UNI Europa

Today in one month, EU member states have to transpose the EU minimum wage directive. One of its goals is to strengthen collective bargaining. One of the most effective ways to achieve it is multi-employer bargaining. It is good for workers, companies and society.

Spotify, the Swedish streaming giant, is under fire for refusing efforts by two unions – Unionen and Engineers of Sweden, both affiliated to UNI – to negotiate a collective agreement that would authorize night work for employees. UNI and tech worker unions around the world support the Spotify unions who are calling for a collective agreement at the company. “Spotify would rather erode Sweden’s labour protections than negotiate an agreement that would allow workers to address urgent issues at all hours while being treated fairly,” said Benjamin Parton, Head of UNI’s ICTS sector. “There’s still time for the company to turn things around so its ‘Wrapped’ this year is not marred by these kinds of anti-union tactics.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/evU3bWee

"Back in 2019 I visited a cleaning company’s headquarters where I was welcomed by a robot who was supposed to recognise my name and print out a badge for me. Several failed attempts later, two employees switched the robot off, and a receptionist inserted my name manually into their system. Last summer, I encountered an automated cleaning robot at an airport. Children and passers-by continuously got in its way preventing it from cleaning. Again, two employees came to take it away." The viability of the widespread adoption of AI, robotics and other technologies in the cleaning sector depends on their ability to support the existing workforce in engaging in higher value-added tasks, argues Mark Bergfeld in a piece for the European Cleaning Journal.

October 7 is the World Day for Decent Work, and this year the global trade union movement is calling for peace and democracy. We do this in the context of creeping authoritarianism and expanding military conflict, which has cast a dark cloud across the world. Currently, there are over 110 armed conflicts worldwide. All of them put working people on the front lines, devastating their communities and robbing them of their lives, livelihoods and rights. “Peace is fundamental to decent work. And as we decided in our recent World Congress, ‘universal and lasting peace can only be established through common security, social justice a world free from exploitation and decent standards of living for all,’” said UNI General Secretary Christy Hoffman. Over the past year, UNI has focused on supporting workers and democracy advocates in ongoing conflicts in Myanmar, Ukraine and Gaza. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eTxVCHRB

On 2 October 2024, at the joint FES-UNI Europa Conference on Artificial Intelligence, trade union leaders, experts and Members of European Parliament discussed how AI affects creative workers and the cultural sectors. With AI technologies becoming increasingly integrated into work processes, from generating content to automating repetitive tasks, the conversation has shifted toward finding a balance between innovation and workers’ rights. Representatives from UNI, including leaders from affiliate Writers’ Guild of America, delivered a powerful message: whether AI enhances our work or strips it of its creative essence depends on workers’ ability to shape the terms of technology use through collective bargaining. The growing concerns about AI’s potential misuse have already led to significant labour actions, most notably the 148-day strike by US writers organised in the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The WGA strike, which lasted 148 days, brought solidarity from across the labour movement, with UNI organising support in Europe and beyond as well as helping coordinate a global day of action. Ellen Stutzman, the former chief negotiator for the WGA and now Executive Director of WGA-West, shared insights from the recent strike, which demonstrated the power of collective action. “When we went into negotiations with producers, they were stone-walling,” Stutzman recounted. “It was only until the strike that they came back to the negotiating table.” Learn more about the discussions at the conference: https://lnkd.in/ewNkuRzi

Yesterday, 1,000 essential workers from nine European countries rallied together, demanding that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen act to improve pay and conditions for millions of workers through procurement reform. Workers, trade union leaders and members of the European Parliament condemned the “race to the bottom” caused by the EU’s current procurement rules, which prioritise the lowest price at the expense of workers’ well-being. The rally came one day after an open letter from over 100 leading economists around the world, including Thomas Piketty and Isabella Weber, calling for “a reform of the EU public procurement rules that strengthens collective bargaining and improves working conditions in labour-intensive sectors such as cleaning, security and food services”. Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of trade union federation UNI Europa said: “We know from essential workers about the pervasive low-wages and social precarity created by the EU’s current procurement rules. These problems are the same everywhere across Europe. They are caused by bad EU regulation and therefore need an EU-wide solution. That is why we are calling on Ursula von der Leyen to turn its promise of quality jobs, fair wages and good conditions into reality. We must reform public procurement rules now. Europe deserve better than a race for the cheapest price. Workers need wages with dignity, safe and secure jobs.”

More than one hundred world-leading economists have written a joint letter, coordinated and published by the European trade union federation UNI Europa, to support essential workers’ demonstrating in Brussels for EU public procurement rules which improve pay and conditions. Prof. Thomas Piketty and Prof. Isabella Weber are among the signatories of the letter, published today, which calls for “a reform of the EU public procurement rules that strengthens collective bargaining and improves working conditions in labour-intensive sectors such as cleaning, security and food services”. Their intervention comes a day before essential workers - including cleaners, security guards and food service staff - from nine European countries rally in Brussels to “stop the race to the bottom” that EU public procurement rules have created. Workers complain of low wages, dangerous workloads and a lack of recognition for keeping communities safe, clean and fed during the Covid-19 pandemic’s darkest days. Read the full letter: https://lnkd.in/eRH2WmVz

✊ Closing our global property service conference in Galway today with a newly adopted strategic plan to build worker power worldwide! 🛣️The road ahead is clear: more unions organizing, stronger global agreements, a push for safety & dignity at work. #RaisingStandards #UNIRisingTogether

A new UNI Europa report compares procurement practices across six European countries — and develops strategies for promoting decent work through public procurement in cleaning and private security services. Download it now: https://lnkd.in/eZDtxQYk

UNI Europa stands in solidarity with workers in European industry mobilising in Brussels today. The threat to tens of thousands of European industrial workers’ livelihoods, including more than 3000 jobs at Audi and its subcontractors on the doorstep of the European institutions, shows the urgent need for the EU to deliver an industrial deal that will protect and create quality jobs. Trade unions will march in Brussels today to demand political action in response to a threat from carmaker Audi to cut jobs at its plant in Brussels which will affect thousands of workers. The demonstration, organised by Belgian manufacturing sector unions in coordination with their European federation industriAll Europe, will feature a rally in Place Luxembourg, at the heart of neighbourhood which is home to the European institutions.