Two years after its last congress, and two years before the next one, the ETUC held its Mid-Term Conference in Rome on 29- 31 May 2017 to take stock of the progress and achievements the new leadership.
The conference focused on Europe for working people - the future the European trade union movement wants to build for European workers and their families.
Almost 400 union leaders joined debates on various issues ranging from investment and economic governance, wages and the European Pillar of Social Rights; workers’ participation and industrial policy; the future of work and the trade union movement;
In a statement adopted at the ETUC Mid-term Conference, unions agreed to act together for
- Investment for sustainable growth and quality job creation;
- Just transition towards a low-carbon economy, sustainable digitalisation and automation;
- Pay rises and upward wage convergence;
- A strong European Pillar of Social Rights and ambitious legislation for work-life balance;
- Fair mobility and migration to fight social and wage dumping.
On this latest topic Harald Wiedenhofer, EFFAT Secretary General addressed the audience of the mid-term conference highlighting that social dumping persists because more and more employers quitting social dialogue. We need the legislators to make collective bargaining for employers more attractive than social legislation.
The mid conference showed European trade unions’ readiness to be more active than ever in their efforts to who chose protect workers while managing current and future challenges such as globalisation, digitalisation and climate.