Just Transition

Allowing workers to engage with their company’s management and make a meaningful impact at the plant level has a multiplier effect that boosts democracy and Europe’s green and digital transitions according to the Hans-Böckler Foundation, which focuses on codetermination. The managing …

Multinationals who want access to French public investments must remain in the country for a minimum of ten years after receiving the funds, according to an amendment to the 2024 budget bill.

Despite efforts by the EU to make public authorities consider work conditions when choosing contractors for public orders, most public contracts are still awarded to the lowest bidders, a study by the European Parliament shows.

As the shift towards electric vehicles majorly changes the employment structure of the automotive industry, car regions should be supported with EU money, the economy minister of Germany’s state of Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze, told Euractiv in an interview.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called on the European Commission to come up with a reviewed directive that would strengthen the power of European Works' Councils multinational corporations.

With its so-called Bidenomics, the US is leading the way in linking subsidies to social conditionalities, an approach that the EU has both criticised due to its impacts on competition and been reluctant to integrate into its industrial policy.

France’s debt reduction plan must be more ambitious than what’s already been laid out, French Court of Auditors President and former European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told EURACTIV France in an interview, warning that the country’s public finances were in a particularly poor state.

All countries are vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate. But their vulnerabilities are very different, with varying consequences on people, economics and the environment, writes Jorge Moreira da Silva.

German workers support the transition towards climate neutrality, but do not want to move to a different place or obtain a job with lower pay for it, a new survey found.

In an interview with EURACTIV, EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit announced that the Commission would come forward with a legislative proposal to amend the European Works Council (EWC) Directive by the end of 2023. This comes in …

As the EU sets up its response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), French industry minister Roland Lescure told EURACTIV that Europe is on the cusp of a “new green industrial revolution” – if only governments are ready to spend the necessary cash.

On Thursday (2 February), the European Parliament voted in favour of a report that wants to strengthen the rights of European Works Councils (EWC) in order to reinforce the voice of employees in large European companies.

As the automotive industry shifts from combustion engine vehicles to cleaner technology, regional governments warn of increased competition between automotive regions for a decreasing number of jobs. To prevent this, they are calling for greater collaboration.

Two years after its initiative to ease collective bargaining for self-employed workers, the European Commission published new guidelines to allow collective bargaining for solo self-employed people under EU competition rules.

Social Democrat Gabriele Bischoff and Christian Democrat Dennis Radtke argue for a review of the European Works Councils Directive to give workers of large European companies more influence in strategic decisions, but European businesses fear this might weigh them down.

Along with climate change and digitalisation, the Russian invasion forces the European economy to change faster than it would like to, putting companies and workers in a vulnerable position.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to pay more attention to both its effect on climate change and the effect of climate change on financial stability. 

Trade unions reached an agreement with business associations on a work programme for the social dialogue 2022-2024 that should include legally binding measures to regulate telework and institute a right to disconnect on a European level.

With France holding the EU Council presidency until July and a Social Democrat-led government in power in Germany, hopes are high in Brussels for progress on key labour-related files like the revision of the European Works Council (EWC) Directive.

The fight for workers’ rights in Brussels is intensifying: the European Parliament is now ready to begin negotiations on a minimum wage directive and to vote on a new report putting pressure on the European Commission to legislate.

The Council on the Future of Europe, proposed by now-outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel to solve Poland's rule of law issues, has been paid little attention. But that does not mean those attending have not been busy.

As the German elections near, the EU is simultaneously gearing up for the fight over the revision of the dated Works Council Directive. Germany has always been a pioneer of worker’s co-determination, where will its next government stand?

The European Parliament is seeking to put a stop to a perceived decline in workers’ participation in corporate decision-making – an issue that affects 190 million employees across Europe – and bring the European Commission to heel.

The European Commission’s Fit for 55 package will rapidly tighten emission standards for cars, effectively banning the sale of vehicles fitted with internal combustion engines by 2035. German carmakers had preempted the move, but parts suppliers and employees are worried.

Energy poverty could be exacerbated ad prices rise under the European Commission's proposed revamped emissions trading scheme, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has warned, with other stakeholders raising similar misgivings. 

The workers’ groups of the European Economic and Social Committee have seized upon the term “just transition” in a bid to insert their aims for workers’ co-determination into the Commission’s flagship policy, the European Green Deal.

Trade unions and other labour supporters are continuing their push for greater worker involvement in company decisions, now labelling this as an effort for “more democracy at work.” They want to see this topic play a larger role on the …

Nearly a year into the coronavirus crisis in Europe, the world of work has changed drastically with more transformation on the horizon. In an interview with EURACTIV, trade union leader Michael Vassiliadis discusses the EU policy agenda from economic recovery to the Democracy Action Plan and responsible supply chains.

2020 saw the swift transformation of work as an unprecedented amount of people worked from home, while others had to completely change their systems to adapt to the health crisis. Though the end of the pandemic is in sight, certain changes will remain and even accelerate in 2021. 

The EU has set targets for a just transition that leaves no one behind, but inadequate funding and underrepresenting important perspectives could hamper progress.

In-work poverty increased over the last decade in most European countries, with around 12% of workers at risk of poverty, according to the latest report by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

Christa Schweng has served as the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since October. She has a vision, but first Europe must get through the coronavirus crisis, protecting both jobs and people.

The initiatives for due diligence in supply chains are seeing growing support for their potential to create a level playing field, but European worker representatives say the benefits of this legislation would not be limited to the workers at the start of the value chain.

Some 73% of German workers are happy with their company’s handling of the coronavirus, according to a recent survey. A majority also reported that their employers had created new opportunities to work from home. For many German companies, works councils played an important role in negotiating and implementing these changes. 

If EU leaders agree on the EU's seven-year budget and the recovery fund on Friday (17 July), this could facilitate the transition to a more modern and greener Europe. But labour representatives also want to ensure that workers have a say in the entire policymaking process. 

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a rapid transformation of the workplace at a time when digitalisation and the Green Deal were beginning to restructure entire industries. In an interview with EURACTIV, trade unionist Karin Erhard describes how workers should go forward in these uncertain times and how a strong system of codetermination can help chart the way.