negotiation

On 14 January, the European Commission launched First phase consultation of Social Partners on a possible action addressing the challenges related to fair minimum wages. While the ETF strongly believes that workers of Europe need a pay rise, we don’t support simplistic approaches and half-baked solutions that could endanger the autonomy of social partners around the continent. A simple prescriptive mechanism cannot solve wage stagnation – instead, we need to address the core causes of it, such as precarious work, anti-union measures, digitalisation, and austerity.

On 11 and 12 December, workers and union representatives from the water transport sectors met in Hamburg for a workshop on automation and digitalisation. The workshop is part of the project ETF Automation & Digitalisation Toolkit, aimed at developing tools to empower workers during the processes of automation and digitalization (A&D).