industriAll 27/2013
For socially responsible and democratic economic governance:
a trade union checklist1
(Document adopted by the 3rd Meeting of the industriAll Europe Executive Committee
Luxembourg, 26-27 November 2013)
For industriAll Europe, the continuing commitment to the process of European integration
depends on whether or not the European Union is reduced to a mere single market project
and free trade zone. IndustriAll Europe will fight for a Europe that becomes once more a
Europe of democratic, economic and social progress. The EU is about the Member States
growing together rather than putting them in competition with one another.
The dramatic consequences – for entire nations – of the approaches being followed by the
Troika and most governments in Europe are incompatible with people’s needs and are
leading to a deterioration in living and working conditions for workers in our industries.
Trade unions demand socially responsible and democratic economic governance in the EU,
one that aims at improving living and working conditions for everyone, especially for lowpaid workers, whether in Luxembourg or Bulgaria, Germany or Greece. Therefore, the
principle purpose of EU economic governance must be to create sustainable upward
pressure on incomes, working conditions and employment without interfering in national
systems of social security, wage-setting and collective bargaining, but on the contrary
supporting them.
By contrast, the sole focus of the current economic governance approach is on enhancing
international competitiveness and adjusting economic imbalances by lowering social,
labour, and living standards; particularly in those countries labelled as “underperforming”.
Trade unions and collective bargaining are under heavy attack as if they were responsible
for the crisis and the malfunctioning of the Economic and Monetary Union.
Such a policy is intolerable and unsustainable. It is an attack on trade unions and workers’
rights that fosters a downward spiral of social dumping and impoverishes workers and their
families. It even disenfranchises parliaments by shifting power to the European Commission,
national governments and the European Central Bank without effective checks and
1
Based on the UNI Europa resolution adopted at its Executive Committee Meeting in Brussels 29 & 30 May
2013
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
1
balances. Moreover, it is clearly in breach of the provisions set out in the Treaty on
European Union (Title I – Common Provisions) as this Treaty states unambiguously that
improving working and living conditions by fostering full employment and social progress is
the principle purpose of the EU and thus of EU economic governance.
IndustriAll Europe calls upon the EU institutions and the Member States to revise the
current economic governance framework as a matter of urgency. A change in key priorities
is needed in order to rebalance the EU’s economic and social dimension. Competition on
cost must be replaced by a stronger emphasis on quality, research and development,
training an d education and the higher productivity of a highly-skilled labour force.
Adherence to this principle needs to be seen as a prerequisite for sustainable growth and
warrants the creation of secure employment as well as investments in a skilled workforce. In
particular, industriAll Europe emphasises its opposition to the currently floated proposals of
binding contractual arrangements between the European Commission and Member States.
Such agreements are both undemocratic in nature and a means to entrench an ineffective
austerity policy.
The EU institutions and governments must halt the roll down the slippery slope to socially
irresponsible and undemocratic economic governance! Decision-makers must come up
with innovative solutions that overcome the helplessness of a failed neo-liberal paradigm.
A measure for socially responsible and democratic economic governance
We strongly oppose an approach to EU economic governance that complements ineffective
neo-liberal policies with insincere “placebo” measures concerning social and labour issues.
The purpose of economic governance must be to ensure sustainable growth and full
employment with decent jobs, working conditions, wages and living standards for all.
Austerity measures are inconsistent with this commitment to social progress; therefore they
must end.
For industriAll Europe and its affiliates, representing 7 million workers, the following 12
points provide a measure for a framework of socially responsible and democratic economic
governance, one that achieves the EU’s fundamental objective of social and economic
progress.
Economic Policy at the service of Society
1. Tackling imbalances in a socially sustainable manner
Economic governance must tackle, reduce - and in future pre-empt - economic
imbalances among Member States and with the wider world. Both countries with trade
deficits and those with surpluses must contribute in a fair manner, and not least the
latter by boosting private and public consumption as well as imports.
Instead of one-sided and exaggerated austerity measures we need an impulse for
growth and employment in Europe. We need an industrial policy which promotes a
social and sustainable economy geared to the environment, creates a competitive
industry in countries in crisis, strengthens domestic demand in European countries and
accelerates public investments
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
2
2. Fostering internal demand
Strong internal demand must be fostered throughout Europe. It is the precondition for a
sustainable economy, meeting the future needs of workers and maintaining the
European social model.
Encouraging investment
We need a new investment climate in Europe. Private investors need to regain
confidence in the European economy and European industry to invest again. Public
investments as a key area need to be rebooted. A comprehensive, forward-looking EU
recovery and investment programme for growth, employment and decent jobs is
needed, amounting to up to 2% of EU GDP. It should focus in particular on those groups
most affected by the crisis, unemployment and bad working conditions - young people,
women, handicapped persons and immigrants - and also on a mix of institutional
measures, direct public investment (in transport, education, research and development,
etc.) and measures to strengthen the industrial base and consumer incentives. The
“ETUC plan for investment, sustainable growth and quality jobs”2 provides a valuable
model for such a project.
3. Putting public finances on a fair and sustainable footing
The fiscal and budgetary situation of countries must be sustainable. An important
element in this is ensuring sufficient public income, especially by broadening the tax
base to cover all kinds of income and assets in an equitable way.
4. Ending tax competition
A legal framework is needed with a view to putting an end to excessive tax competition,
as well as combating tax fraud and evasion, including taxation of capital, financial
transactions and the abolition of fiscal paradises, in particular through aggressive crossborder tax planning practices. The corporate tax base and minimum rates of taxation for
companies should be harmonised.
Social Responsibility
5. Protecting social rights
The fundamental social rights of workers and trade unions must not be legally
subordinated to internal market freedoms, competition law and austerity measures –
neither by law nor by conditionality of EU financial aid. The diversity of national
industrial relations systems must be respected.
6. Putting an end to attacks on workers and trade unions
EU law must provide for legally enforceable guarantees ruling out any EU polices and EU
action vis-à-vis Member States – including country specific recommendations (CSR) –
that:
2
Adopted at the meeting of the ETUC Executive Committee on 7 November 2013
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
3
 create downward competition on wages, working conditions, social spending, social
security standards, taxes and the environment;
 undermine workers’ and trade union rights;
 interfere with the autonomy of social partners and collective bargaining.
This also extends to extra-legal arrangements like the “Troika” of the EU, ECB and IMF,
political interventions by EU institutions or the proposed “contractual arrangements”.
7. Establishing an enforceable legal framework for social partner rights
The EU, and the Commission in particular, must have the legal obligation to actively
promote and protect decent jobs and working conditions, workers’ and trade union
rights as well as collective bargaining and social dialogue at all levels. Equal treatment
must apply to all workers.
8. Fighting social dumping
Cross-border social dumping must be stopped through a legally enforceable EU
framework, in particular regarding companies using internal market freedoms to exploit
workers and undercut law-abiding employers.
9. Setting social benchmarks
The economic governance process must include the setting and respect of structural
social indicators as well as benchmarks for active labour market policies. Socially
responsible decision-making requires that the current policy evaluation practice based
on an economic scoreboard be complemented with a social scoreboard of equal weight.
Democratic Accountability
10. Integrating social dialogue into economic governance
IndustriAll Europe rejects any interference in the autonomy of the social partners in the
field of collective bargaining and wage-setting as well as any interference in collective
bargaining systems. Trade unions must be involved in economic governance at all levels
on a compulsory and comprehensive basis. This concerns in particular decision-making
processes regarding the design of the EU economic governance framework and the
content of country specific recommendations (CSRs). It must include an explicit
obligation that:
 national governments and social partners report on social developments, social
dialogue and industrial relations as well as breaches of labour standards;
 CSRs are negotiated with the social partners at national level, where they so wish.
Until now these country specific recommendations were also used as an instrument
to intervene in collective bargaining systems and to cut social standards. IndustriAll
Europe will participate in a social dialogue within the framework of economic
governance only on condition that the CSRs are not used as an instrument to cut
wages, working conditions and social standards.
 To act only within the institutional framework of economic governance limits trade
union action. Trade unions must, in addition, act politically to defend workers’ rights.
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
4
11. Reasserting the rights of Parliaments
EU economic governance deeply affects the policies of EU Member States and indeed
the life of citizens and workers. Decision-making must be democratic. This requires the
full involvement of the European Parliament and national parliaments, in particular if
EU recommendations and actions towards Member States are underpinned by
sanctions. Decision-making that is limited to the Commission and national governments
lacks sufficient democratic legitimacy. This applies in particular to the currently
discussed idea of “contractual agreements” between the Commission and a Member
State.
Changing the framework of economic governance must be complemented by a proactive EU
policy to address and overcome the current crisis as well as by amending the EU Treaty to
give its social dimension equal footing with the economic one. The ETUC’s “Social Compact
for Europe” provides a broad foundation for bringing about a truly social Europe.
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
5
EU Economic Governance
and Collective Bargaining & Social Policy
How to organise Trade Union involvement at
National and European level
The new EU Economic Governance framework, and particularly the establishment of the
European Semester, has a severe impact on the autonomy of social partners in the
negotiation process as well as on the basic integrity and structure of collective bargaining
systems at national and sectoral level. Calls to decentralise and/or flexibilise the bargaining
process or even implement purely downward measures are regular outcomes of the
Semester process.
The industriAll Europe document “For socially responsible and democratic economic
governance: a trade union checklist” argues that social partners must be strongly involved at
all stages and levels of the Semester process in order to ensure socially-balanced outcomes
of EU economic governance. However, given the current lack of a coherent European
framework for social partner involvement, trade unions must voice their demands by using
various - often even informal - channels that vary widely between Member States.
By its declaration of 31st January 2013, the industriAll Europe Collective Bargaining and
Social Policy Committee already stated very clearly that it would not accept any interference
by the EU on national collective bargaining systems and outcomes. It has also widely
discussed the effects of the Semester policies and the Country Specific Recommendations
(CSR) during its recent meetings.
The ETUC, for its part, has started a mapping experience of the CSR process and how to
involve the national confederations, the trade unions and the European Trade Union
Federations (ETUFs) in a joint coordination strategy. They have developed a specific toolkit
for that purpose (see appendix). IndustriAll Europe experimented with the toolkit in June of
this year when the CSR reports were published. The dual information flow (from ETUC to
national confederations and from ETUC to national trade unions via ETUFs) was very
positively evaluated. But we also need feedback on what happened at national level with
the CSR reports.
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
6
We therefore propose:
1. That the Collective Bargaining & Social Policy Committee should continue with the
follow-up of the European Semester Process and the CSR reports and that national
affiliated organisations should give us feedback on what happened specifically in
their countries.
2. That industriAll Europe should coordinate the results of this process with the other
ETUFs and the ETUC and that we should continue the debate on a joint trade union
strategy for influencing the Semester process.
3. That we use the attached ETUC toolkits (especially toolkits 1, 2 and 3) as a basis and
feasible model for coordinating our trade union strategy.
Key:
AGS:
Annual Growth Survey (presents Commission’s priorities for the Semester
AMR: Alert Mechanism Report (identifies countries with macroeconomic imbalances that
are analysed and closely supervised)
CSR: Country Specific Recommendations (translate EU level priorities into national
policies)
NRP: National Reform Programme (presents Member States’ planned economic policy
measures)
International Trade Union House (ITUH) - Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 (bte 10) - B-1210 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2/226 00 50
[email protected] www.industriall-europe.eu
7