European Trade Union Confederation

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Wanja Lundby-Wedin, President of the European Trade Union Confederation

**ETUC**
European Trade Union Confederation
Founded	1973
Members	60 million from 36 countries
Country	Europe
Affiliation	Independent
Key people	Wanja Lundby-Wedin, president John Monks, general secretary
Office location	Brussels, Belgium
Website	www.etuc.org

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is a trade union organization which was established in 1973 to represent workers and their national affiliates at the European level. Its role has increased as European integration has expanded EU influence on economic, employment and social policy throughout the 27 Member States.

At present, the ETUC membership comprises 81 National Trade Union Confederations from a total of 36 European countries, and 12 European industry federations, covering some 60 million individual trade unionists. The current President, elected in May 2007, is Wanja Lundby-Wedin, from LO-Sweden. The General Secretary is John Monks, formerly of the TUC (UK).

The ETUC's mission is to bring about a united Europe of peace and stability, where working people and their families enjoy full human, civil, social and employment rights and high living standards. To achieve this, it promotes the European Social Model, combining sustainable economic growth with ever-improving living and working conditions, including full employment, social protection, equal opportunities, good quality jobs, social inclusion, and an open and democratic policy-making process that involves citizens fully in the decisions that affect them.

The ETUC regards workers’ consultation, collective bargaining, social dialogue and good working conditions as key to achieving these objectives and promoting innovation, productivity and growth in Europe.

The ETUC exists to represent the European trade union movement at EU level. It works with the other European social partners (representing employers) and the European institutions to develop employment, social and macroeconomic policies that reflect the interests of workers throughout Europe.

The ETUC has had a powerful role in bringing about important legislation for European workers. The EU Treaty gives the social partners the right to formulate their own legislative proposals through cross-industry agreements on major social policy issues. The social partners have already negotiated three agreements at EU level implemented by important European Directives establishing essential rights for workers:

parental leave (1996)
part-time work (1997)
fixed-term contract (1999)

Since 2002, the ETUC has further expanded its role in EU-level industrial relations, promoting the development of an autonomous social dialogue between workers' and employers' representatives. The social partners have concluded 'autonomous' agreements on :

telework (2002)
work-related stress (2004)
harassment and violence at work (2007)
a framework of actions for the lifelong development of competencies and qualifications (2002), and a framework of actions on gender equality (2005).

These are implemented by the social partners themselves at national, regional and enterprise level. The social partners' current Multiannual Work Programme runs until 2008.

The ETUC is the main counterpart to the EU institutions when it comes to representing workers at EU level. Together with the other European social partners, the ETUC works with all the EU governing bodies: Presidency, Council, Commission and Parliament. Its right to represent the interests of European workers in the formulation of EU employment, social and macroeconomic policy is articulated in the EU Treaty. The ETUC:

takes part in the annual Tripartite Social Summits;
draws up the trade union response to European Commission proposals;
liaises with a cross-party Intergroup of MEPs in the European Parliament;
coordinates trade union participation in a number of advisory bodies, including the Economic and Social Committee and the EU agencies for vocational training (CEDEFOP), improvement of living and working conditions (Dublin Foundation), and health and safety Agency (Bilbao).

At the biannual meetings of the Macroeconomic Dialogue (MED), established in 1998, the social partners discuss economic policy with the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Commission.

The ETUC also pursues its campaign for Social Europe through direct action, such as Euro-demonstrations (for example against the Bolkestein Services Directive), and an online petition for public services. In this way the ETUC takes a lead in important social and employment issues of relevance to all Europeans.

ETUC-affiliated trade union organisations maintain their own decision-making procedures. Delegates from the member organisations decide ETUC policies and activities at European level democratically, and the ETUC itself does not have a mandate to impose a line on national confederations. The ETUC also has its own democratic structure.

The ETUC coordinates the activities of the 41 ITUCs (Interregional Trade Union Councils), which organise trade union cooperation across national borders in the EU. The ETUC is recognised by the European Union, by the Council of Europe and by the European Free Trade Association as the only representative cross-sectoral trade union organisation at European level.