European trade union confederation

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The European Trade Union Confederation ( ETUC ; English European Trade Union Confederation , ETUC ) is the European umbrella organization of trade unions with headquarters in Brussels (Belgium). It represents 90 national (cross-sectoral) trade union confederations from 39 countries and 10 European (sectoral) trade union federations with a total of 45 million members.

It is not limited to the European Union .

history

Heinz Oskar Vetter, chairman from 1974 to 1979
Georges Debunne, chairman from 1982 to 1985

The cross-sectoral and cross-national organization was founded on February 9, 1973 by 17 trade union confederations from 15 countries and represented around 29 million unionized members. It is a successor organization of the European Confederation of Free Trade Unions in the EEC and the "Trade Union Congress" of the EFTA states.

The first president of the ETUC was Victor Feather (Great Britain), who was supported by three vice-presidents, including Heinz Oskar Vetter from the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). The first General Secretary of the ETUC was Theo Rasschaert (Belgium).

In 1974 the first Christian trade unions and the first former communist trade union became members. In 1991 the European trade union federations became full members; the ETUC introduces observer status, which ten leagues from Eastern Europe receive. In 1995, alliances from Eastern Europe were accepted as full members for the first time.

The following congresses have taken place since the foundation:

Articles of Association

In the preamble of the statutes of the ETUC will be

structure

Congress (Articles 8-11 of the Statutes)

The Congress is the supreme body of the ETUC. It is convened every four years. The last meeting was in Paris in 2015, and the unions will meet in Vienna in May 2019. In addition to the members of the Executive Committee, the Congress also elects the President. It also appoints the General Secretary and his two deputies.

Executive Committee (Articles 12-19 of the Statutes)

The committee meets four times a year and consists of representatives from the member organizations. It decides on the mandate and composition of the delegations for the European social dialogue.

Steering Committee (Articles 20-23 of the Statute)

The Steering Committee is responsible for ensuring that the decisions of the Executive Committee are implemented. This smallest of the ETUC bodies meets eight times a year.

Current situation

The ETUC has (as of August 2016) 90 national trade union confederations from 39 European countries and 10 European industry associations with a total of 45 million members, three trade union confederations have observer status (see below).

The President of the ETUC has been the Belgian Rudy De Leeuw since October 2015. The General Secretary of the ETUC has been the Italian Luca Visentini since October 2015 . Deputy General Secretaries are Peter Scherrer and Katja Lehto-Komulainen.

The ETUC works with trade union actors from the countries and regions associated with the EU and also cooperates with the International Trade Union Confederation . The ETUC is also represented in the ITUC within the framework of the Pan-European Regional Council (PERR). Following a resolution of the IGB founding congress held in Vienna in November 2006, the PERR was officially launched on the occasion of the founding assembly on March 19, 2007 in Rome.

11th Congress (2007, Seville)

The 11th ETUC Congress (May 21-24, 2007 in Seville) took part. a. the “Seville Manifesto”. Thereafter, the ETUC plans to "go on the offensive in five key areas":

  • For a European job market
  • For social dialogue, collective bargaining and employee participation
  • For more effective economic, social and environmental governance in Europe
  • For a stronger EU
  • For stronger unions and a stronger ETUC

12th Congress (2011, Athens)

The 12th ETUC Congress took place in Athens from May 16th to 19th under the motto “Mobilizing for social Europe”. For four days, 500 delegates from 36 member countries debated the direction of European trade union policy for the next four years. The DGB delegation was there with 27 representatives.

The “Athens Manifesto” summarizes the most important priorities with which the trade unions are fighting against the consequences of the economic and financial crisis, against rigid austerity concepts and job cuts.

The European workers' associations will actively campaign for qualitative economic growth, full employment and a resilient European social model. They are calling for the introduction of a financial transaction tax , the harmonization of tax bases and mandatory minimum tax rates for companies as well as the issue of EURO bonds.

The ETUC calls for strict rules to control the financial markets and private rating agencies, the closing of tax havens and the prevention of excessive managerial salaries, wrongly granted bonus payments and severance payments.

13th Congress (2015, Paris)

Results:

  • The "Manifesto of Paris" with the
    motto "Stand up in solidarity for quality jobs, workers' rights and a just society in Europe" and
    the "priorities":
  • A. A strong economy that serves the people
  • B. Stronger unions for democratic values ​​and democracy at work
  • C. A core of ambitious social standards
  • The "ETUC Action Program 2015-2019", which concretizes the statements of the "Manifesto".

In addition, the Congress passed urgent motions on the following topics:

  • Refugee crisis in Europe
  • Fundamental rights in Spain
  • Northern Ireland
  • Solidarity with the Greek workers
  • Tisa
  • Renegotiation strategy for the EU referendum in the UK
  • Occupational health and hazard protection
  • Solidarity with the Turkish and Kurdish journalists who are victims of the repression

National trade union confederations and European trade union federations in the ETUC

National trade union confederations

The following trade union confederations belong to the ETUC:

(* Observer)

European trade union federations

The following European trade union federations belong to the ETUC :

The ETUC is a member of the European Movement International .

Chairpersons and General Secretaries

The current chairman of the European Trade Union Confederation has been Rudy De Leeuw since 2015
Chairman Term of office member country
Victor Feather 1973-1974 TUC United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Heinz Oskar Vetter 1974-1979 DGB GermanyGermany Germany
Wim Kok 1979-1982 FNV NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands
Georges Debunne 1982-1985 ABVV BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Ernst Breit 1985-1991 DGB GermanyGermany Germany
Norman Willis 1991-1993 TUC United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Fritz Verzetnitsch 1993-2003 OGB AustriaAustria Austria
Cándido Méndez Rodríguez 2003-2007 UGT SpainSpain Spain
Wanja Lundby-Wedin 2007-2011 LO SwedenSweden Sweden
Ignacio Fernández Toxo 2011-2015 CC.OO SpainSpain Spain
Rudy De Leeuw 2015 - ABVV BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Secretary General Term of office member country
Théo Rasschaert 1973-1975 ABVV BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Peer Carlsen 1975-1976 LO DenmarkDenmark Denmark
Mathias Hinterscheid 1976-1991 LAV LuxembourgLuxembourg Luxembourg
Emilio Gabaglio 1991-2003 CISL ItalyItaly Italy
John Monks 2003-2011 TUC United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Bernadette Ségol 2011-2015 CGT FranceFrance France
Luca Visentini 2015 - UIL ItalyItaly Italy

See also

literature

  • Willy Buschak, The European Trade Union Confederation and the European Trade Union Associations (PDF; 262 kB) in: "European Trade Union Organizations - Holdings in the Archive of Social Democracy and in the Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation", ed. for the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation by U. Optenhögel, M. Schneider, R. Zimmermann, Bonn, 2003, pp. 9-19
  • Andrea Ciampani, Pierre Tilly: National trade unions and the ETUC: A history of unity and diversity . Brussels (ETUI) 2017 ( ETUI page on the book )
  • Christophe Degryse, Pierre Tilly: 1973-2013: 40 years of history of the European Trade Union Confederation , Brussels (ETUI) 2017 ( ETUI page on the book )
  • Jon Erik Dølvik: The tip of the iceberg? The ETUC and the development of a euro corporatism. Westphalian steam boat, Münster 1999, ISBN 3-89691-447-2 .
  • Bernhard Pfitzner (2018): Materials on the topic of "European trade union work" ( 32 pages, PDF )

Web links

Commons : European Trade Union Confederation  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Homepage of the ETUC , "About us" at the bottom right, accessed on March 24, 2019
  2. ↑ Jon Erik Dølvik: The tip of the iceberg? The ETUC and the development of a euro corporatism. 1999, p. 247.
  3. ↑ dates for 1.-7. Congress see: European Trade Union Institute, The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Brussels 1991
  4. ↑ Willy Buschak (2003) (see literature), p. 11
  5. ^ Documents and resolutions of the 9th Congress ( Memento of November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  6. ↑ Documents and resolutions of the 10th Congress ( Memento of November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  7. ↑ Documents and resolutions of the 11th Congress ( Memento of November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  8. ↑ Documents and resolutions of the 12th Congress ( Memento of November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  9. ↑ Pages on the 13th Congress 2015 in Paris , accessed on March 15, 2018
  10. ^ Statutes of the ETUC (English, French), accessed on March 28, 2018
  11. ^ Page "Organization and people" of the ETUC ( Memento of March 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 16, 2018
  12. ↑ The voice of European workers. (ETUC brochure; PDF; 1.2 MB), accessed on March 16, 2018
  13. ↑ Seville Manifesto ( Memento of March 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
  14. ↑ "The Athens Manifesto" ( PDF, 4 pages ), accessed on March 15, 2018
  15. ↑ "European trade unions decide on 'Athens Manifesto' on the economic and financial crisis" DGB press release v. May 19, 2011 , accessed March 15, 2018
  16. ^ "The Manifesto of Paris" ( PDF, 7 pp. ( Memento of March 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive )), accessed on March 15, 2018
  17. ^ "EGB Action Program 2015-2019" ( PDF, 44 pp. ( Memento of March 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive )), accessed on March 15, 2018
  18. ^ National Trade Union Confederations (list of member organizations) , ETUC page, accessed March 19, 2018
  19. ↑ European Trade Union Federations (10) (list of members) , ETUC page, accessed on March 17, 2018
  20. ↑ a b European Trade Union Confederation Archives; Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
  21. ↑ a b A. Thomas Lane (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders . tape 1 . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Conn. 1995, ISBN 0-313-26456-2 , pp. 422 (English, 1204 pp., Limited preview in Google book search).