Towards new goals ” “

Thirty years of “clear political commitment in favour of European construction, conceived on the basis of a model of development respectful of the social dimension”. That’s how JEAN-FRANCOIS TROGRLIC , general secretary of the Democratic French Confederation of Labour (CFTD), sums up the thirty years’ history of the European Trades-Union Confederation (ETC). Writing in the last number of Études, the monthly of contemporary culture founded by the Jesuits in 1856, Trogrlic reviews the progress of European trade unionism. He notes that “the mission that its initiators envisaged has been achieved” and that the trades-union movement “is now called to make a choice between the defence of what has been achieved and the commitment to further advances”. Founded in 1973, the European Confederation currently consists of 77 organizations in 35 European countries and 11 European trades-union federations. SHARED EUROPEAN PROJECT. A confederation unique in the history of the international trades-union movement, the ETC “brings together trades-union organizations and groups of various political persuasions – ranging from those of the Scandinavian or German social-democrats that cohabit with British Labourites, to that of the Christian-Democrat organizations – and has also favoured the integration of trades-union organizations of Communist inspiration”, points out Trogrlic. It also has – he says – “an added value over the two major world trades-union organizations, the International Confederation of Free Trades Unions (ICFT) and the World Labour Confederation (WLC): namely, “that of a shared European project, already put into practice in a social model”. But its legitimacy is also founded on “the recognition of the ETC as a trades-union interlocutor in all the phases of European social dialogue, from consultation to the conclusion of accords”. IN ADVANCE OF POLITICS. This “dialogue”, remarks the general secretary of the CFTD, “was born from the political vision of Jacques Delors who also conceived its implementation, and forms the cornerstone of the social Europe”. Encouraged by the European Commission, “the social partners – Trogrlic explains – immediately put into practice the common recommendations that have little binding force but that have in some way formed the scheme of the system of European social dialogue, annexed as protocol to the Maastricht Treaty, before being included in the Treaty of Amsterdam, and finally incorporated in the Constitutional Treaty now in process of ratification”. According to Trogrlic, “the introduction of the negotiating method was the occasion to adopt a principle of qualified majority vote (two thirds) for all decisions to be subjected to negotiation”. In this way, he remarks, “European trades-unionism is considerably in advance of European politics”. RESULTS. Various important accords have been reached in recent years at the European level on such issues as parental leave and short-term and part-time labour contracts. Also significant is “the force of mobilization”, from which “European demonstrations like those of Porto, Brussels, Nice and Barcelona have derived the influence they have exerted over major EU summits, thus ensuring that the social dimension be not relegated to second place”. NEW CHALLENGES. Today, throughout Europe, “the systems of social protection are experiencing various difficulties. Nonetheless they are the heart of the definition of the ‘European social model'”, observes Trogrlic, convinced of the need for “their further development, and for their adjustment to the new demographic conditions (linked to the prolongation of life), and to the progress of health care and social welfare systems. In the view of the CFTD secretary, “the model of European development is envied by much of the world, yet is threatened by those who would like a Europe reduced to a simple area of free trade”. “Trade unionism, for its part, can no longer be limited to a merely defensive action”, continues Trogrlic, who identifies as priorities “the definition of the role of wage-earners in the management of firms and the necessary access of trades unions to the strategic information that, quite apart from balance-sheet results, condition the future of the firms themselves and hence of employment”. He also underlines the need for “the social and environmental responsibility of companies” to become “the object of dialogue and collective bargaining”. “Reinforcing the contractual fabric to influence the EU global equilibrium; tackling globalization by promoting a new form of solidarity favourable to the development of all countries, beginning with our neighbours in the south and east”; and maintaining “a strong presence in the major sectors of public administration, public utilities, big private companies and multinationals”: these, according to Trogrlic, are the “new responsibilities” that await the European trades-union movement, called to “define the nature and meaning of its own actions” by choosing between “the facility of defending what has been gained and the need for new advances”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1253 N.ro relativo : 2 Data pubblicazione : 12/01/2005