiders to circumvent taxes.”

He concluded: “Moreover, just increasing revenues through better tax collection will not suffice. The European Commission already announces plans to phase out the escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact in 2023. Under current EU fiscal rules, this would mean that Member States will face substantial difficulties in investments on the expenditure side. A clearer call would have been vital to assert them that EU rules will not inhibit them from investing in workers and citizens until a sustainable and socially fair modern economy is achieved.”

On the occasion of the United Nations’ Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, European trade union organisations in central, regional and local governments, hospitals, education and the employers for local and regional government, wish to underline the following:

Gender-based violence in all its forms and manifestations is a crime and a violation of human rights. It undermines a person’s confidence, dignity and professional career chances, damages the working environment and leads to burnout and psychological trauma.

Against a background of income inequalities, under-resourced and under-valued public services as well as mistrust in public institutions, we see, across our different sectors an increase of violence and harassment, including of a gender-based nature, by users and customers against workers. This is why the signatory organisations have come together to find better policy responses to this serious phenomenon in sectors which employ a large number of women.

While the responsibility primarily lies with the public authorities to protect citizens from all forms of violence and harassment, there is much room to better prevent and address gender-based violence at the workplace.

Indeed, in most workplaces where risk factors can be identified and addressed, the risk of violence and harassment can be prevented or minimized. However, this requires that employers, together with workers and their trade union representatives, take appropriate precautions. Establishing a zero-tolerance policy toward workplace violence and harassment, including clear procedures for preventing and reporting on gender-based violence and harassment, which covers all workers, patients, clients, visitors, contractors, and anyone else who may come in contact with the personnel, physically or virtually, remains a fundamental starting point.

Our own research findings indicate, however, that too few social partners have integrated gender-based violence in policies or collective agreements. One of the reasons is that there is a need for more detailed guidance, checklists, good practices and policies to combat all forms of violence and harassment at work.

This is why we welcome the European Commission’s legislative initiative, expected early next year, on preventing and combating specific forms of gender-based violence. In view of the marked national differences in terms of public awareness, policy responses and public resources to eradicate violence against women, there is a need for a common approach including through sectoral social dialogue, to build further upon at the relevant level. Involvement of sectoral social partners will also enhance the chance of the directive being properly implemented.

The directive should be as holistic and concrete as possible with a universal coverage and firmly anchored in an occupational health and safety ethos. In this regard, it is encouraging that the legislative initiative has been announced in the EU Occupational Health and Safety strategic framework 2021-2027.

To avoid double standards across the world and ensure policy coherence, the directive should be in line with the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190) and the accompanying Recommendation No. 206 on policies to end gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, including mitigating risks of domestic violence.

It is crucial also that it is in line with the Istanbul Convention. Combined, both Conventions provide for an integrated and comprehensive framework to ending gender-based violence, including in the world of work.

This is all the more urgent in view of the Council’s refusal to ratify the EU’s adhesion to the Istanbul Convention, despite a positive recommendation from the Commission and Parliament and the opinion by the CJEU allowing Council to reach a decision by qualified majority voting.

We reiterate our call to EU governments to support the EU ratification of both Conventions.

We agree that the pending directive should address domestic violence.

Despite affecting both women and men, domestic violence disproportionately affects women. One in three women in the former EU-28 has experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. According to UN data, 70% of women subject to domestic abuse say it has affected their work performance or their safety at work and many end up losing their job. Furthermore, domestic violence also can lead to violence, harassment, stalking and assault in the workplace, affecting both survivors and co-workers.

Work can potentially be a preventive and protective factor in the lives of victims, by providing a break from the violence and abuse and be a safe place where it is identified and support provided. Achieving equal pay and women’s economic independence is also critical to breaking the cycle of power, coercive control and financial dependence.

It is therefore crucial to ensure that the directive provides for the involvement of sectoral social partners in designing and implementing policies against domestic violence impacts in the workplace, including from a health and safety perspective. As domestic violence is reported to have increased during the recent lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it raises serious challenges in a context of new working patterns, including continued teleworking and hybrid working patterns (part office, part teleworking).

As part of a broader project on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work, we have started collecting good practices to prevent and mitigate the effects of domestic violence on workers in the EU and beyond. These include individual and collective measures to support workers who are victims of domestic violence, providing counselling services available at the workplace, referral to specialist services, integration of gender-based violence including domestic violence in safety and health risk assessments, and establishing new forms of safe paid leave and other workplace supports to help workers stay in their employment.
These measures, however, remain too few and do not cover all workplaces.

This is why we are convinced that a directive would be crucial to establish a common floor so that no woman in Europe is left without protection. It would help to generalise good policies with a view to eradicate violence and ensure work is a safe and protective space.

We further call on the Commission to encourage national authorities to invest more in public services which offer vital help, healthcare, financial support, protection, shelter, employment opportunities to victims of domestic violence, as well as in public awareness-raising campaigns on the scale, impact of gender-based violence and long-term solutions. Service providers in health, education, social services need to be provided with resources, training and guidance on preventing and addressing domestic violence. Further investment in raising awareness against gender stereotypes since an early age, including integrating gender equality in school curricular and promoting classes on democratic values, equality and diversity for students and families, is also essential to prevent gender-based violence.

As social partners, we constantly try to connect workers’ well-being to the common good. We will continue working jointly on the topic of third-party violence including through an evaluation of the implementation of the multisectoral guidelines on prevention of third-party violence and whether they remain fit for new challenges in relation to gendered violence based on evidence and further exchanges on good policies negotiated at national, sectoral, and EU levels.

Brussels, 24 November 2021

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI)
The European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE)
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)
The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)

Joint European Social Partner statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 2021 (PDF)

For almost two years, the Covid pandemic has meant disproportional adverse consequences for women and further aggravated equality challenges which women had been facing long before already. In particular, latest figures seem to confirm that domestic violence against women have increased significantly. Lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19 trapped many women at home, being particular vulnerable to violence and abuse. Several countries saw spikes in domestic violence reports.[1]

Apart from violence being a blatant disrespect of fundamental human rights of women, it also impacts on their occupational life. Women who face violence, stress and anxiety at home are less likely to be able to properly focus on their jobs and career. Thereby domestic violence has a direct impact also on further deepened economic and financial inequalities.

This situation was further aggravated by the announcement of the Turkish government in March 2021 to withdraw from the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, because it could give further incentives to governments of EU Member States to step out as well.

The Turkish withdrawal from the Convention must not set a precedence for other EU countries to follow suit, above all with the same logic, in particular also against the background of the rise of violence that has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

In this context, the recent Opinion of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the accession modalities of the EU to the Istanbul Convention was highly encouraging to the extent that it clearly specified that qualified majority voting and not unanimity voting can be applied in the Council: In the accession process, Member States can now no longer shy away behind individual blocking states.

The Presidium of CESI calls:

1. on the EU Member States acting in the Council to make an new and swift effort to finalise the accession of the EU to the Istanbul Convention by means of qualified majority voting.
2. on the European Commission, to translate the essence of the Istanbul Convention into an accompanying proposal for an EU directive on gender-based violence to be adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure also with qualified majority voting in the Council.
3. on the European Commission to fully implement the current EU Gender Equality strategy, in particular via capacity-building and awareness-raising campaigns in relation to the fourth priority field on combating gender-based violence and protecting and supporting victims.

[1] https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/gender-based-violence

Resolution of the Presidium of CESI on the occasion of the annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 2021 (PDF)

A conversation with Pablo Cornide, Policy Officer at the European Commission, on the impacts of the pandemic on young Europeans and youth employment.

#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 a consultation statement for the European Commission, CESI:

• notes that social disruptions due to a badly managed transition might severely undermine the ability of the European Green Deal, especially when its adverse impacts are not shared evenly across geographies or sectors, with concentrations of people and communities advantaged and disadvantaged by the transitions with ever increasing inequalities.
• welcomes in this respect the European Commission’s initiative to address social and labour aspects of the just transition towards climate neutrality, as part of its European Green Deal.
• agrees with the dimensions of the initiative which the European Commission proposes in its roadmap to address social and labour aspects of the just transition towards climate neutrality: designing comprehensive policy packages for a just and sustainable green transition, promoting inclusive participation of workers, and making optimal use of public and private funding.
• stresses that unfortunately, a Council Recommendation, as is envisaged by the European Commission, is insufficient to achieve socially fair and sustainable green transitions for workers. Experience has shown that Member States implement (or not) non-binding Recommendations at goodwill. CESI questions the impact that a Recommendation will have.
• emphasises that a more holistic approach and streamlining across EU legislation would instead be necessary, comprising, most notably: (1) further reviewing EU legislation with the aim to better enforce existing legislation and identify legislative gaps to close and make labour markets and working conditions fairer and fit for the green age, (2) further measures for a strengthened participation of workers and their representatives in change management, (3) more emphasis in the EU macroeconomic governance system and in EU funding tools, e.g. through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Just Transition Fund European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, to ensure that the necessary resources and infrastructure are provided to give to the at-risk jobs of today a future.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “In the context of green and climate change mitigation policies, social targets risk to fall victim to allegedly necessary measures to stay ‘economically competitive’ and not ‘overburden’ businesses and employers. As the EU agrees to set concrete targets to become climate neutral, it should set equally ambitious targets for social fairness, decent work and equal opportunities in a world which is more and more digital. In analogy to the EU’s prospective ‘European Green Deal’ for climate neutrality, a tangible ‘European Social Deal’ should be placed in the centre of the EU’s activities in the years to come, beyond the European Pillar of Social Rights.”

The full statement is available here.

A conversation with Damian Boeselager, MEP, on the Conference on the Future of Europe and the need for green, digital and social policies.

#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 Gabriele Bischoff, MEP, on the next day for Europe after the German elections, the Corona Recovery and Resilience Facility and the revision of the European Works Council Directive.

#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 Estrella Ferrandis, MEP, shadow rapporteur of the report on “Mental Health in the Digital World of Work” and co-chair of the MEP Alliance for Mental Health.

-What has been the impact of the pandemic on mental health disorders?

-Does the shift to telework constitute a danger to workers’ mental health?

-What is the EU doing to protect the wellbeing of workers in the digital 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/

A conversation with Giuseppe Catanzaro, lawyer, on the impact of the pandemic on the Italian labour market and the EU efforts to mitigate the consequences of COVID19 in the labour market of the member states.

#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 Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, MEP, on women’s participation in the digital economy.

-What is the importance of promoting equal opportunities for men and women in the digital economy?

-What is the EU doing to close the digital gender gap?

-How could social partners and trade unions contribute into closing the gap?

#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 impact of the pandemic on public services.

#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 meeting offered participants the opportunity to exchange with two guest speakers from the European Commissions’ Directorate-General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture on reforms and investments in the education sphere, as well as on the needs of the sector in terms of digital education infrastructure and support of teachers in the digital age.

In dialogue with Alexandra Tamasan, CESI members exchanged on the involvement and consultation of social partners in the national recovery and resilience plans under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. A particular emphasis lay on possible measures targeting education in general and the teaching profession in particular, such as revisions of recruitment procedures for teachers, better and more continuous training for teachers especially in digital skills, and investments in a boosted digital infrastructure of educational institutions to make them fit for the digital age.

Anusca Ferrari introduced CESI’s members to the EU’s new Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 and available or planned EU support tools for teachers and schools such as SELFIE and SELFIE for teachers (customisable online tools to help schools and teachers assess where they stand with learning in the digital age) as well as forthcoming EU guidelines on disinformation for teachers and educators. She pointed in particular to the important role of EU funding for Member States for the digitalisation of education through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), InvestEU and Erasmus+. She also noted the potential of a Digital Education Hub, created as part of the European Education Area portal, which is expected to be launched by the end of 2021 to help reach a coordinated digital education policies across the union by providing a space to share information and best practices.

In the context of the debates, CESI members agreed to update the CESI Manifesto for the Teaching Profession of 2018 to adapt it to the rise of new technologies in education and needs for digital skills for educational staff, especially against the background of the Covid-pandemic which has accelerated already ongoing digitalisation processes. This update will mostly rely on CESI’s reply to the European Commission’s recent consultation on a new Digital Education Action Plan in which CESI recommended specific actions to provide teachers with the necessary tools and skills to cope with increasingly evolving education landscapes.

CESI members in the Expert Commission also welcomed the recently adopted report by the European Parliament on “The European Education Area: a shared holistic approach” which, not least following an advocacy meeting with Rapporteur MEP Michaela Šojdrová, stresses the importance of improving the working conditions of teachers and educators through adequate remuneration, adequate investment in training and a higher recognition of the profession.

The President of the Expert Commission, Salvatore Piroscia from the Italian Confsal union, also presented a proposal by his trade union organisation for an ‘Intergenerational Alliance for Employment’ to address in a holistic approach a broad range of challenges related, for instance, to better transitions from school to work, an improved validation of non-formal learning and certification of skills to fight youth unemployment, more support for young people who left the school system and would like to go back to studies, and more effective upskilling and reskilling of older workers at the end of their career.

The next meeting of the Expert Commission will take place in 2022, both online and hopefully with a physical thematic conference too – the epidemiological situation allowing.

On November 15th the European Council reuniting the European foreign affairs and defence ministers are meeting to discuss the adoption of the first EU Strategic Compass. The document elaborated by the European Union’s High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security with member states’ contribution aims to answer three key questions:

1. Which challenges and threats do we face?
2. How can we better pool our assets and manage them effectively?
3. What is the best way to project Europe’s influence as both a regional and global actor?

Against the background of a constantly evolving world with competing interests and values, the EU’s High Representative underlinedthat ‘the EU must become a security provider because that’s what European citizens want – to be protected by the Union’.

To move to action, the Strategic Compass is formulated as a guide to action and for concrete steps: ‘It would be stupid on my part to present a plane that wouldn’t fly,’ Josep Borrell stated.

The Strategic Compass proposes a ‘Rapid Deployment Capacity’ for all measures provided for in the EU treaties, showcasing how urgent it is for the EU to build capacities in the area of defence. It is emphasized that not only military operations, but also civilian operations and joint operations must be considered.

Thomas Sohst, President of CESI’s expert commission ‘Defence’ in his first reaction: ‘Security policy is based on a common approach. Military operations without the link to civilian accompaniment and continuation will not bring political solutions. This, too, must be a common political understanding in Europe.’

On the occasion of the third European Defence Round Table, Elena Lazarou,Head of Unit at the European Parliament Research Service, underlined that Europe needs more enhanced intelligence cooperation in fighting common threats, advanced interoperability, improved immediate capabilities and an early warning system for defence.

Thomas Sohst made it clear: ‘It is important that we succeed in sending a clear and unambiguous signal to the common political will through consensual decisions, but also through implementation. Otherwise, it will not be possible to strengthen security in and for Europe. More is needed than what has been done so far. Minimal consensus will not bring any additional security.’

As a representative of military and civilian staff, Sohst insisted on the social dimension of the Strategic Compass: ‘Joint training, use of jointly procured equipment, common strategies and the consolidation of implementation as defined in the draft will be a good basis. But they will only be successful if the interests of the staff is also taken into account. As CESI, we miss the social dimension of the Strategic Compass, and to consider it would be an example for a tangible concretisation of the European Pillars of Social Rights that Europe has committed itself to.’

A conversation with Jan Wilker, project manager at StartNet, on the difficulties of young Europeans to start their career and the role of young people in the Conference on the Future of Europe.

#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

CESI SG Klaus Heeger met the Representatives of dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion in Berlin to discuss the impact of digitalisation and the need of digital tools for public services.

More about DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers: https://lnkd.in/dFrbQue4

CESI SG Klaus Heeger and the representatives of the Deutscher BundeswehrVerband (DBwV) discussed the impact of digitalisation and the need of digital tools for the personnel of the armed forces.

Guest speakers included Katia Berti and Charlotte Grevrours Ernoult, Heads of Unit in the European Commission for the European Semester and occupational health and safety respectively as well as Júlia Sardà Magem, Adviser to MEP Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, Co-Rapporteur of the European Parliament on pay transparency, Sanna Nivakoski from the EU agency Eurofound, and Konstantina Davaki, Researcher in Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE).

In dialogue with Katia Berti, CESI members exchanged in particular how the involvement of EU sectoral social partners and national trade unions can be boosted in the annual European Semester process.

Together with Charlotte Grevrours Ernoult, members of CESI discussed how trade unions and social partners at the EU and national levels can help promote and implement the EU’s new Strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027.

Júlia Sardà Magem attended the meeting to update CESI’s members about the state of play in the negotiations in the European Parliament and the Council on the European Commission’s recent proposal for a directive on pay transparency and to debate to what extent CESI’s priorities for this dossier can be considered.

Sanna Nivakoski presented an update of the work of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) on gender disparities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic fallout; Konstantina Davaki gave a background presentation on underlying causes of digital gender gaps. Both will serve to feed into further lobby work by CESI on these two topics.

The next meeting of the two Commissions will take place in 2022.

The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI), the
Bertelsmann Stiftung and the EUobserver (media partner)

invite you to their Winter Days

The green, the digital and the social: Ensuring fair green-digital transitions in Europe

Bouche à Oreille, Rue Félix Hap 11, 1040 Brussels
Thursday, December 2 2021, 14.30-18.30; Friday, December 3 2021, 9.30-13.00
Thursday, December 2, 18.30: Glühwein-Reception
Friday, December 3, 13.00: Lunch

Moderated by Pierre Baussand, Head of Brussels Liaison Office, Eurofound

Winter Days 2021 – Fair green-digital transitions – Full programme

For Europe’s economies to re-emerge stronger from the Covid crisis and to set the pace for innovative and future-oriented green and digital societies, the European Union pursues an ambitious green-digital transformation policy agenda. To ensure that this twin transition is rolled-out in a sustainable manner which leaves no one behind, it needs socially-friendly support elements for and with workers at its core.

Experts and representatives from think tanks, trade unions, employer organisations, institutions and the civil society shall debate on ways to ensure that Europe’s bounce-back from the pandemic targets climate neutrality, digitalisation and social fairness and opportunities alike.

The questions to be debated include the following:

• What is the scope of economic, social and structural impacts that green-digital transitions bring, and why should there be a social dimension to green-digital transitions? How to help particularly affected sectors and groups of workers? What do workers and their representatives need to be prepared for and what is the importance of worker participation and social dialogue in transition processes?
• How social are the EU’s ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ and its the national execution plans, and what can they realistically deliver? How can workers and trade unions have a say? And what measures should be taken beyond the ‘Facility’ for more social fairness and opportunities?
• How to reform education systems from primary care to lifelong learning to ensure that students and workers are equipped for good and safe green and digital jobs? How could more resilient public services and their personnel better support social fairness? And, in any case, who is in charge of better jobs and working conditions – the EU, the Member States or trade unions and social partners?

Programme

Thursday, December 2 | 14.30-18.30

Opening of the Winter Days
Romain Wolff, President of CESI

Keynote – The green, the digital, and the social: Ensuring fair transitions
MEP Eva Maydell, President of the European Movement International – by video message

Covid fallouts on workers and employment conditions: The role of the EU
Oliver Röpke, President of the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee

Inclusive green-digital transitions
Vic van Vuuren, Director of the Enterprises Department of the ILO and Chair of the UN’s Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) – by video message

Coffee break

Part 1 – Parallel workshops on worker-centred green-digital transitions

• How can the digital & sustainable transformation be done in a socially fair way? Facilitated by the Bertelsmann Stiftung
• How to help the sectors and workers affected by the green-digital transitions?
• WWhat priorities for worker participation in the transition processes? Facilitated by CESI

Break

Plenary wrap-up – breakout sessions reports

Glühwein-Reception

Friday, December 3 | 9.30-13.00

Keynote – The EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility: An appropriate Covid response and fair transition tool?, Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights

Keynote – The green, the digital, and the social: Ensuring fair transitions
MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Vice-President of the European Parliament – by video message

Part 2 – Parallel workshops on an EU Recovery and Resilience Facility for and with workers

• A social EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and national execution plans? Facilitated by the European Commission
• What can the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility deliver? Facilitated by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
• How can workers and trade unions have a say? Facilitated by CESI

Coffee break

Part 3 – Parallel workshops on social fairness beyond the Recovery and Resilience Facility

• How to ensure good and safe green and digital jobs? Facilitated by CESI Youth
• More resilient public services and personnel for more social fairness? Facilitated by the European Policy Centre (EPC)
• Are we ready to seize the moment to build a more inclusive labour market? Facilitated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
  

Break

Plenary wrap-up – breakout sessions reports

Conclusions
Klaus Heeger, Secretary-General, CESI

Light lunch

November 10 marks, symbolically, the day from which, taking into consideration the current pay gap of over 14%, women in Europe will work for free until the end of the year compared to their males counterparts.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “For years, the pay gap between men and women in Europe persists at unacceptably high levels and still stands at over 14% in the EU. In too many countries, gender-based inequalities in employment and labour markets are too high and progress to close pay gaps is too slow. We expect the EU do play its part for more equal opportunities between men and women in Europe.”

He added: “We welcome the European Commission’s move to table a directive on pay transparency as a tool to help close pay gaps. What is needed now is a swift adoption of this directive by the European Parliament and the Council. For the last months, we have been lobbying to further reinforce the text before it is being adopted, most notably to maximise the coverage of the directive for as many workers across Europe as possible. A successful EU inititiave to improve pay transparency in the Member States would be a strong signal to citizens, workers and women in Europe that the EU can deliver for them. Today, as CESI we call on the European Parliament and the Council to adopt a strong directive without delay.”

A conversation with Eszter Sandor, researcher at Eurofound, on the impact of the pandemic on youth (un)employment.

#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

Delayed by a year due to the COVID pandemic, the 26^th U.N. climate summit brings representatives from almost 200 countries to Glasgow to negotiate measures to combat global warming.

The conference aims to keep alive the target of limiting temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels to mitigate the damage already caused by the greenhouse effect. Although negotiations are expected to be long, world leaders have already vowed to stop deforestation and cut methane emission levels by 30% to help slow climate change.

Undoubtedly, a possible consensus on international interventions that will minimise ecological footprints can revitalise the efforts towards a greener and more sustainable planet. However, the success of the transition to a climate-neutral economy also essentially depends on the impact it will have on our societies. It must be ensured that the transition will be socially just and this can only happen if citizens and, above all, workers will be part of environmental strategies.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “We are pleased to see any efforts of the international community to take climate change seriously. However, the shift to a greener economy can also mean employment-related and thus financial uncertainty for many workers. It is central that the green transition considers impacts on labour markets and jobs and is reconciled with the continued provision of quality employment opportunities for those workers that are adversely affected by green transition policies and measures. The green and the social must go together, at par with each other. We expect the EU Member States to raise this matter together in Glasgow. It is unfortunate that the European Commission President von der Leyen failed to make any reference to the social dimension of climate change policies in her speech at the COP26 on November 1.”

Dear members, colleagues, friends and partners of CESI,

This week and next week, the COP26 will hopefully deliver results. Regardless of whether they will be deemed sufficient or not, the question is how we, as CESI, position ourselves.

In her draft discussion paper ‘Priorities of independent trade unions for socially fair green-digital transition processes in the European labour markets and economies’, Sara Rinaudo, Chairwoman of CESI’s Working Group on the Future of Work, states that “the transition processes that are needed to face the climate change, the digital revolution and the reoccurring social and economic crises need to be implemented taking the needs and rights of affected workers and people into consideration, guaranteeing both social justice and sustainable development.”

And indeed, this cannot be highlighted often and strongly enough: For economies to re-emerge from the Covid crisis while setting the pace for innovative and future–oriented green and digital societies, we must ensure that this green and digital twin transition leaves no one behind. It has to remain fair. Otherwise, it will fail. Otherwise, we will fail. Otherwise, our world as we know it will fail.

Economic, social and societal tensions will annihilate all efforts made. And professional, sectoral, regional, national and geopolitical competition may lead to a race to the bottom, not to the top; while we all know, that only united cross-border, cross-sector and cross-continent approaches may limit the extent of climate change.

That is why on the occasion of our next Winter Days in December, we have invited a wide range of experts and representatives from think tanks, trade unions, employer organisations, institutions and the civil society to debate on ways to ensure that our bounce-back from the pandemic aims at climate neutrality, digitalisation and social fairness alike.

We will debate on the social dimension to green-digital transitions, on how to help particularly affected sectors and groups of workers, and on what workers and their representatives need to be prepared for.

When discussing the topics to be dealt with in the Working Group on the Future of Work after Congress last December, Sara Rinaudo pointed out that in her opinion the tasks of trade unions will have to be much broader. They will not only include the unions‘ classical and traditional roles (workers´ representation, social dialogue and collective bargaining), but they will also have to embrace reflections, positionings and strategies on (sustainable) entrepreneurial, sectoral, regional and geostrategic competitiveness.

Yet competitiveness requires demand, and demand requires quality (and competitive prices) – and this again requires infrastructure, productivity, raw materials, and not least skilled workers. Trade unions will hence have to focus first on preserving (quality) jobs, second on guaranteeing smooth transitions, and third on contributing to create (new) competitive economic sectors and industries with (new) quality jobs.

A lot to think about and to be dealt with.

Please join us in the discussions at the Winter Days on December 2-3 and register now! Because all workers count.

A very productive meeting in Paris with the Representatives of French professional firefighters.

During the meeting, CESI SG Klaus Heeger and the Secretary General Alain Laratta (Avenir Secours), President Xavier Boy (Fédération Autonome) and President Frédéric Monchy (Snspp – pats) discussed about the European strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”, the impact of digitalisation, required competencies, safety procedures, work-life balance and the need of digital tools for the sector.

More about DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers: https://lnkd.in/dFrbQue4

Last Monday, CESI and its members had the opportunity to participate in a timely webinar on the importance of implementing risk assessment regarding third-party violence and harassment at work. The aim of the online conversation was to present the positive aspects of a preventative risk assessment culture at work and provide social partners with the opportunity to share examples from their countries on the topic.

Experienced policy makers and social partner representatives contributed to the discussion: Simone Mohrs from the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) opened the webinar and Jane Pillinger, consultant of the project, presented the highlights of a previous 2^nd TPV Webinar of the project. Sarah Copsey and Manuela Seifert from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) explained why risk assessment is a necessary mechanism to prevent violence and harassment at work and presented EU-OSHA’s OiRA (Online interactive Risk Assessment), a web-based tool that allows users to perform a health and safety risk assessment of their workplace, while Ulrike Wabusseg from the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) and Martina Di Ridolfo from the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) explained how this tool can be used in the education sector. Finally, Linda van der Marel from the Dutch Centre for Labour Relations (CAOP), Jan Schriefer from the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV) and Enzo Bernardo from the Italian Federation of Public Services Workers (FP CGIL) presented risk assessment initiatives in their sectors.

For CESI, this webinar was an important opportunity 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 an own #NOVIOLENCEATWORK campaign based on a video and manifesto against third-party violence at work.

About the multisectoral European social partner 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.

A conversation with Daniel Freund, MEP, on transparency policies, the negotiations for a new EU ethics body and the Pandora Papers.

#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 this summer’s devastating natural disasters, CESI member organisations active in the field of fire fighting and other emergency response services met with the European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič and paid tribute to all those in the line of duty, who go over and beyond to save lives when crises occur. The meeting took place online and managed to gather both the perspective of experts and practitioners on what is needed for EU member states to collectively improve their capacities and responses to crisis management.

Next to the Commissioner, a representative of the Expert Group on Forest Fires and the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Dr. Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz, as well as CESI Secretary-General Klaus Heeger, Vice-President of the German Civil Service Federation ‘ddb beamtenbund und tarifunion’ Kirsten Lühmann, the Secretary-General of the French firefighters’ union ‘Avenir Secours’ Alain Laratta and the President of the French firefighters’ union ‘FA SPP-PATS’ Xavier Boy contributed to the discussion.

Commissioner Janez Lenarčič showcased the European responses to crisis management with a focus on the ‘EU Civil Protection Mechanism’ and the ‘rescEU reserve’. He said: “In light of the climatic challenges Europe is facing, the devastating events of 2021 might become the new norm. As such it is clear that EU member states must improve their readiness and preparedness and the European Commission has established extensive actions to increase its coordination role, and it invests heavily in both acquiring technical assets and in facilitating exchanges of best practices, knowledge and information of the experts involved and of the communities at risk. The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) is one of the best practices in terms of monitoring and early detection systems in the world. These kind of initiatives, EFFIS together with rescEU and the Civil Protection Mechanism, are the examples of cooperation and collective crisis management, which separate the EU from the rest of the world and ensure better outcomes in terms of saved lives and mitigating the negative effects of climate change.”

Along the same lines, CESI Secretary-General Klaus Heeger added: “Each year, we witness the effects of climate change: extreme heatwaves, wildfires, torrential rains and flooding. While the frequency of theses disasters increases, we are not only concerned by these phenomena as citizens, but we are concerned as trade unions representing fire-fighters, doctors as well as staff in emergency and rescue services. Frontline workers go above and beyond their capacities to save people’s lives and limit the damages to property and nature. And, yes, they need our support.”

The event had both a symbolic and effective meaning for the members of CESI: It acknowledged the public service personnel and its sacrifice in the line of duty but it also bridged the gap between practices at national and European level. It was one step forward in what CESI has been advocating for long:

• More investment in the public services and attention to the psychological pressure certain professions are exposed to;
• More sharing of good practices, expertise and information between practitioners (above all fire-fighters) and experts (which could lead to a certain harmonisation of national protocols for fire management) across Europe;
• More transparency and awareness of and for the work performed by the European Commission (e.g. in the context of the Expert Group on Forest Fires) and the different EU concepts, tools and programs available for mitigating natural disasters;
• Ideally the creation of a genuine ‘EU strategy for combatting forest fires’ to foster better cooperation and coordination across Member States;
• A European status for rescuers;
• Better interoperability of material and equipment for fire fighters and sharing of assets across the Member States.

A very positive meeting in Italy with CONFSAL, Italian Workers’ Autonomous Trade Unions Confederation.

During the meeting we discussed the European strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”, the impact of digitalisation, required competencies, workplace safety procedures, work-life balance and the need of digital tools for the employees in Italian public services.

More about DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers: https://lnkd.in/dFrbQue4

A very productive meeting in Italy with CISAL, Italian Confederation of Free Workers’ Unions.

During the meeting, CESI SG Klaus Heeger and CISAL SG Francesco Cavallaro, discussed about the European strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”, the impact of digitalisation, required competencies, workplace safety procedures, work-life balance and the need of digital tools for the public and private sector workers.

More about DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers: https://lnkd.in/dFrbQue4

A conversation with Mr. Pierre Joassart on the Working Time Directive of 2003 and the recent case law of the European Court of Justice.

#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 Dragoș Pîslaru, MEP, on the progress of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the need for a new EU social contract and the role of social partners in promoting decent working conditions.

#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

CESI@home with

the European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič on

‘A European approach to combat forest fires &

other natural disasters?’

October 21st 2021

On October 7, 2021, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled that some provisions of EU law and EU court rulings clash with the national legislation, noting that EU institutions acted beyond the scope of their competences (case K 3/21). More precisely, the Polish court held that two core articles of the European Union’s founding treaties are incompatible with the Polish Constitution, namely Art.1 TEU, which establishes the existence of the European Union and the conferral of competences from member states, and Art. 19(1) TEU, which determines that the mission of the EU’s Court of Justice is to ensure the observance of EU law across the Union.

In a petition submitted to the Polish Constitutional Court in March 2021 by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish supreme judges had been asked to examine whether the Treaty on the European Union empowers the EU Institutions to derogate from applying the Polish Constitution or to apply provisions which have ceased to have effect, on the basis of a ruling by the Constitutional Court, due to being inconsistent with the Polish Constitution, and if the European Court of Justice is authorized to review the impartiality of national judges. This was a reaction to the March 2 judgment of the European Court of Justice, which had ruled that the new national system of selecting judges was not compatible with the EU legal order, and that, by reference to the principle of primacy of EU law, the Polish judiciary had to ‘disapply’ these conflicting national provisions.

As a first reaction to the Polish Constitutional Court´s ruling, the European Commission reaffirmed that ‘EU law has primacy over national law, including constitutional provisions’ and that the decisions by the European Court of Justice are ‘binding on all member state’s authorities, including national courts’. The Commission made it very clear that it will ‘not hesitate to make use of its powers under the treaties to safeguard the uniform application and integrity of union law’.

At first sight, Poland’s top court ruling appears to show similarities with the judgement of the German Federal Constitutional Court of May 5th, 2020, according to which the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) of the European Central Bank was (partially) incompatible with the German Constitution.

However, the following differentiation must be made to discern the extent of the Polish ruling:

• Although both constitutional courts considered that the European Court of Justice acted ‘ultra-vires’, meaning beyond its competences, the Polish court questions EU primary law (Art.1 and Art. 19 TEU), contrary to the German court that only questioned a secondary legal act by an EU institution.
• While the German court decision is mostly an attempt to harmonize and reconcile national constitutional provisions with EU law, the Polish judges recognize – a novum in EU history- a general and absolute precedence of the Polish Constitution over EU law.
• Whereas the German Federal Constitutional Court´s ruling referred explicitly to a single legal act (the ECB’s PSP program), the Polish ruling is understood as applying as a leading judgement to all areas covered by the Polish Constitution. Practically, this would mean that this judgement may be the source for future disputes, further eroding the EU’s legal order.
• For the first time, a national top court denies national judges the authority to examine the conformity of national legal acts with EU law.

Against the background of such unprecedented developments, one thing is sure: the EU has a long way to go to further proceed with European integration.

Tilemachos Dafnis, LLM

We just concluded the national meeting in Finland under the CESI DiWork project with Tullivirkamiesliitt – Tulljänstemannaförbundet (TVML), Customs Officials Association.

During the meeting we discussed the European strategy: “A Europe fit for the digital age, empowering people with a new generation of technologies”, the impact of digitalisation, required competencies, work-life balance and the need of digital tools for the employees in cusustoms and tax administration.

More about DiWork – Digitalising public services: Making it work for citizens, business and workers: https://lnkd.in/dFrbQue4

On the occasion of the European Youth Event 2021 (#EYE2021- European Youth Event in Strasbourg), the CESI Youth panel on ‘EU Resilience and Recovery (RRF) Policies: Bringing youth employment back on track’ started from the presumption that ‘youth voices should be everywhere decisions are being made’ (Jana Degrott during the #EYE2021) and that EU post pandemic recovery should address better youth policies.

The first session of the panel focused on the current challenges young people face and from the reports of the European Youth Forum, Eurofound and FEANTSA/ Abbe Pierre Foundation it is clear that the pandemic had a huge impact on young people in terms of increased unemployment rates, exclusion form online education, struggles to make ends meet, social exclusion, housing and mental health issues. 2 out of the 3 young people interviewed reported mental health issues[1] and many young people were excluded from housing solutions. Only 1% of the national COVID-19 economic policy responses were so far addressing youth. Many experts fear a long-lasting effects of this crisis if recovery policies for young people are not introduced. Despite these alarming trends, the European Commission representative, Max Uebe, mentioned that this trend is going to be reversed since member states are obliged to allocate more support to youth policies if they wish to benefit from the European Structural Funds or the Reinforced Youth Guarantee (if their NEETS rate is above 12,5%). As such, the RRF funds should cover support for young people and children. The European Alliance for Apprenticeships was reinforced and the EU Skills Agenda was recently revised for quality employment and skills so that young people could benefit from the recovery funds kicking in.

As such, the second panel of the CESI Youth at #EYE2021 focused on finding answers to these challenges young people face. There was a general consensus that young people should improve their civic and political advocacy and that they should claim better access to political decision making, quality jobs and to fight for mental health support. Brando Benifei, member of the European Parliament, mentioned that ‘we need to fight the culture of exploitation of young people; we see it too often that for many people it is acceptable to not pay young people properly’ for this reason unpaid internships and precarious work contracts should be prevented. Matthäus Fandrejewski, CESI Youth Representative, advocated in favour of securing better, more inclusive policies for youth as part of the national recovery plans and for giving young people more access to social and political platforms to make their voice heard: ‘Bringing Youth Back on Track is the only way EU’s future can be guaranteed! EU must take care of its next generation.’

The video recollection of the event, as portrayed by a visual story teller, could be visualised here and the whole event is available below:

Dear members, colleagues, friends and partners of CESI,

This week, we organised a high-level conference for ‘a strong European public service agenda’, which was one of the highlights of our slowly ending ‘PULSER’ project.

CESI has been advocating for well-performing public services for many, many years, if not decades; in the interest of citizens, workers, the economy and the overall societal well-being and resilience.

And looking back at two decades of crises (9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, the 2010 European debt crisis, the 2015 refugee migration challenges, the 2015/2016 terrorist attacks, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and not least the dramatic increase in natural disasters), it has been established hat countries with efficient and strong public services are more resilient.

In this sense, the – hopefully – slowly dying away COVID-19 pandemic also offers a chance, “an unexpected and unique opportunity”, as the recently published EPC study ’Well-performing public services for a fair and resilient society’, concluded. The opportunity to put public services at the core again of national and the EU’s agendas.

Public services and their performance will be decisive in preparing for future pandemics and other crises which will surely come, they will prove crucial in tackling the economic and social fallout of COVID-19 which will be felt for many years to come, they will be vital in ensuring and implementing social rights and principles for many citizens, families and workers.

We will need more (smart) investment in public services – in the equipment, in facilities and human capital. And as the EPC study put it: “We will have to design and reform public services in the spirit of providing the best social results and service resilience, and not the most cost-effective outcome.”

Yet there is a certain likelihood that, in the aftermath of COVID-19, spending for (and especially investments in) public services will be cut down. The new mantra of governments being that fiscal buffers for next crises are to be rebuilt.

And here we come back to our experiences from the past ones: Had we invested more in public services and its staff in the years before the pandemic, the damages of Covid would not have been as extensive – with less lives lost and less to be repaired. It would have been the far cheaper and less painful option.

In 2016, Eurodiaconia, Social Platform and CESI had argued in a joint discussion paper: “Economies with a higher degree of investments have shown to be more resilient to shocks and perform better in crises.” So yes, we believe that cuts in (smart) investments now will mean tragedies and losses in the future during the next crisis (of yet unknown nature).

It is not without a certain irony that these findings are painfully corroborated by this week’s revelation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) of the so-called ‘Pandora-Papers’, demonstrating yet again how the very rich manage to avoid taxes in enormous scales. Such losses, estimated at trillions of dollars, are losses for the society, for us citizens and workers, for our and the next generations. “The ability to hide money has a direct impact on your life. It affects your child’s access to education, access to health, access to a home”, Lakshmi Kumar, the Global Financial Integrity Policy Director, underlined this week.

In 2018, the President of the German Tax Association (Deutsch Steuergewerkschaft), Thomas Eigenthaler, coined the famous phrase: “We are hunting Ferraris with bicycles”.

Avoiding such losses requires investment, now and in the future. Investment in infrastructure, in equipment, in human capital, and in human resources. But also, investment in working conditions, pay and recognition of the public services’ workforce.

Not for the sake of it. For our and the next generation’s common public value.