International Relations

UNI EUROPA CONFERENCE 2016 - DAY II

"We are in the business of changing the world. We are not intimidated by the challenges we face. We make it happen. Don’t doubt for a moment we can do it."
 
Philip Jennings, General Secretary UNI Global Union
 
 
 
          
 
The evolving story of #unieuropa16
 
Day 2 of the UNI Europa Conference saw many highlights. Here are just a few examples - read many more stories on the Conference website.

The morning session was dedicated to examining a European perspective of trade union work. Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC said: "European workers need a pay rise! This is a matter of social justice. Redistribution of wealth is essential for a full economic recovery in Europe". He also wrote an opinion piece for us, read it here.

UNI Europa's Head of EU Affairs Christina Colclough followed, explaining why Europe matters and what the trade union movement is up against: "We are up against the titans here, just look at the figures. For every one euro we spend lobbying the EU, the employers in Commerce, Post and Finance spend 120, 1382 and 12000 respectively. We are outnumbered in lobby personnel too. For every one of us, these employers’ federations and just a few of their members have 13, 17, or 1700 lobbyists." Read the full story here.

The afternoon was dedicated to anti-trade union policies which are rapidly advancing across the continent. Some of Europe's largest trade unions agreed a common strategy to fight anti-union legislation including supporting the building of a broad political coalition for strengthening trade union rights. Their statement says: "We aim to engage with workers to draw attention to these European-wide attacks on unions and mobilise for the protection of trade union rights at national and European level."

See all the highlights on the conference website,

UNI Europa’s Flickr and youtube channels for Multimedia  

For Social Networks follow Twitter. using #unieuropa16